Black Friday Sales Show Aussies Have Adopted America's Famous Sales Event

Australians have forked out plenty of cash, collectively spending an estimated $8 billion across the four days from Black Friday to Cyber Monday according to NAB analysis of merchant transactions. 

Retail therapy is at an all-time high with the promotional holiday smashing the pre-pandemic records from 2019 with sales up by 8%. 

It was no surprise the strongest performers for in-person purchases were technology retailers with sales up a huge 168% on 2019. In the same period, shoe sales were up by 92%, jewellery stores were up by 49% followed by clothing sales up 54%. 

In online retail, the strongest performers were jewellery and watch stores up a massive 312% on 2019. 

“It may be a trend adopted from our American friends, but it’s clear that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are now a strong part of the sales calendar here in Australia. For business, it’s a great opportunity to try out new initiatives before the holiday season, reach out to online customer bases and kick off the lead up to Christmas with strong cashflow. We’ve talked so much about the pivot to digital but it’s clear that the ground work laid by businesses over the past two years has positioned them well to capitalise on these sales events. For so many of us though, nothing beats the actual experience of walking into a store and being able to try out the product in person.”

- Andrew Irvine, Group Executive for NAB's Business and Private Bank

Victoria dominated the sales, spending an estimated $190 million, followed by New South Wales at $163 million and Queensland at $73 million. 

Join Tom Tilley with regular rotating co-hosts Jan Fran, Annika Smethurst and Jamila Rizvi  on The Briefing, Monday - Saturday, for the day's headlines and breaking news as well as hot topics and interviews.  Available on Listnr.