Black Friday, once a US tradition, has grown into a massive sales event in Australia.
This year, Australians are expected to spend a staggering $6.7 billion over the four-day period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.
Is Black Friday the sale of the year or just the best marketing ploy ever?
Retailers across the country are flooding consumers with marketing campaigns promising “big discounts” on everything from electronics to fashion.
While some view Black Friday as the perfect opportunity to tick off Christmas shopping lists amid a cost-of-living crunch.
On Wednesday morning’s episode of The Briefing, we speak with Editorial Director Mark Serrows and Fleur Brown, Chief Industry Affairs Officer at the Australian Retailers Association, to unpack this.
“I think, not necessarily that the deals won’t be deals or the sales won’t be sales, but there’s definitely a lot of sneakiness and trying to make it feel like it’s a bigger deal than it actually is,” Mr Serrows said.
He also suggests consumers to focus on pre-researched deals to avoid falling for misleading discounts.
“A deal that exists on Black Friday will almost certainly come up again at some point, whether that’s January sales or even just a sale that brands are doing by themselves on a completely different month. Never feel that pressure to just buy, buy, buy.”
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