Australian retail turnover rose 2.0 per cent (seasonally adjusted) in November 2023, according to figures released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

Robert Ewing, ABS head of business statistics, said: "Black Friday sales were again a big hit this year, with retailers starting promotional periods earlier and running them for longer, compared to previous years.

“The strong rise suggests that consumers held back on discretionary spending in October to take advantage of discounts in November. Shoppers may have also brought forward some Christmas spending that would usually happen in December." 

Okay, accepting that the latest retail sales number did show a robust 2% monthly growth, but it may be distorted by the increasing popularity of Black Friday sales in November. More about that later. 

One bit of good news is that this shows that consumers are still spending despite higher interest rates. Our strong job market certainly helps this. We will need to see the December figures to see whether it's simply that consumers are spending more or that all they are doing is bringing forward their purchases from December to November.

Black Friday sales impact on Australian retail

Black Friday sales have become an increasingly prominent retail event in Australia over the past decade. Originally from the US, it has evolved into a much larger affair in Australia. Black Friday has become mainstream in the past ten years, changing to a "Black November" event in Australia. Rather than just a day,  retailers now run week-long or even month-long sales promoted under the Black Friday banner. See this graph for the past ten years of November growth.

The future of Black Friday in Australia

Black Friday will remain a prominent retail event in Australia, especially as more consumers become conditioned to expect big sales in late November. Retailers should continue to expand Black Friday promotions to maximise sales. Today, many shops open on the Black Friday public holiday to capitalise on foot traffic.

Black Friday Australia 2023

Today, Black Friday in Australia is a major Retail Event. It is one of the biggest shopping days in Australia, marking the unofficial start of the Christmas holiday shopping season.

In Australia, Black Friday is a relatively new retail phenomenon, but you can see how interest in Black Friday has grown here in Australia. 

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) noted that retail turnover increased dramatically for Black Friday, they said 

“With retail turnover increasing by more than one per cent in all states and territories, it’s clear Black Friday sales are becoming increasingly popular across the country,” 

This data indicates that Australian retailers and shoppers have fully embraced Black Friday. Now, one point in retail that comes up: how does my shop perform on this marketing day? You may be surprised. 

Why Do Consumers Love Black Friday?

There are several reasons why consumers get excited for Black Friday sales in Australia:

• Hype and excitement - Major retailers build hype in the weeks leading up to Black Friday with television, radio, print and digital advertising. This creates a festive excitement around the big sale day.

• Christmas shopping - Many Australians see Black Friday sales as the perfect time to get a head start on Christmas shopping.

If you have not done much or you want to know more to make the most of Black Friday

While Black Friday poses some hurdles, there are ways for retailers to maximise their sales opportunities if you have not prepared.

A Clear Promotional Strategy

You need to decide which product lines you want to draw customer traffic; you can quickly do this by checking Last Year's Top Sellers. Also to make sure you have enough of the right inventory on hand for Black Friday, to check your top-selling items from last year:

Well, it is easy in our point-of-sale system to find out.

Go to Register reports.

Now pick "Top N Stock Sales for a Given Period."

Select a few days before Black Friday and after, so 22 November 2022 to 28  November 2022

Do by unit sales and then run it by profit.

Now, see if you have enough stock. Check what works.

You do not have much time.

Select some stock to advertise. You will need to advertise with some signage; it does not have to be as much as customers are looking, but it needs to be there. 

The Now Plan for 2023

• Use sales reports in your POS system to analyze what products and promotions performed best. Apply those lessons to your 2023 strategy.
• Check staffing levels
• Put signage up
• Monitor your retail turnover increase

Have a great day.

As touchscreen technology is now widely used to improve performance. So people are becoming aware of the benefits of touchscreen devices. As a result, the use of touch screens in retail and offices are increasing.

Here are seven (7) benefits of using a touchscreen for your Point of Sale (POS) system.

Economically today.

This is the big reason people need a screen anyway, so most people feel why not get one with touch?

Speed

Increase in the speed of tasks. Very few of us are touch typists. As such, there is a delay from when we identify the spot on the screen and then move our eyes to type on the keyboard letter. The touchscreen allows the user to select the required characters without moving their eyes. This results in a faster response time.

This improved efficiency means that your staff can work faster so process customers quicker. This helps prevent long queues and customer dissatisfaction.

Easier to use

Looking at the screen keeping your eye on it makes it much easier to use. This makes it great for juggling various tasks on what are increasing more complex screens. As you can tap what you need, it is much simpler to operate as it provides you with direct access that eliminates the need for a mouse and keyboard.

People with physical disabilities

More people can use them. We did a major upgrade for multiple sclerosis. These people were unable to use keyboards what we found using a combination of voice and touch works well. Without a touch screen, these people cannot work. With it, these people can operate a POS system.

Cleanliness

Since COVID, everyone appreciates that there is much less to clean as people are handling less the keyboard and mouse. Screens are flat and often dust sealed. This makes them easier to clean and disinfect.

Training

With mobiles, we are all used to touch, making it far more intuitive to use today. This is the way most people now work in the 2020s.

Windows

Windows and its software is now built for touch.

One of our suppliers has reported to us that they have quite a lot of touch screens that they could not sell due to the lockup. As these are commercial grade if your interested in getting a touch screen, why not get one now as we have a Black Friday special for your shop now!

This Friday is "Black Friday", officially this is the start of the Christmas shopping season. Our suppliers know that this is the last chance they get to move stock before the Christmas freeze starts. So some of our suppliers have offered us some pretty good deals to move some of their stock. So we are passing the saving to our clients. Details are being sent out now.

If you are interested in upgrading your system or getting a touch screen, let us know.

One of my clients got in some trouble recently over a "'No refund on sale items" sign. A lawyer who is one of their customers told them that they were "misrepresenting rights available to consumers." 

So if you wish to put up a no refund sign, use one from your state consumer affairs sign such as this example from VIC above. 

One worrying point is that many merchants do sometimes unload at significantly reduced prices goods that are defective. They admit that they are flawed and so sell it with an AS IS and NO Return clause.  I doubt legally this is correct.  You may want to check this situation if you do it a lot. If you get an answer, let me know.

It was Black Friday.

Many of our suppliers now see this as their final chance to move the retail point of sale equipment before Christmas comes. So they decided to offer some outstanding offers. 

We immediately passed them on to our clients, This appears to have upset one of our competitors as they seem not to have passed on the savings. They admit that our prices are cheap, but then they accuse them of being possibly bad quality. They are not. They are excellent scanners. More importantly, they claim that they might not work with their software. If so, what does it say about their software and business practices if industry-standard barcode scanners do not work with them?  

The fact is this we now have an excellent price reduction on handheld scanners, this discount we are passing on to our clients. If you are interested, let us know while stock is available.

What point I do like about these scanners is some have antimicrobial protection. This will help now as they offer more security against the spread of pathogens. They also are designed with repeated cleaning in mind. As such, they can be wiped down with more potent disinfectants. They also have increased decode range so allowing you to keep a safer distance from shoppers. 

This Friday it is "Black Friday", officially this is the start of the Christmas shopping season.

Last year's spending on Black Friday shot up 69 percent on the previous year.

Looking at the Google trends, it looks that public interest I about the same this year as last year.

I hope you are doing something.

If you are interested in upgrading your scanners let us know, we have a Black Friday sale too.