A record $35.9 billion was spent in stores and online in November 2022 according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, as consumers took advantage of great deals on offer during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
National Retail Association NRA) interim CEO, Lindsay Carroll, says the monthly result is reflective of consumers satisfying their spending cravings through the sales event.
“Consumers have been constrained by increasing costs to everything from their groceries to power bills and this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday presented the perfect opportunity to take advantage of great deals and discounts,” she says.
“It also shows the interest of consumers to bring their Christmas shopping forward to November.”
The sales events boosted non-discretionary spending in clothing, furniture and electronics.
“Contrary to previous months, clothing, footwear and accessories saw the greatest rise of 6.4 per cent, followed by department stores at 5.4 per cent and household goods rising by 2.1 per cent.”
Carroll adds the results demonstrate how beneficial retail sales events are for the Australian economy.
“Sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday are becoming more common across Aussie retailers and the sales periods themselves are becoming longer.”
However, Australian Retailers Association (ARA) CEO, Paul Zahra, expects a slowdown in spending in 2023, which will prove a challenge for retailers. He also acknowledges that inflation played a role in the November 2022 retail trade results and may continue to do so.
“Inflation remains a concern for us,” he says.
“So does the rising cost of doing business along with supply chain disruptions and staff shortages, which remain top of mind for retailers. These results reinforce the retail industry’s permanent state of disruption and the need for retailers to remain resilient in the face of economic headwinds and external pressures beyond their control.”
Indeed, the ARA recently called for further urgent action from federal and state governments to alleviate chronic labour shortages.
The scale of the labour shortage crisis impacting retail continues to worsen with new figures from the ABS showing 49,900 vacancies across the retail sector in November 2022―an increase of 8.2 per cent compared to August 2022.
Retail recorded the biggest increase in job vacancies of all industries in the latest data, accelerating the trend we saw throughout much of 2022.
“Retail businesses are at the coalface of Australia’s economy and our daily lives, yet they can’t secure enough staff,” Zahra says.
