Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023, by the numbers

The Black Friday and Cyber Monday retail carnival is fast approaching. For shoppers and retailers alike, this year’s rendition is shaping up to be extremely important: as cost of living pressures clamp down on discretionary income, Australians appear more likely than ever to focus their spending on heavily discounted events like Black Friday.

Here are some of the numbers you need to make sense of Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year, for physical retailers and e-commerce leaders alike.

3

The number of years Australian knitwear brand Mia Fratino has chosen to close its online store through Black Friday and Cyber Monday, in protest of over-consumption and the notion of disposable fashion. “This isn’t about condemning consumers or brands,” said co-founder Amy Jones. Instead, the brand is “empowering and educating shoppers to make mindful, genuine purchases”.

12%

The percentage of Australians who had not heard of Black Friday in 2022, according to McCrindle. That figure shrunk from 27% in 2017.

14

How many days ahead of Black Friday that workout apparel retailer Muscle Nation opened its ‘Black Friday’ sale. To stand out, many brands are launching heavy discounts well ahead of November 24. The strategy appeared to pay off for Muscle Nation, which claimed to have doubled last year’s sales within four hours.

40%

Australian consumers made 40% more purchases across Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022 than they did on Boxing Day, the traditional end-of-year sales bonanza. That finding is from e-commerce logistics provider Shippit, which has monitored millions of transactions across local retailers since 2019.

65%

The proportion of consumers who delay their non-essential purchases before Black Friday and Cyber Monday in order to make the most of the sales period. Research commissioned by CouriersPlease found that 3% of shoppers are willing to postpone spending for six months to snag the best deals.

$434

Average predicted spend for Australian shoppers this Black Friday, according to Monash Business School’s Australian Consumer and Retail Studies. Estimated average Cyber Monday spending? $362. That data comes from a survey of more than 1,000 shoppers in October.

2005

The US National Retail Federation coined the term ‘Cyber Monday’ in 2005, in an effort to promote online businesses after the bricks-and-mortar rush of Black Friday. Today, the idea that e-commerce as a sector needs promotion is a relic of a time gone by.

6000

How many kilograms of unwanted textiles and clothing are dumped into landfill every ten minutes, according to the Monash Sustainable Development Institute.

$6.36 billion

How much Australian shoppers are predicted to spend during the November sales period, according to the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and research from Roy Morgan. “Despite a lukewarm spending projection for the pre-Christmas period, Black Friday this year is set to be record-breaking, as consumers seek out bargains amid intense financial pressure,” said ARA CEO Paul Zahra.

$10.8 billion

The Black Friday/Cyber Monday spending prediction from ING. The bank’s bullish forecast runs parallel to its findings about spending intentions: clothing, Christmas presents, and new technology were the most likely purchases, according to a national survey of more than 1,000 people.