ANZ anticipates a significant increase in spending during the 2024 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, with projections exceeding $1.54 billion. This marks a 5.6% growth compared to the same period last year.
Yiken Yang, ANZ Acting Managing Director of Everyday Banking for Australia Retail, stated, "Customers are being increasingly savvy with their spending, taking advantage of peak retail sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday to make their money stretch further and alleviate some of the expense associated with Christmas shopping."
Yang added that based on October's spending trends and ANZ data, there is an expected year-on-year retail spend increase of nearly 6%, predicting customers will spend over $1.5 billion.
Traditionally beginning on the last weekend of November, Black Friday sales have seen retailers starting promotions earlier in November by leveraging social media to attract online shoppers.
In 2023, ANZ customers spent more than $1.46 billion during this sales period, with e-commerce accounting for over 76% of transactions. Online purchases are again expected to be a major component in 2024.
Data from ANZ indicates that Gen X and Millennials lead in total spending with a combined amount of $960 million last year. Women outspent men across the Black Friday weekend by 22%, totaling $132 million.
Popular purchases included homewares and furniture, clothing, and digital items as consumers prepared for the festive season.
In terms of generational spending patterns from 2023:
- Gen X were top spenders at $496 million; household appliances accounted for nearly 20% followed by clothing.
- Millennials spent over $464 million primarily on clothing (17.88%) followed closely by household appliances.
- Gen Z spent more than $180 million; clothing comprised 23.29% of their purchases.
- Baby Boomers focused on household appliances which made up 21.63% of their $279 million expenditure.