Black Friday and a surge in retail ad spend in Australia

Chris Pash
By Chris Pash | 25 November 2020

Retailers in Australia are increasing their ad spend, outlying more in October than last year, as Black Friday approaches,  according to estimates by Nielsen. 

The online retail events Black Friday (November 27) and Cyber Monday (November 30) are well underway, with pre-sales dominating online shopping carts. 

The annual events, which originated post-Thanksgiving in the US, now offer consumers around the globe heavily discounted products for those in search of pre-Christmas gifts or bargains. 

Australian retail brands are looking to the events to put a marker between the pandemic economic downturn this year.

And in October, Nielsen Ad Intel estimated $164 million spent on retail advertising, a 6% increase compared to the same time last year.

nielsen black friday retail ad spend

Major online retailers such as Amazon, Catch and eBay will benefit from the online shopping boom brought about by COVID-19 with consumers looking for safer ways to shop

In-store, retailers such as Harvey Norman -- which leads the retail ad spend category -- The Good Guys JB Hi-Fi, Myer, Kmart, Big W, and Target will also up the ante.

Each year the sales appear earlier and this year Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals are already being advertised with extensions expected to run through the entire week

Australia Post has preempted the huge amount of parcel deliveries expected this year and is urging customers to buy well before the end of November to ensure they meet the December 12 cutoff to guarantee their delivery before Christmas day.

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