Next Big Sales in Australia 2024

Next Big Sales in Australia 2024

August 26, 2024

Australian shoppers love a good bargain. But gone are the days where shoppers wait all year to queue for the best Boxing Day deals. The rise of online shopping means there are huge sales events every single month — each one presenting a golden opportunity to attract customers and send your profits soaring.

Getting the best out of these shopping events for your business takes preparation and planning. You need to know which shopping dates your customers are marking in their calendars, so you can make sure your business is ready for the rush. 

To help, we’ve compiled a list of the next big sales in Australia — the shopping events you cannot afford to miss — and provide practical tips to help you ensure every sales event is a success for your business. 

Upcoming Sales in Australia

NOVEMBER 

Singles Day

Originating in China, Singles Day is one of the biggest online sales events in the world, growing to eight times the size of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Taking place on November 11, it began as a humorous anti-Valentine’s Day. The date (11/11) was chosen for its representation of singles – the number ‘1’ resembles an individual. 

Singles Day sales in Australia are becoming more popular every year and attract millions of Chinese shoppers looking for great deals and exclusive promotions. In previous years, eCommerce platforms have even organised dazzling live gala shows featuring pop stars including Taylor Swift and Pharrell Williams. 

At its heart, Singles Day is a celebration of individuality and self-love, so think of it as a chance to encourage your customers to indulge.

Black Friday

If there’s any upcoming sale in Australia that you must have on your retail marketing calendar, Black Friday is it. 

Black Friday hails from the USA, but it’s become a mammoth shopping event in Australia. It offers huge discounts on a wide range of products, both in-store and online. 

This epic sales event always occurs on the Friday after Thanksgiving. In 2024, Black Friday will land on Friday, November 29. Because of the timing, many shoppers use it to jump-start their Christmas shopping, making it a fixture in the Australian retail calendar. 

DECEMBER

Cyber Monday

Another online sales day that originates from the United States, Cyber Monday was created as the online counterpart to Black Friday. But with Black Friday now happening online and offline, both events have merged to create the biggest shopping weekend of the year. 

Falling on the first Monday after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday specialises in bargains for gadgets, electronics, fashion, gifts, and more. While Cyber Monday is technically a one-day shopping event, many retailers are choosing to start their discounts earlier and extend them for up to one week. In 2024, Cyber Monday is on Monday, December 2.

Boxing Day Sales

For years, Boxing Day has been the biggest sale event in Australia, giving retailers a chance to entice customers with major discounts while getting rid of post-Christmas stock. In 2023, Australians were predicted to splurge $1.25 billion in a Boxing Day bonanza. 

While Christmas sees people shopping for loved ones, Boxing Day is all about spoiling themselves. Traditionally, on 26 December, Australians flock to shopping centres, queuing for hours before the doors are opened. Now, more and more shoppers are heading online to skip the crowds and find the best bargains. 

JANUARY

Back-to-School Sales

As the summer holidays draw to a close, families start gearing up for the school year. Research by the Australian Retailers Association (ARA) and Roy Morgan reveals that approximately 5 million Australians (24%) spend an average of $512 each on back-to-school products. Shoppers seek discounts on products, including uniforms, stationery, books and shoes, tech, school bags, lunch boxes, and water bottles. 

FEBRUARY

Chinese New Year

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar Year, is a growing opportunity for retail brands. The week-long celebration typically celebrated by people of eastern and south-eastern Asian backgrounds is a big shopping event, as buying new items is seen as an embodiment of a new start. Top-selling products include festive food, seasonal flowers and accessories, clothes, furniture, and electric appliances. Don’t underestimate word of mouth in the Chinese market – offering a seamless eCommerce experience is paramount for success.

Valentine’s Day

February 14 has long been a celebration of love and romance. Now, with Aussies spending around $485 million for the event, it’s one of the shopping dates to pay attention to. Traditionally, people give romantic gifts on this day – think flowers, jewellery, chocolates and lingerie. However, many shoppers use Valentine’s Day to celebrate friendships and other meaningful relationships, and Galentine’s Day has become a major event. Creating special deals for everyone will help you turn those heart signs into dollar signs. 

MARCH/APRIL

Easter Sales

The Easter long weekend has traditionally been one of the most important sales in Australia, and it’s not all about chocolate eggs. It’s the weekend of the year when people either pack up the car and head off with all their camping gear or try to get as many DIY jobs as possible. Leading up to Easter, shoppers are looking for bargains, from camping and outdoor gear to all the tools needed to make a dent in their home and garden projects. 

MAY

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is widely celebrated worldwide to show the mums in our lives just how much we appreciate them. According to ARA/Roy Morgan research, about a quarter (24%) of people who purchase a present will be gifting to somebody other than their birth mother, such as their partner, friend, mother-in-law, grandmother, sister, or daughter. So what are Australians buying the mums in their lives? While florists are still among the biggest beneficiaries, candles, fragrances, sleepwear, and jewellery are also popular gifts. 

JUNE

End of Financial Year Sales (EOFY)

Held at the end of the fiscal year in June (but sometimes starting as early as May), EOFY sales are big revenue drivers in the Australian retail marketing calendar. Midyear and EOFY sales in Australia provide an excellent chance for shoppers to snag deals on all sorts of products or make tax-deductible purchases right before the end of the financial year. It also lands between the Boxing Day sales and the Black Friday discounts in November, which is excellent timing for retailers to boost sales. 

SEPTEMBER 

Father’s Day

It might not be as big as Mother’s Day, but Father’s Day is fast becoming a must-have sales event for retailers. Data from Google Trends revealed that searches for “Father’s Day gifts” have doubled in Australia in the past five years. According to the ARA, more than 8 million shoppers nationwide plan to buy gifts for the dads in their lives in 2024. 

It’s not all socks and jocks either – the top gift category is alcohol and food, accounting for 34% of total spending, while 15% of dads will be gifted clothing, shoes, and sleepwear. Books, games, and music make it into the top three gift categories, with a further 15% set to receive them. Father’s Day is September 1, 2024, and September 7, 2025. 

THE BEST OF THE REST: ONLINE SALES DAYS

Click Frenzy

Click Frenzy is a bi-annual online sale event traditionally held in May and November, lasting 24 hours each time. While it primarily focuses on tech and gadgets, the sale event offers various discounts and bargains to send online shoppers into a ‘click frenzy’. So, it could be one of the biggest online sales days in your retail marketing calendar.

Amazon Prime Day

Amazon Prime Day is a sale event held in July on the Amazon shopping platform. Prime Day deals are exclusively available for its Prime members. But if you’re not on Amazon, don’t assume this sale event isn’t for you. Shoppers are looking for deals around Prime Day, so see it as an opportunity to get more clicks and sales. 

Afterpay Day

Held over four days in both March and August, Afterpay Day is the newest sales event to add to your retail marketing calendar. The bi-annual shopping bonanza is hosted – as the name suggests – by Afterpay and gives retailers a chance to boost shopping activity in otherwise quiet retail periods. Despite the name, shoppers actually don’t need to use Afterpay’s ‘buy now pay later’ service at the checkout to take part in the Afterpay Day sales.

How are sales events evolving in Australia?

The retail world is constantly moving and changing, so how will consumer behaviour and market trends impact the next big sales in Australia in 2024? 

One of the biggest changes over recent years is the move to online sales. This has opened up a whole world of sales events for bargain hunters, who can now access overseas sales like Black Friday in the United States and Singles Day in China. This has forced retailers to look to global as well as local retail calendars to grow their sales and compete with overseas retailers. 

At the same time, we are seeing traditional in-store sales events, like Boxing Day, take on the style of an online sales event. Rather than queuing outside stores for hours, shoppers are enticed by the convenience of browsing deals online and getting early access to discounts. 

Another major factor impacting sales events in Australia is the ongoing cost-of-living pressures. To save money, more consumers are shopping at sales events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, a study by Monash Business School’s Australian Consumer and Retail Studies (ACRS). 

It’s also important to remember that there are still significant segments of Australian consumers with plenty of spending power. As Roy Morgan reported, the ‘cost-of-living crunch’ has created the perfect storm to create some surprise winners despite the challenging environment. For example, online marketplaces Amazon, Shein and Temu, have together helped drive a rise in spending online in the last six months. 

How to prepare for online shopping sales success

Whether you’re planning for Black Friday, Boxing Day, or Click Frenzy, you need to make sure your business is ready for the spike in activity that seasonal sales bring. 

Peak demand puts pressure on operations. Without efficient and scalable processes, you can end up with bottlenecks, delays, errors, and extra costs. Slow deliveries and order errors can quickly lead to frustrated customers and lost loyalty. 

The bottom line?

You need to plan ahead. 

Focus on these key areas to navigate eCommerce seasonality:

• Inventory management: Use demand forecasting to strike the right balance and avoid overstocking and stockouts. 

• Warehouse space: Do you have enough space to stock more inventory? Consider working with a 3PL provider to scale up your warehouse space without the overheads. 

• Customer service: Make sure you have enough staff to manage the increase in queries and give them visibility of stock levels, order management, and deliveries. 

• Order processing and fulfilment: Make sure your set-up is ready for the influx of orders. 

• Returns process: Do you have enough staff to deal with the spike in returns that comes after sales events? 

You don’t need to navigate the next big sales in Australia alone. Partnering with a trusted 3PL company like eStore can help you rise to the occasion and propel your sales success.

eStore can help you scale up your operations for the big sales periods with our comprehensive warehousing and order fulfilment solutions. Our processes, infrastructure and technology is flexible and ready to scale with your needs. From inventory management and warehousing to order processing, delivery, and returns, our fully streamlined operations ensure your customer experience is always exceptional – no matter how busy it gets.