• Some A$5.4 billion is expected to be spent on sales in Australia.
• Almost 9 million Aussies are poised to descend on department stores.
• The number of people planning to snare a sale will double from 2020.

Nearly 9 million Aussies are set to flood retail outlets today to snare Black Friday deals in an expected boon for businesses with between A$4 billion and A$5.4 billion expected to pass through the tills.

The increasing uptake of Black Friday sales, discounts and allowances has pushed November ahead of the Christmas period as the busiest time for Aussie retail sales, the Australian Retailers Association said.

With Cyber Monday falling on November 29, even if you have been burning the midnight oil and miss today’s bonanza, this weekend is shaping up as a much-needed injection of confidence for the COVID-hit A$350 billion retail sector.

According to a Boston Consulting Group study, 82% of Australians are planning to descend on the shops to snap up the Black Friday sales, up from 43% in 2020.

The top retailers in the country include Bunnings, Woolworths, and Kmart, a recent Power Retail e-Commerce Playbook report found.