Speaker 1: Already and this is the daily This is the daily
Speaker 1: ohs oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 2: the twenty seventh of November. I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Zara Seidler.
Speaker 2: For most of the world, Australia included, tomorrow will be
Speaker 2: the biggest shopping event of the year, Black Friday. Now,
Speaker 2: if you have been feeling overwhelmed by sales targeted ads
Speaker 2: once in a lifetime deals flooding your email inbox for weeks,
Speaker 2: now you are definitely not alone. Today we are unpacking
Speaker 2: the origins of Black Friday, how it became such a
Speaker 2: massive phenomenon in Australia, and the sales tactics experts say
Speaker 2: consumers need to know about.
Speaker 1: M We share an office with a retailer shout out
Speaker 1: to we love your underwear. And I was in the
Speaker 1: kitchen the other day asking how Black Friday was going.
Speaker 1: I thought it had happened already, and the founder looked
Speaker 1: at me and was like, nah, that's next week. And
Speaker 1: I had no idea because it feels like it's been
Speaker 1: going on for so long.
Speaker 2: I woke up on Saturday morning to more and more
Speaker 2: emails and I thought, this is crazy because it was yesterday,
Speaker 2: alas it was not.
Speaker 1: It was not, But that is the feeling that it
Speaker 1: is omnipresent, It is everywhere all at once. How did
Speaker 1: this happen? Because I don't remember this always being the
Speaker 1: case in Australia.
Speaker 2: It wasn't always the case in Australia. But as with
Speaker 2: so many pop culture phenomenons and everyday fixtures in our lives,
Speaker 2: this is a US tradition. So Black Friday is traditionally
Speaker 2: the day after Thanksgiving, the holiday in the US which
Speaker 2: falls on the fourth Thursday of November so today. The
Speaker 2: term itself, though, is believed to have been coined by
Speaker 2: police in Philadelphia all the way back in the sixties.
Speaker 2: They used Black Friday to describe the chaos of large
Speaker 2: numbers who visited the city to watch this annual football
Speaker 2: game and Army Navy Thanksgiving game. Right and retailers then
Speaker 2: saw this massive influx of shoppers at the time, they
Speaker 2: started offering discounts to capitalize on those crowds, and the
Speaker 2: name and sales went national across the US from the
Speaker 2: eighties onwards. Then, as we know it headed overseas as
Speaker 2: brands started to tap into global markets. It's shifted exponentially
Speaker 2: with the online shopping era. And I've also heard Black
Speaker 2: Friday referred to black Friday because it's the day retailer's
Speaker 2: bottom lines go from red to black.
Speaker 1: And that being because they get rid of so much stock,
Speaker 1: there are so many sales. Yeah, it is insane to
Speaker 1: me that its origins are in Philly at a game.
Speaker 1: I don't even know what it is, and now it's
Speaker 1: everywhere in Australia. How did it go from there to here?
Speaker 1: How did it come to Australia in such force?
Speaker 2: It came to Australia in twenty thirteen when Apple, who
Speaker 2: was a m twenty thirteen. Yeah, Apple was one of
Speaker 2: the first major retailers to offer Black Friday deals here.
Speaker 2: It's obviously only grown since then, and I think it's
Speaker 2: no coincidence that online shopping has boomed since then. Two
Speaker 2: but interestingly in Australia, and this could be why maybe
Speaker 2: we were slower to the uptake. The term was actually
Speaker 2: quite controversial because black Friday had long referred to these
Speaker 2: devastating bushfires in Victoria in nineteen thirty eight and thirty nine,
Speaker 2: which killed at least seventy one people destroyed more than
Speaker 2: one thousand businesses, so people were quite sensitive about using
Speaker 2: that term.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's so interesting, and while there may have been
Speaker 1: some hesitation, it certainly feels like it's here and it's
Speaker 1: here to stay. Do you have any numbers on how
Speaker 1: big it has actually become here in Australia?
Speaker 2: Big with a capital b zara. The sales that began
Speaker 2: this week are projected to be worth a record six
Speaker 2: point eight billion dollars for the Australian economy. That's an
Speaker 2: increase of four from last year, and almost half of
Speaker 2: Australian retailers now say that Black Friday has overtaken Boxing
Speaker 2: Day as their biggest sales event of the year. That's
Speaker 2: according to some survey data, by zero. And our expectations
Speaker 2: are higher now too. So until recently, an average discount
Speaker 2: of say twenty percent was enough to kind of draw
Speaker 2: our attention, whereas now that's grown to thirty percent. So
Speaker 2: we need to see a sale discount of about thirty
Speaker 2: percent before we feel compelled to participate.
Speaker 1: I will not even look at it if it's under
Speaker 1: thirty perce well, exactly, no wasting my time.
Speaker 2: It feels too underwhelming, and the demand has gotten so
Speaker 2: big here that Australia Post has actually expanded its delivery
Speaker 2: days to keep up. It's reintroduced seven day parcel deliveries
Speaker 2: in metro cities to keep up with this current rush.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I want to pick up on something you
Speaker 1: just said before about the nature of the sales, because
Speaker 1: off Mike, you and I were talking about the fact
Speaker 1: that we've seen a lot of tiktoks, a lot of
Speaker 1: chatter online about some companies that suggesting they've got really
Speaker 1: big sales, but when you actually look at it, it's
Speaker 1: perhaps not as big as it seems. What do we
Speaker 1: know about what the nature of these sales actually are, Like,
Speaker 1: are they as good as they see?
Speaker 2: Yeah, well, you are right to be skeptical. Consumer Group
Speaker 2: Choice has actually done some digging into sales tactics this
Speaker 2: Black Friday and then found some pretty concerning patterns. One
Speaker 2: of them that I saw they were pushing was to
Speaker 2: be very aware of when you see a big, flashy
Speaker 2: graphic of say, sixty percent off, you might zoom in
Speaker 2: and see there's very fine print inside that sixty that
Speaker 2: says up to sixty percent off the implication sidewide, But
Speaker 2: it's really not so. Choice also said that one of
Speaker 2: the biggest issues is what it's called was slash now
Speaker 2: pricing to make a discount look more impressive, So was
Speaker 2: one hundred dollars now fifty dollars, for example. But Choice
Speaker 2: is found that in many cases that that was price
Speaker 2: is inflated, or the product was never sold at that
Speaker 2: rice or was very temporarily sold at that price, so
Speaker 2: the discount isn't really as good as it appears.
Speaker 1: I saw a girl on TikTok talking about the fact
Speaker 1: that she had had her eye on this T shirt
Speaker 1: for ages very expensive t shirt, i'll add, but she
Speaker 1: said it was one hundred and twenty dollars and she
Speaker 1: was waiting for it to go on sale, and then
Speaker 1: in these Black Friday sales she says it went up
Speaker 1: to or it was marked at one hundred and eighty
Speaker 1: on discount on sale to one hundred and twenty. She's like,
Speaker 1: I know it was one hundred and twenty. I see
Speaker 1: through this, And there's so many comments of people saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: I've seen this everywhere.
Speaker 2: I think it's a very common experience, which is frankly terrifying.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Choice also found examples of products that were cheaper at
Speaker 2: other times of the year than during Black Friday sales,
Speaker 2: which I think is an important note too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that is really interesting, and so the idea that
Speaker 1: these are the best deals you'll find all year might
Speaker 1: not necessarily be.
Speaker 2: True exactly, And this isn't just happening in Australia. The
Speaker 2: UK Consumer Watchdog tracked thousands of products last year and
Speaker 2: found the majority with the same price or cheaper at
Speaker 2: other times of the year. In fact, only two percent
Speaker 2: of products they tracked were genuinely cheapest on Black Friday itself.
Speaker 1: Gosh, I think tracking behaviors here would be so interesting.
Speaker 1: We've like been primed and conditioned to believe everything we
Speaker 1: are sold.
Speaker 2: Oh, the consumer psychology of it all fascinating is a
Speaker 2: whole other podcast.
Speaker 1: It really is. M That is obviously one side of
Speaker 1: the coin. What else has Choice highlighted could be happening here?
Speaker 2: They highlighted this artificial urgency, which we've touched on a
Speaker 2: little bit, but things like a countdown timer when you
Speaker 2: see warnings of limited stock. You know, you put something
Speaker 2: in your cart and it says only two left, hurry
Speaker 2: or sale end soon. Those kinds of messages are really
Speaker 2: designed to pressure you into buying something immediately without properly
Speaker 2: comparing the prices or thinking about whether you actually need
Speaker 2: the item. There's also this issue of what are called
Speaker 2: doorbustered deals. Now, these are heavily advertised products at genuinely
Speaker 2: low prices, but retailers will often have very limited stock,
Speaker 2: so it creates this hype. But the point really isn't
Speaker 2: for retailers to sell those items. They're trying to get
Speaker 2: you in store or onto their websites where you'll hopefully
Speaker 2: buy something else, or more than one thing. Another tactic
Speaker 2: is the bundle deal. You might see, you know, buy
Speaker 2: two get one free or similar offers, so you might
Speaker 2: not actually need three of something. You're not saving any money,
Speaker 2: you're spending more, but you feel like you're getting more.
Speaker 1: Goodness me, I'm just realizing how many of these tactics
Speaker 1: I've fallen victim.
Speaker 2: Too, you and me both.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Anyway, we'll be back with the rest of today's
Speaker 1: deep Dive after a short note from today's sponsor. Okay,
Speaker 1: Sha m I've already highlighted my vulnerabilities here. I am
Speaker 1: not a very savvy shofer, and I imagine that some
Speaker 1: of our listeners might be feeling the same way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for anyone who is feeling just a bit overwhelmed by
Speaker 1: everything that is going on around Black Friday. Do experts
Speaker 1: have any advance for shoppers about what to do how
Speaker 1: to navigate this period. Yeah.
Speaker 2: I think. First of all, it's not your fault. It's
Speaker 2: not our fault that we are so enticed by these deals.
Speaker 2: They are designed to get us excited and overwhelmed in
Speaker 2: this way to spend money. But there are a few
Speaker 2: practical steps from the experts, such as doing your research. Now.
Speaker 2: That TikTok example you gave Zara is a perfect one,
Speaker 2: because if there's something you're genuinely planning to buy and
Speaker 2: you have tracked it and take a note of prices
Speaker 2: leading up to the sales, you have more of a
Speaker 2: real world sense of the value of the deal you
Speaker 2: might or might not be getting. There are price tracking
Speaker 2: websites or browser extensions that you can install where you
Speaker 2: can see the price history of products, so do a
Speaker 2: little bit of digging there. Second, I know this is hard,
Speaker 2: but set a budget and stick to it. That's the
Speaker 2: advice that comes up time and time again. The whole
Speaker 2: point of these tactics is to get you to spend
Speaker 2: more than you planned, but having a really clear budget
Speaker 2: can help you stay focused and finally read the fine print.
Speaker 2: There are often tricky returns policies around heavily discounted items.
Speaker 2: Some retailers might make it harder to return sale items,
Speaker 2: so you need to know what your rights are in
Speaker 2: that case and ask yourself if you actually need it.
Speaker 2: I know that this doesn't really align with the girl
Speaker 2: math life that we live, but she asked, because something
Speaker 2: is on sale, yeah, doesn't mean you need to buy it.
Speaker 1: Well, I now have a running list on No one
Speaker 1: asks this, but I'm just going to share it. If
Speaker 1: I have a running list on my phone of like
Speaker 1: things I want, and I will just revisit it every month. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the number of things I take off that list because
Speaker 1: I have not thought about it since I first wrote
Speaker 1: it down. Like I'll have a moment where I'm like, oh,
Speaker 1: I need this, then I'll write it on the list,
Speaker 1: and then I only revisit it on a monthly basis,
Speaker 1: and then I realize, no, I in fact didn't need
Speaker 1: that top in four colors. Smith's so funny because in
Speaker 1: the moment, you feel like you need it and then
Speaker 1: when a better time lapses, you realize.
Speaker 2: You actually don't that it is actually incredible advice.
Speaker 1: I'm going to stay it for my discipline and my willpower.
Speaker 2: Something that happens to me if I impulse by is
Speaker 2: I will get something, and then a few months later
Speaker 2: I'll find almost the same version of it somewhere in
Speaker 2: my wardrobe. Like I'm often repeat purchasing and then realizing,
Speaker 2: oh wait, you have basically this dress already. You just
Speaker 2: forgot your own.
Speaker 1: There you go. We are all just the same at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, aren't we am? I do
Speaker 1: just want to end on I guess a local note.
Speaker 1: We've highlighted the fact that it was a US centric
Speaker 1: thing that has now spread globally, including here to Australia.
Speaker 1: How have OZSI retailers responded to Black Friday this year?
Speaker 2: There is a really interesting divide here between major retailers
Speaker 2: and small businesses. So overall, forty four percent of OUSSIE
Speaker 2: retailers are taking part in Black Friday this year. That's
Speaker 2: I thought, yeah, well, same, but it is up three
Speaker 2: percent from last year according to Deloitte. But we've also
Speaker 2: got this zero survey that found less than forty percent
Speaker 2: of small businesses are participating in Black Friday this year.
Speaker 2: That's down from twenty two percent last year, so a
Speaker 2: massive drop for small businesses. Many say that it's because
Speaker 2: they just can't compete with larger retailers who can offer
Speaker 2: all these deep discounts because of their scale, because of
Speaker 2: their inventory and stock. A lot of slow fashion retailers
Speaker 2: you will hear them talking about that. You know, they
Speaker 2: do their best to price their products fairly year round,
Speaker 2: and they don't have the inventory and the resources to
Speaker 2: match these kind of low low prices. So not every
Speaker 2: business is jumping on the bandwagon. Some are quite vocal
Speaker 2: about the pressure of these sales, and I think it's
Speaker 2: it's up to you as an individual, what businesses do
Speaker 2: you want to support and why. Before we wrap up, though,
Speaker 2: I do have a bonus tip for Black Friday, how
Speaker 2: to make lemonade out of your inbox being completely flooded.
Speaker 2: This is the time of year when you can unsubscribe
Speaker 2: from all the retailers you no longer care about. So
Speaker 2: I've been going through as like a little bit of
Speaker 2: a Black Friday mindfulness exercise.
Speaker 1: I have a culling, yeah, waking up every.
Speaker 2: Morning going unsubscribe, unsubscribed, unsubscribed.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you've just I mean just a really clear
Speaker 1: note tdaight not reachtailer. You stay subscribed to us. Hang
Speaker 1: out however, everyone else gone, get rid of that. Gone,
Speaker 1: And thank you so much for taking us through that,
Speaker 1: and I guess adding some sense to the madness around us.
Speaker 1: So helpful.
Speaker 2: Thank you, look after yourselves out there everyone the crazy world.
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining us for another episode of The
Speaker 1: Daily oz. We'll be back later today with the headlines
Speaker 1: as usual, but until then, have a great day. My
Speaker 1: name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Dunda Bungelung
Speaker 1: Caalcutin woman from Gadigol Country. The Daily oz acknowledges that
Speaker 1: this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadighl
Speaker 1: people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Speaker 1: Island and nations. We pay our respects to the first
Speaker 1: peoples of these countries, both past and present.