The Event That Drives Sales Up 45 Per Cent

With this week marking the fifth ‘Click Frenzy Mayhem’ online sales event, we asked the experts how Australian retailers can best capitalise on the lucrative event.

Ecommerce has emerged as one of the fastest growing industries globally in recent years.

Locally, Australia’s ecommerce market is currently valued at $23 billion, but this is expected to balloon to $60 billion by 2022.

Special sales events such as the Click Frenzy Mayhem sale, which begins this Tuesday, help retailers get a slice of this billion-dollar pie.

Online advertising company Criteo has crunched the numbers from last year’s Click Frenzy Mayhem event, analysing website traffic and transactions from 151 Australian retailers.

It found that sales increased from eight per cent to 45 per cent during the Click Frenzy week.

Conversion rates were also up from ten per cent to 15 per cent in the same period.

Speaking with B&T, Criteo commercial director AUNZ Colin Barnard said Click Frenzy has now established itself in the world of Australian online shopping.

“Click Frenzy has become a part of the Australian consumer psyche and is a peak sales period for many Australian businesses with the opportunity to grow sales by up to 45 per cent, according to Criteo analysis,” he said.

But according to Barnard, businesses must work hard to ensure they capitalise on the event.

“For businesses taking part in Click Frenzy, there’s value in having a solid plan in place to start promoting their deals at least two weeks in the lead up to Click Frenzy rather than relying on Click Frenzy to do all the advertising,” he said.

“By doing the marketing yourself, this will help build awareness among your key target audience, so they can plan ahead of time.

“This is where serving online ads to customers at relevant moments comes in.”

And with ecommerce tipped to continue in its growth, online sales events like Click Frenzy may start to pop up more and more, according to Barnard.

“There’s plenty of opportunities to make these peak sales events even bigger and we now know consumers will respond.

“You only need to look at China’s Singles Day, or Black Friday and Cyber Monday in the US, these sales events are far greater than in Australia, however, can provide an insight into what is to come,” Barnard said.

Remember mobile

According to Criteo’s research, the majority (56 per cent) of Australian shoppers accessed the Click Frenzy sales via mobile in 2018.

This means retailers should ensure their sites are welcoming for mobile users.

“Some retailers have fantastic mobile shopping experiences, while others are lacking,” Barnard said.

“There’s too many that feature clunky designs and tricky navigation.

“Businesses must look at ways of optimising their mobile shopping experience alongside a supporting website to take advantage of easy click wins, this can be as simple as minimising your file sizes!”

Keeping secure

But with an increased opportunity for sales comes an increased security risk as scammers prey on excited shoppers.

Sophos global solutions engineer Aaron Bugalis has warned Aussie shoppers to stay vigilant while they shop, as hackers know that users will have their defences down during the commotion of the sale.

“Consumers place a lot of trust in brands, which is often exploited by online scammers, who lure them in using phishing emails,” Bugal said.

“These scammers are trying to get valuable information such as personally identifiable information (PII) and credit card details, which doesn’t seem unusual when you’re trying to make online purchases.”

He also gave out some tips to help shoppers avoid being conned while snatching up a bargain.

“Never fill in purchase details on a website that doesn’t use a secure (encrypted) connection,” Bugal warned.

“Don’t be fooled by padlock images on the webpage itself: look for the padlock in your browser’s address bar.”

He also advised that “if it sounds too good to be true, it is too good to be true” and to scrutinise bank statements after making purchases for any signs of fraud.

The Click Frenzy Mayhem sale takes place on 21 May at 7pm (AEST) and will run for 29 hours, concluding at midnight (AEST) on Wednesday 22 May.