Now that the dust has settled on the New Year period, it is clear to see that Black Friday has overtaken Boxing Day as Australia’s dominant sales event. While Boxing Day remains important for retailers, it has been reframed as a value-conscious recovery to the Christmas season, rather than the doorbuster frenzy it used to be.
Black Friday hits new records
CommBank data shows that spending increased by 4.6% compared with the 2024 Black Friday period. With retailers now stretching promotions over several weeks, Black Friday has become a multi‑week shopping phenomenon, rather than a single‑day spike
Gift Cards – Big on Boxing Day
Many shoppers purchase Christmas gifts during the Black Friday sales, shifting the significance of Boxing Day to a “clearance” period buoyed by the gift cards received during the holiday season. Despite this, the Australian Retailers Association estimates that over $1.5 Billion was spent on Boxing Day itself, a 4.3% increase on last year. Financial pressures have resulted in shoppers becoming more selective and focusing on essential purchases during the Boxing Day period, this reinforces Boxing Day’s new role as a “second chance” for discounts and gifting, even as the hype moves toward Black Friday.
Strategies for Retailers
For retailers, the new reality calls for a more segmented approach to the peak season: use Black Friday to capture customers early and encourage demand through steep discounts, then deploy Boxing Day for gift card redemption and more disciplined markdowns.
Those that align inventory, pricing and marketing around these distinctions are better placed to turn Black Friday spending into sustained trading strength through the entire holiday period.
