Why Waitangi Day never became a retail sales festival

Thursday, 6 February 2020

Waitangi Day remains a day for reflection, culture, politics, and trips to the beach.

Waitangi Day will never become a top shopping sales festival, retail experts believe.

Many public holidays have become associated with retail sales, with shops trying to woo in customers by creating festival-like events in a bid to boost visitor numbers.

But while some retailers have advertised Waitangi Day sales, the day remains stubbornly uncommercial.

Paymark, which tracks consumer spending, said Waitangi Day did not register as a big sales day for retailers, paling in comparison to consumer spending on Anzac and Labour Day weekends.

Other sale days like Boxing Day continue to eclipse Waitangi Day for retail spending.

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Waitangi Day also lost out to imported shopping festivals. Black Friday and Cyber Monday migrated from the United States, said Michael Lee, associate professor at the University of Auckland's Business School.

'There seems to be a desire from retailers to match these overseas retail events like Singles Day (November 11) and Black Friday (November 27 this year), and even Halloween, which was never big in New Zealand, but it is becoming bigger.'

Lee believed retailers had found fertile ground for importing overseas sales days as the rise in online shopping had exposed New Zealand shoppers to the shopping festivals of the US and China.

'There's definitely a trend, but whether New Zealanders are buying into it,' he said.

'I would like to think we are a bit more resistant and sceptical when we see this sort of promotion.'

Lee said sales festivals were important to retailers as a class of 'deal-prone' shoppers had emerged, trained by a cycle of constant sales to only buy things when they were on 'sale'.

'We have been trained into waiting and going from one deal to the next deal,' Lee said.

Counterbalancing the sale cycle trend were a group of retailers which largely rejected sales cycles in favour of everyday low prices, with examples including Kmart and The Warehouse, though they weren't averse to clearing unsold stock with real discounts.

'There's definitely a trend towards that from retailers,' Lee said.

Greg Harford from Retail NZ said while there had been businesses holding Waitangi Day sales for many years, like Briscoes, it was not one of the big shopping days for New Zealand.

'We've certainly got shopping on our agenda, but you are not going to see a shopping frenzy like Black Friday,' Harford said.

Waitangi Day also came hard on the heels of Christmas, the January holiday season and the costly back-to-school period, said Stephen Bridle, managing director of the Marketview research company.

Weather may also play a part in Waitangi Day failing to take off as a major shopping day, retail experts believe.