Smaller stores holding their own in Black Friday crush, Palmerston North retailers say

Tuesday, 21 November 2017

Retailers don't seem to be missing out on many customers through online Black Friday sales.

Retailers say Kiwis are enthusiastically embracing the American tradition of Black Friday sales to start the Christmas shopping season, particularly online.

And the hunt for bargains does not seem to be hurting New Zealand retailers.

Black Friday is this week.

For Noel Leeming, it is the second-biggest trading day after Boxing Day last year, and after that success, general manager of merchandise Jason Bell said it would step up its offerings this weekend.

* Black Friday for brick and mortar shops as online sales surge

* Retail researcher warns of boxing day sales slump after Kiwis spend big in Black Friday sales

* Kiwis already well under way with Christmas shopping**

The Warehouse has its own spin with Red Friday, which chief executive Pejman Okhovat said was gaining in popularity each year.

Palmerston North retailers said that despite the increased competition with online sales and big discounts from big chains, the phenomenon wasn't necessarily hurting smaller local stores.

Retail New Zealand spokesman Greg Harford said Black Friday and its partner Cyber Monday were a longstanding American retail tradition that had caught on in New Zealand in the past couple of years.

It had started with Kiwi consumers looking at the sales that happened overseas on Black Friday and some of New Zealand's larger retailers had responded by offering Black Friday sales of their own.

'We don't think it's necessarily leading to a big change on overall spending patterns, but Black Friday sales and similar are making great deals available to consumers earlier on in the Christmas season.'

Retail NZ is expecting the trend to increase.

Leader and Watt director Peter Watt said Black Friday wasn't necessarily drawing customers away from the smaller, bricks and mortar local stores.

Far from losing out as shoppers rushed for deals online, Leader and Watt got a boost from the early Christmas season spending frenzy, he said.

The store specialises in 'big box' items – fridges, freezers, washing machines and big-screen televisions. So the business wasn't competing for the sales of smaller electronics and items under 25 kilograms seemed to be the most popular in online sales, he said.

Leader and Watt, part of the 100% group, matched bigger chains' Black Friday specials, but with the advantage of same-day delivery and installation. Local service was something 'online sales don't do well'.

Fashion retailer Kilt's Palmerston North manager Jessica Braddock said the growing popularity of online Black Friday sales could pull a larger share of pre-Christmas retail spending in the future. But Kilt wasn't worried about it yet.

Kilt competed with the ease and convenience of online shopping by building a reputation for quality local fashion, she said.

'Big online sales [like Black Friday] do have a little bit of an impact on us.

'But with us being New Zealand-designed-and-made we have a bit of an edge that helps counter that.'

Fashion designer Melissa Williams-Lamb started the nationwide chain in Palmerston North in 2003.

Kilt was unlikely to adopt Black Friday sales because the store didn't really do sales in general, Braddock said.

City councillor Gabrielle Bundy-Cooke, a salon owner, said she would love to see local shops and shoppers adopt Black Friday.

A straw poll of her customers showed most people knew about it, although mainly through online sites.

She has spent Thanksgiving and Black Friday in America, and said she loved it.

'We had our big meal for Thanksgiving that night and then, instead of going to bed, we went to the sales. I love the idea of going shopping at midnight. And they were real sales.'

She thought as New Zealanders had an appetite for Halloween, it was inevitable they would adopt Black Friday as well.