Australia Post Expects Record Breaking Black Friday/Cyber Monday Shopping Weekend

Australia Post is anticipating this year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend to be the biggest weekend in online shopping yet, eclipsing last year’s event.

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In 2020, 2.2 million Australian households took advantage of Cyber Monday bargains, and this year is expected to be even bigger. Cyber Monday follows the Click Frenzy sales, which drove a 16 percent spike in online purchases across the week of 13 November.

Last November was the biggest month in Australian online shopping history, with an increase of 55% year-over-year. The two weeks on either side of the 2020 Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales were also the biggest weeks as well.

Australia Post Executive General Manager Business, Government and International Gary Starr said he expects savvy shoppers to take full advantage of the online sales and get their Christmas presents sorted as early as possible, with plenty of time left before Australia Post’s recommended last sending dates.

“We know people are keeping a close eye on the big online sales events and planning ahead for what they want to buy, so we’re expecting this year to be huge. Immediately following last year’s bumper cyber sales weekend, we saw two of our busiest days ever, handling 3.22 million parcels on December 1 and 3.12 million on December 2,” Starr added.

“And to make sure we get these purchases to people’s doors as quickly as possible we’ve set ourselves up with 30 percent more processing capacity, more planes in the air, and thousands of extra people to sort and deliver parcels, including weekends and twilight deliveries where they’re most needed.”

With many shoppers starting off early this year, Australians are expected to spend even more than the record-breaking $5.57 billion they spent last November.

Australia Post Sending Deadlines

Australia Post reminds customers to send their Christmas gifts by December 13 for Parcel Post in metro areas, and by December 20 for Express Post. For some locations, including Western Australia, the Northern Territory, and outside of metro areas, Australia Post recommends sending gifts earlier.

Australia Post’s mobile app makes it easy to track deliveries, giving users notifications when items are due to arrive and the option to choose the location where they want to receive deliveries, which includes any of the over 1,000 free 24/7 Parcel Locker locations across Australia.