Despite growing cost of living pressures for consumers, new research finds that retailers are anticipating a successful peak season, with 79% saying they expect a higher volume of sales this year and 77% expecting a higher margin.
New research from Flintfox, the intelligent pricing specialist, has revealed businesses are fully committed to Black Friday, with almost all of those surveyed (96%) planning to introduce price promotions this peak season, and 85% stating that these discounts will be bigger than in previous years. Half (55%) of businesses also anticipate that sales will be spread across a wider range of products than last year.
“While showing confidence in their approach to discounts and promotions, 79% of businesses did have concerns around their financial performance this peak season,” according to Flintfox. “Looking at the market conditions that were influencing this in addition to worries around consumers spending less (65%), respondents reported inventory challenges (62%), disrupted supply chains (65%) and surplus stock (49%) as issues they anticipated impacting their profitability over peak.”
With all these factors needing to be considered, nearly all businesses surveyed (91%) agreed that sales pricing is more complex this year compared to last year.
Flintfox Chief Executive John Moss says: “Against a backdrop of ongoing economic turmoil and inflationary pressures, it’s good to see retailers in Australia are still feeling positive heading into peak season.
“Pricing promotions during peak can be a huge draw for customers, but to really make the most of them, businesses will need to be sure that they have the ability to execute their pricing strategy, and quickly pivot to respond to consumer demand, all the while protecting margin and profits at such a crucial time of year.”
