Despite growing cost of living pressures for consumers, new research finds that retailers are anticipating a successful peak season, with 79 per cent saying they expect a higher volume of sales this year and 77 per cent expecting a higher margin.
Flintfox, specialists in intelligent pricing, recently released research which has revealed businesses were fully committed to Black Friday, with almost all of those surveyed (96 per cent) planning to introduce price promotions this peak season, and 85 per cent stating that these discounts will be bigger than in previous years.
Half (55 per cent) 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 per cent of businesses did have concerns around their financial performance this peak season.
Looking at the market conditions that were influencing this in addition to worries around consumers spending less (65 per cent), respondents reported inventory challenges (62 per cent), disrupted supply chains (65 per cent) and surplus stock (49 per cent) as issues they anticipated impacting their profitability over the peak season.
With all these factors needing to be considered, nearly all businesses surveyed (91 per cent) agreed that sales pricing is more complex this year compared to last year.
John Moss, chief executive of Flintfox said, “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.”