The biggest online shopping month of the year is here and is anticipated to be the largest yet, as inflationary pressures drive more Aussies to shop bargains in the lead up to Christmas.

Australia Post is gearing up for Christmas and November’s cyber sales frenzy, starting today with Click Frenzy, by adding more capacity across its workforce, more planes and more posties.

Last year Australia Post delivered more than 21 million parcels across the cyber sales event period with the extended Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales helping to make November 2021 the biggest month in Australian online shopping history.

This year the shopping madness is expected to be even bigger than last year, kicking off with Click Frenzy (8-10 November), and followed by Singles Day (11 November), Black Friday (25 November) and Cyber Monday (28 November).

Australia Post Executive General Manager Customer & Commercial Gary Starr said the November cyber sales month was a perfect opportunity for Australians to plan and make the most of the online deals available so that they can get their presents delivered in time for Christmas.

“These sales are the peak online shopping events of the year and we’re expecting to see the biggest November ever with millions of Australians bagging a bargain ahead of Christmas,” he said.

“To ensure we get deliveries to people’s doors as quickly as possible we’ve been busy recruiting up to 6,000 new team members to help sort and deliver parcels, including weekends and twilight deliveries where they’re most needed.

“It’s a busy time of year so we’d encourage everyone to get organised and get their parcels in the post ahead of the Christmas rush.”

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are among the biggest dates on the Australian shopping calendar, with 4.67 million households shopping online during the two-week period of 21 November to 4 December last year¹.

Last year’s record November topped November 2020’s numbers by 13.6 per cent, with pet products, tools, gardening equipment, footwear, fashion accessories and beauty the most popular purchases¹.

With inflationary pressures impacting household budgets, Australia Post is forecasting a modest three per cent² year-on-year growth for online purchases in the five weeks leading up to Christmas. Savvy shoppers are expected to prepare well ahead of the festive rush, with about 40 per cent ² of customers planning to buy early and stash Christmas presents well in advance.

Any customers wanting to send cards and gifts for Christmas are encouraged to check auspost.com.au/Christmas for the domestic and international last sending dates, which vary depending on the destination.

¹ Inside Australian Online Shopping eCommerce update December 2021

² Inside Australian Online Shopping eCommerce update September 2022