Bryce Coombe, Managing Director, Hypetap
Boxing Day has always been the unchallenged champion of Australian retail. It was the day shoppers queued outside stores, wallets ready, while marketers saved their biggest creative plays for post-Christmas clearances.
But Boxing Day has officially been dethroned as Australia’s peak retail sales day, and any brand still planning to make it a focus is likely entering into an arid zone where sales, consumers and interest are significantly decreased.
The problem for brand marketers is the strength of Black Friday has evolved faster than most brands’ marketing strategies and calendars.
Many retailers still plan their campaigns around short, high-intensity bursts of activity, but Hypetap Intelligence data shows the Black Friday conversation starts as early as August, and that brands waiting until November are entering a market that’s already crowded, noisy, and led by competitors who have been driving awareness and conversion for months.
This extended period is reshaping the consumer mindset and leaving Boxing Day – a day designed to stimulate sales for stock clearance after Christmas, not a day genuinely built on customer desire – fading into retail history.
The influencer economy has turbocharged this shift.
Our analysis of more than 4,000 influencer posts shows that 55% of Black Friday content now centres on online shopping, overtaking in-store mentions (45%) for the first time.
This means that the consumer journey is very much digital-first, with influencer marketing acting as the trusted, effective digital front-of-house. For brands, this is a massive opportunity. By aligning with the early-bird Black Friday conversation, they can secure prime attention before the market becomes oversaturated, capturing the most motivated shoppers when the cost-per-acquisition is still low.
This is not just a reflection of digital convenience; it’s a mirror of where influence truly lives. Consumers are discovering products and deals through creators they trust, often weeks before they even consider themselves to be “Christmas shopping.” The line between inspiration and transaction has dissolved.
What can marketers facing this new, elongated season do?
It starts with reframing Black Friday from a campaign moment to a campaign mindset.
Brand marketers using influencer-led content to build desire, not just to push discounts will see a notable difference in consumer engagement. Consumers are starting their research earlier, following creators for ideas, and expecting personalised, value-driven offers long before the sale banners go up.
Hypetap’s data shows a 28% year-on-year rise in captions mentioning both “Black Friday” and “gift.”
This tells us that the sale is no longer about impulse buying; it’s about early, strategic gifting. For marketers, that’s an invitation to shift creative storytelling towards the emotional payoff of giving, not just the logic of saving.
Those who include gifting narratives through influencer partnerships can capture both relevance and resonance, transforming performance marketing into brand building.
Equally, the insight that “clicks beat bricks” is not just an eCommerce talking point – it should be the starting point for rethinking marketing strategy.
The rise of digital-first discovery means the traditional media mix needs a rethink. Paid influencer activations, social proof, and first-party data collaboration will define success more than the blunt-force discounting that once ruled Boxing Day.
The smartest CMOs are using influencer intelligence to pinpoint when and where audiences engage, so every dollar spent aligns with real-time behaviour, not assumptions based on old calendars.
To win in this space, retail brand marketers need to consider three key steps:
Step one: activate now. You must use influencers early to seed your Black Friday message and build awareness and desire.
Step two: focus on gifting. Your campaign needs to be about the gift, not just the discount. Influencers are key to positioning your product as the perfect present, creating engaging, needs-based content that helps consumers solve their Christmas dilemma.
Step three: go all-in on digital commerce. Leverage influencers to create direct-to-purchase pathways with compelling social content that makes the online journey seamless. If your strategy isn’t digital-first, you’re missing much of the Black Friday audience.
The new battle for Christmas is now genuinely a battle for Black Friday. A possible four-month retail period, dictated and informed by consumer’s needs.
It’s a period of immense opportunities for the brands that can unlock and harness the chance, or lead to a perilous outcome for those who don’t.