The local retail market is gearing up for Click Frenzy, the self-appointed Australian version of next week’s American Cyber Monday deals – but they’ll be paying a hefty sum if they want to get in the limelight.
Marketing documents seen by SmartCompany reveal advertising deals on the main Click Frenzy page could cost as much as $30,000.
Some of the participating retailers are huge names, including Myer, Dick Smith, Kogan, Westfield, Target, Kathmandu, Bonds and dozens of smaller retailers.
While these companies will be running deals on their own websites, the Click Frenzy site is where they will be aggregated, and paying for some publicity will cost them.
Businesses will pay $30,000 for premium “featured deal” advertisements that will appear on the home page of the site. Prices for advertisements placed in a carousel which is likely to be even more expensive aren’t even specified.
Ads on state-wide leaderboards, excluding the home page, cost $30,000.
There are cheaper ads available, with prices ranging from anywhere between $2,000 and $6,000 to market products on a specific category page, while 30 ads available in a “terminating category” placement are worth anywhere from $3,000 to $6,000 each.
None of these prices include GST. Click Frenzy was contacted this morning, but wasn’t available to comment before publication.
But the costs don’t stop there. For each business taking part, they must pay $1,500 for an “initial brand set up” and a first listing, while additional listings cost $750. Ten or more receive a 10% discount.
A basic investment in the Click Frenzy discount program would cost even a business with a modest advertisement plan thousands of dollars. Click Frenzy says in the documents that given the success of Cyber Monday as an indicator, “Click Frenzy is going to be by far the biggest online sales event in Australian history”.
However, taking into account the high advertising rates, stores will have to make sure they get enough sales to break even. Given this is the first year a nation-wide sale of this type has occurred, it may be a tough ask.
The documents also spell out expectations for retailers, saying they must bring customer service expertise and experience to handle the high transaction volumes.
The sale is expected to start tonight, but not everyone is involved. David Jones has announced it won’t be taking part, and instead will be handling its own sale on its newly-refurbished website.
The sale is coincidentally named “Christmas Frenzy” and a spokesman told Fairfax the sale was designed to coincide with “competition activity”.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
