Click Frenzy Breaks Records in May 2020

Click Frenzy has been a major event in the Australian eCommerce calendar for over 7 years now but the unique circumstances surrounding the latest installment have seen it perform unlike it ever has before.

COVID-19 restrictions have had a significant impact on the digital retail landscape in Australia. The rate of online shopping increased as people were confined to their homes and many physical stores were forced to shut or limit visitors, while the economic impacts of the pandemic have also placed greater strain on household budgets and caused people to become more careful with their spending.

These factors combined to create an environment tailored towards Click Frenzy’s offering and helped it deliver record figures as a result.

Grant Arnott, Managing Director of Click Frenzy, explained the context surrounding this year’s edition. “In March, we weren’t even sure Click Frenzy Mayhem would go ahead. However, the results were stunning and a much-needed boost for retail overall after a torrid month in April. The theme for the event was “Let’s Regrow”, and this seemed to have brought out the best in Australian shoppers who we urged to support Australian retail.”

Click Frenzy Mayhem kicked off at 7 PM on Tuesday 19th May and finished at 11:59 PM on Thursday the 21st, which was 24 hours longer than it typically runs.

Traffic to Click Frenzy’s Site Doubled Year-over-Year

The Click Frenzy site received 1.9 million visits during its latest event (including the day before and the day after), which was a 103% increase on both the Nov 2019 and May 2019 events. Even when accounting for the extra day during the May 2020 promotion, the daily average visitation was still up 62-63% on both of last year’s key periods.

“The data from Similarweb’s platform certainly stacks up with what we saw during the event, with peak concurrent visitors hitting 165,000 at launch time on the Tuesday of Mayhem. The strength of the deals across all retail categories really did the trick with visitors, with high engagement and page views up 219% YoY,” said Arnott.

“This was a lot better than we anticipated given the strange times we have endured, and it’s great to see the huge appetite for online shopping with Australian retailers.”

However, traffic to the Click Frenzy site is not the whole story. It is also important that this traffic converts into visits for the brands and retailers partnering with Click Frenzy. The Top 50 partners (taken from Click Frenzy’s website) saw 47% growth during Click Frenzy (Tue-Thur) compared to the previous week. Looking at the actual event itself, traffic to these sites on the first day of Click Frenzy was 93% higher than the previous Tuesday. This highlights the major impact that this event has had on traffic to these partner sites.

Telstra and Adidas Were the Top Performers; Electrical and Fashion Were the Most Popular Categories

Electrical and Home Office was the most visited category on the Click Frenzy site, seeing more than twice as much traffic as Fashion in second place.

A key factor behind this may have been the overflow from the Go Nuts promotion offering people the opportunity to buy popular products such as AirPods, iPhones, MacBooks, Nintendo Switches, and PlayStation 4s for as little as $3.

In terms of the most popular brands on Click Frenzy, Telstra recorded the highest number of on-site visits, largely due to its special offers on SIM-Only and Broadband plans for new customers and its Xbox All Access offer targeting gamers. This may be linked to individuals and families looking to reduce their monthly overheads and keep themselves or their kids entertained.

Sporting equipment was also highly popular, with both Adidas and Rebel Sport ranking in the Top 5. It appears that, despite being told to stay indoors for the last few months, exercise and fitness have remained a top priority for Australians.

A Strong Brand and Digital Word-of-Mouth Played a Key Role

Most of Click Frenzy’s traffic came from Organic Search (55%) and Direct (33%), and with 95% of all Organic Search traffic to the site containing variations of “click frenzy” or “clickfrenzy”, it is clear that the Click Frenzy brand is very strong and responsible for most of the traffic.

However, Referral traffic also played a significant role, being the source of 8% of all visits to the site.

OzBargain is the main site that stands out, being the 3rd largest individual driver of traffic to Click Frenzy (5%). This mostly came from the OzBargain community sharing links in the online forum to alert fellow members about the best deals, revealing the important role that organic word-of-mouth can play in driving visits.

Publishers were also key drivers of this event, with sites such as Lifehacker.com.au and News.com.au ranking 2nd and 3rd, respectively, for organic search traffic from “click frenzy” keywords. They did this by creating content highlighting the best Click Frenzy deals, which highlights the fact that shoppers are interested in resources to help them navigate the large volume of offers available.

Click Frenzy has shown that the appetite for online shopping and deal-hunting is stronger than ever. This demonstrates the need for brands and retailers to accelerate their digital transformation efforts and ensure they are working towards a seamless omnichannel experience for their customers. However, at a time when household budgets are under more pressure, eCommerce sites must also find the right balance between creating special offers and getting caught in an endless cycle of discounting.