Yesterday saw countless people warming up their fingers and memorising their credit card digits in anticipation of Click Frenzy – the online sale that stops the nation”, according to the official site.
The concept has been modelled on America’s Cyber Monday, which was launched as a way for online retailers to capitalise on the country’s Black Friday” sale phenomenon on the day following Thanksgiving – in other words, America’s equivalent of the Boxing Day sales.
Participating retailers in Australia’s Click Frenzy campaign include Myer, Westfield, Target, Dick Smith, and The Iconic. Beauty retailers taking part include , Terry White Chemists, Skincare Store and Priceline.
The idea calls on shoppers to register at clickfrenzy.com.au, and then shop the sales through the retailers’ own websites. The sale lasts for 24 hours, perhaps in an attempt for retailers to cash in on consumers’ pre-Christmas impulse shopping decisions. Unfortunately, not even the über-prepared organisers of the event anticipated the success of the event, with the site crashing as soon as 7pm hit. The site remained down for several hours, prompting the #clickfail hashtag to start trending on Twitter.
The pressure would certainly work on me, as I’ve been known to make bad internet shopping decisions in the past. The virtual reality, click-now-or-you’ll-miss-out angst really affects me in a bad way, which is why I have unsubscribed from all group-buying sites and will therefore be sitting Click Frenzy out. My colleague Yelena would disagree though – a discounted price tag never compromises her good eye for fashion, which is why she’ll often be called to the desks of other bd staffers to offer purchasing advice before they make the click.
If you did get involved in the shopping opportunity, we’d love to hear what you thought – did you pick up a bargain? Did the technical issues frustrate you? Any purchase regret?