The Golden Quarter Interviews: Click Frenzy with Grant Arnett

In the second of our November retail event interviews we discuss Australia’s pre-eminent online retail event, Click Frenzy, with co-founder Grant Arnott. Grant discusses the big day’s origins, teething problems and adoption by brands and consumers alike including how retailers see new customer acquisition as a core focus of their Click Frenzy strategies. For the full interview listen to October’s Awin Talks podcast.

The largest online shopping event in Australia, Click Frenzy is set to hit the retail headlines again on 13th November 2019 with its unique blend of killer deals and compelling content. Billed as ‘The Sale That Stops a Nation’, Click Frenzy enters its seventh year in 2018 with the owners promising the biggest and best yet.

We spoke to Click Frenzy co-founder Grant Arnott about the shopping phenomenon, how it’s taken root in the Australian retail landscape and how changing economic fortunes have resulted in consumers embracing commerce.

Why is Click Frenzy so important?

Click frenzy is the original 24-hour shopping event which we launched in 2012 and from there we were able to grow a brand very quickly. Subsequently we’ve launched two other key events, one in May and a travel focused one in February and having amazing click frenzy deals.

What was the rationale behind the event?

We wanted to have an iconic Australian event. We knew there was some impact from Black Friday and Cyber Monday but wanted something that resonated locally. Rather than just having international retailers driving sales offshore, we wanted to put a spotlight on local retailers.

How did you gauge what the interest would be and build the brand?

We had access to another brand called Power Retail, a news source in Australia, so we were able to canvass the database and see what the appetite would be. We had a huge response and that helped catapult us really quickly. In that first year it became much bigger than we expected, showing there was a latent appetite in Australia for getting involved in online shopping events. Before that Australia’s geographic isolation meant we didn’t really feel we had the ability to run an event like it.

 What challenges have you faced and how have you tackled them?

We had some technical challenges in our first event, for us the genesis of Click Frenzy was to try and create a 24-hour shopping event, but we had no idea it would capture national attention so quickly. The traffic volumes grew about ten times beyond what we anticipated meaning we struggled with the load, but this was important in managing our expectations next time. Fortunately we haven’t had significant issues since.

How do brands approach Click Frenzy?

The perennial favorite for us is always going to be selecting quality brands who can offer the highest possible discount, that’s a bit of a no-brainer. However, we treat this as a new customer acquisition opportunity. We tease out those rare online shoppers, in large volumes, and ask brands to stretch themselves but with a new customer focus. We find retailers are getting a lot smarter about buying stock just for the Click Frenzy customer. You may compromise on margin but you do have the opportunity to find people who haven’t shopped with you before. The loyalty piece, post-event, becomes important. Measuring lifetime value is a key focus.

How do you help shape a brand’s strategy to help drive quality sales?

We highlight our case studies and are fortunate to have built a good database that helps us demonstrate the longer-term value. We guide them through the different types of offer and present the opportunities around the type of customer.

We encourage them to join the dots on converting those one-time shoppers to long term customers with a great follow up strategy

What has Click Frenzy done over the years to create their own retail brand?

We’re very focused on our brand and the creation of our content. We focus on the quality of the retailers we feature as well. We will knock back certain advertisers who we don’t feel reflect the quality of what we’re trying to achieve. We’re known for cool promotional activity such as subscriber only specials and treasure hunts, we’re launching an ‘iron-shopper’ event this year to try and find Australia’s best online shopper with participants able to win a $50k prize by completing a series of challenges, so we know we’re about theatre and believe this helps build our brand.

What is your perception of Australian consumers versus other consumers?

They’re much more open to online shopping. Australian retailers were slow to join the party but I think Click Frenzy has helped drive greater investment in the online space. Several other things have happened. The Australian dollar is now lower compared to the US dollar and Euro so imports cost a lot more which means local retail brands have become more attractive, which in turn has led to those brands investing in offering better logistics and customer service.