Shoppers advised to plan ahead and look over their budgets as Click Frenzy sales week begins

RMIT University school of economics Associate Professor Angel Zhong said it was hard not to get caught up in the hype.

"There is a behavioural bias called FOMO; 'Fear Of Missing Out'," she said.

"A lot of business act together to post a lot of lures [and] they are designed to create this FOMO and sense of fake demand.

"You kind of feel like there's so many deals around and, if everyone is buying, 'if I don't get anything I'm missing out,' so when they create these tactics [they're] inducing you to buy stuff."

Mozo personal finance expert Claire Frawley said Click Frenzy sales had grown significantly in Australia since its beginnings in 2012 and, this year, people were shopping to regain a sense of normality after the pandemic years.

"It was inspired by Black Friday in the US, it started off with just one event, which is this one, the main event, but they now have multiple throughout the years," she said.

"Spending figures officially from the ABS show that retail spending has continued to increase for the ninth consecutive month.

"People have an appetite for things on sale, so it is definitely building momentum and so many retailers are joining that it would be hard to find a retailer not doing some sort of Click Frenzy deal."

This year's Click Frenzy sales officially begin at 7pm Tuesday night AEST, but many retailers have started early.

If you are going to shop the sales, RMIT's Zhong said to go in with a plan.

"The first and foremost tip is to really plan your purchases in advance that is a really good tactic to avoid overspending because when Click Frenzy comes, as well as Black Friday, it is a short period with a lot of deals so if you don't know what you want to buy, you may buy things you don't really want or need," she said.

Ms Zhong also warns some retailers hike up base prices for Click Frenzy sales to make discounts appear bigger and she recommended consumers use price checking websites to confirm if you're really getting a good deal.

"There's a difference between applying a huge discount on original prices. For example, you can apply a 50 per cent discount on $200, or 20 per cent discount on $50 - that would make a huge difference, [but] it is the percentages that lure people in," she said.

"If you hear something that comes with a 50 per cent discount you will be more attracted to it, but in fact look at the base price that they've applied the discount."

OzBargain and MyShopping are some comparison sites Ms Zhong recommends to find base prices and price history on products.

Economist Emily Dabbs said some shoppers may use the sales to get their Christmas shopping in early.

"A lot of the sales also are a bit of a pull forward. So [consumers] might buy that that item on a click frenzy sale, but that means they won't buy it later in the year, especially in the lead up to Christmas," she said.

But this year many households will have less to spend in their budgets because of rising costs of living, from mortgage rates to food prices.

Ms Dabbs' advice to shoppers was to assess their budget before hitting that 'complete purchase' button.

"We do expect interest rates to continue to climb for a little bit further and so for those consumers with mortgages [those] mortgage repayments are likely to go up a bit further," she said.

"That's something to keep front of mind when you're looking at your budget for the year ahead."

READ MORE: