Shoes on the front foot for consumers during Black Friday sales

The results found that spend was up 20 per cent compared with the week prior, with shoe stores attracting the most buyers, up 146 per cent. Camera stores were also up 116 per cent, with electronic and clothing stores close behind, both up 65 per cent and 64 per cent, respectively.

NAB executive for small business, Ana Marinkovic, said this was a clear boost for businesses, with people out and about making the most of the sales available.

“We’re navigating a different economic environment, but our data highlights the resilience of the Australian economy,” Ms Marinkovic said.

“Over 40 per cent of Australians are now creating and following a budget, with people planning out their shopping more thoroughly while hunting down the best sales.

“Each year the deals get bigger and better, with many Australians waiting for the American inspired Black Friday and Cyber Monday discounts before doing their gift shopping.”

The data also showed Australians preferred online shopping to brick-and-mortar stores, with online spend up 24 per cent and spend at physical terminals up 11 per cent on the week prior.

Broken down by state, the biggest increases in spend were seen in Victoria and Tasmania, up 20 per cent, followed by ACT and Western Australia, up 17 per cent and 12 per cent, respectively.

Ms Marinkovic also encouraged shoppers to remain vigilant for dodgy text messages about parcel deliveries, with such scams even more prevalent at this time of year.

“Around these key shopping periods every year we see an increase in dodgy phishing messages and spoofing scams that pretend to be from a delivery company,” Ms Marinkovic said.

“If in doubt, contact the delivery company directly through their official channels and never click on links in suspicious looking messages.”