Our top tips for successful Black Friday selling.
Prepare for Black Friday
We are expecting another boost in Black Friday Ecommerce sales. With more and more people choosing to shop for Christmas earlier, Black Friday and Cyber Monday provide the perfect opportunity for retailers to offer discounts. Attract new customers and increase revenue and sales. In 2019, online retailers reported an increase in revenue by 240 – 380% during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday is a day where retailers offer their customers a discount to get them spending in the buildup to Christmas.
The official date this year is Friday 26th November 2021, although a lot of retailers will be offering discounts throughout the month. Black Friday began in the 1950s in Philadelphia, United States, but arrived on the scene in the United Kingdom much later. Amazon introduced Black Friday to their UK customers in 2010 and then it has become bigger and bigger ever since.
Why is Black Friday important?
In 2019 an estimated £1.5billion was spent online in the UK last year, an increase of 3.6% from the year before. Black Friday is now an online phenomenon, with in-store crowds and queuing quickly disappearing in the UK. Over 77% of Black Friday sales are now online and 2020 is due to have a surge in online buyers with Christmas looming and shops being physically closed due to lockdown.
Tips on successful Black Friday selling:
1. Expect the unexpected
The first thing you need to do is make sure you have enough of the stock you are looking to discount. You should test everything on the back and front end of your website to make sure everything is functional and working as it should before Black Friday. Make sure your site is Black Friday eCommerce ready and speak with your Web Agency if you are planning on doing some promotions for Black Friday to ensure that your website can deal with the volume of users.
2. Use Social Media
Use Social Media to build up the excitement around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Post about Black Friday and Cyber Monday including sneak peeks of the offers you’re going to provide. From here you can make an emotional connection to your customers and engage your target audience in your discounts before the date itself.
3. Target & Segment Your Emails
You need to make sure that you make your customers feel individual and special. Targeting your emails in certain segments based on a customer’s previous purchases is a way of doing this. You can build segments of seasonal shoppers from last year, VIP customers, gift-givers, and more.
5. Pick the right products
You need to make sure you pick the right products to discount for Black Friday. Carry out a conversion rate optimisation audit. Make sure your website has clear call to actions running throughout and that your products have persuasive descriptions.
5. Cross-Selling
Black Friday is a great time to up your Cross Selling game. If you currently have a Sale section on your website, alter the text to target Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers. This will also help you to up your cross-selling game. Holiday/Christmas gift guides are a great way to increase sales. Utilise your products related sections on your website. The related products are often purchased alongside other products.