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Some useful Black Friday tips for e-Commerce stores. We look at the dos and don'ts in terms of preparing for Black Friday.

Optimise Your E-Commerce Store This Black Friday

Post-Black Friday Review

 

Another Black Friday record has been broken this year, with the British retail sector enjoying £7 billion in profit. Unsurprisingly, the majority of this expenditure took place online.

The shift in consumer behaviour this year has resulted in a changing nature of Black Friday. We’ve seen a decline in reports of horror stories of shopper stampedes and never-ending queues due to a reduction of in-store traffic and an ever-growing increase in online retail traffic.

 

Who were the winners and who lost out?

Every year, we hear of success stories whereby stores fully take advantage of the holiday shopping season and maximise their revenue by following the Black Friday strategy which we laid out below in our previous blog. Black Friday horror stories do still exist, however, especially for e-Commerce businesses.

Let’s take a look at who were this year’s winners and losers…

 

Who was prepared?

As we noted prior to the big event, it is vital to inform potential customers of holiday sales and deals in advance.

Amazon reaped the rewards of the bonanza, by informing consumers of their free holiday shipping service to non-Prime members at the beginning of November. By doing this and expanding their physical footprint by creating a paper toy catalogue, Amazon sure were winners in this year’s retail frenzy.

 

Who rewarded their customers?

Promotions and rewards to loyal customers were implemented by many online retailers. Kohl’s hit a record number of online sales this Black Friday, partly thanks to their “Kohl’s Cash” loyalty program.

Kohl’s were also on the ball with their in-store experience for consumers, placing this offer both online and in-store.

 

Who optimised their website?

It appears J. Crew overlooked this vital point of preparation this year. Although they offered 50% off all items online, the brand left many consumers frustrated and confused as to why such a big franchise hadn’t ensured optimal website performance for the most profitable day of the year.

 

“Black Friday is an incredible opportunity for online retailers to offer their best deals, but preparation is key. There’s nothing more frustrating than spotting a product you like and clicking through to a website that’s too slow to load.” – Lawrence Jones, UKFast

 

Who maintained their inventory?

Stores such as Nintendo Switch did not best prepare their stock inventory, as they sold out way before Thanksgiving was over!

Multiple out-of-stock popup messages appeared on customers’ browsers, which amounted to an approximately $120 million loss for the retailer.

 


 

Optimise Your E-Commerce Store This Black Friday

 

Black Friday has been a key part of Thanksgiving celebrations for decades. Although, surprisingly, its roots refer back to something much darker than the joys of discounts, rewards and freebies. Instead, the term “Black Friday” was first coined in the 1800s in light of a stock market crash.

Over time, those negative connotations have worn away and Black Friday has transformed into a 24-hour retail frenzy, which sets the tone for generous spending over the holiday season.

Last year saw a new Black Friday record, with UK consumers collectively spending £1.4 billion online and the US generating $5.03 billion from online sales – a huge proportion of which took place on mobile.

But have the gloomy undertones of Black Friday’s history disappeared for online retailers?

Let’s check out some lessons we’ve learnt from past Black Friday events while we anticipate what’s in store for us this week.

 

black friday e-commerce sales laptop

 

Start early

 

Research shows that over 50% of US retail consumers begin planning their holiday shopping months before Black Friday.

This only creates more opportunities for e-Commerce stores to lure in their existing and potential consumers. It’s important to give these retail enthusiasts a taste of what’s to come by sending out targeted email marketing campaigns, offering rewards to loyal customers and circulating promotional content across all social media channels.

 

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Plan your sales

 

Not only should retailers prepare their marketing strategy, but it is also essential to plan which discounts will be applied to which products and on which dates.

Shopify has drafted a Black Friday sales plan to help online retailers avoid a last-minute rush to try and get rid of everything in their store.

 

Create an attractive Black Friday landing page

 

Having a clear and engaging landing page is a great way to take advantage of early bird buyers. AO.com’s landing page for 2017 exemplifies how this should be done:

 

ao.com black friday 2017 landing page

 

A clear contact form to keep potential customers updated with upcoming and present Black Friday deals, a direct link to the shop and promotion of their free delivery service form a great strategy to increase conversion.

Prepare for increased demand and traffic

 

A steep increase in traffic and conversion to your online store is exactly what you want. Right? But not if it’s going to freeze and crash your website.

This is the last thing any consumer or online retailer wants to see on their screen amidst the Black Friday mania:

 

argos black friday landing page crash

 

currys black friday landing page freeze

 

To avoid going down the same road as Argos and Currys, make sure you test your server load capacity.

As well as this, ensure that all other areas of your supply chain are prepared for an increase in demand, for example, suppliers, shipping service, inventory levels, and make backup plans incase worst case scenario arises.

 

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The “phygital” trend

 

As we are all aware, digital influence is rising within e-Commerce. But that’s not to say that physical retail is dead. In-store experiences drive around 37% of online traffic, therefore it is crucial that retail businesses combine their physical and digital (“phygital”) efforts to promote Black Friday.

 

Responsiveness

 

To keep user experience at an optimal level, e-Commerce sites must be responsive across all devices and browsers. According to eMarketer, around 58.9% of online transactions over this past year were made through mobile phones, therefore, this Black Friday a huge proportion of purchases can be expected to be made on mobile.

 

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