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Industry-wide studies on consumer behavior from the Cohley Insights team.
A Black Friday ecommerce strategy should be at the top of your brand's to-do list. Yet creating a plan to tackle Black Friday can be intimidating. To succeed on one of the biggest online shopping days, your brand must have a plan. We bring you through what you need to know about Black Friday and how to get started on your planning.
People shop online throughout the year, and Black Friday is no exception. When it comes to holiday shopping, consumers are opting for purchasing the best deals in the comfort of their homes. When asking shoppers why they are skipping store visits on Black Friday. It found that 60.8% reported "too many crowds" as their number one reason. detailed
Black Friday made history in 2020 with $9 billion in sales. Making it the second-largest online spending day in the United States. The pandemic affected consumer shopping habits as safety measures limited gathering. Safety restrictions have prevented much of the stress associated with holiday shopping.
Black Friday online gives shoppers access to many stores and deals. Unlike holiday shopping in stores, shoppers can research your product availability in real-time. They can also weigh your offerings across many online stores.
In anticipation of the shopping day, your brand will send out digital advertisements. When you create a Black Friday advertisement, you put your brand on the more radar of shoppers. You might choose to tease select products or discounts that will excite consumers.
There are many benefits for e-commerce businesses on Black Friday. Serving as an online store, you are not limited to a physical space. If your location is in California, you can have consumers all over the country. Having a digital store allows anyone online to discover your brand and offerings.
On your e-commerce site, you can signal the approach of Black Friday deals with the design of your site. Amazon is a perfect example of using design for Black Friday. On their home page, they use holiday-related images, with messaging highlighting holiday shopping.
Black Friday for retailers is one of the top shopping days in the holiday season. People are eager and willing to shop more for deals for their holiday celebrations. Shoppers may take this time to impulse buy items that usually would be out of their budget. When surveying impulse buyers, 85% report doing so to take advantage of a deal or discount.
Your brand needs to plan a Black Friday eCommerce strategy. If you go into Black Friday without a strategy you risk losing out on opportunities that benefit you. As well, unfocused efforts will waste your companies resources.
Planning ensures that you are ready for an increased volume of attention. Without preparation, you are vulnerable to issues that can affect customers' experiences. If your visitor traffic doubles on Black Friday but your site is not ready to handle the increase. Your site navigation can influence if a customer picks you or a competitor.
In recent years, Black Friday advertisements are being released earlier. Companies are taking it another step by using creative ways to get ahead of Black Friday. They are creating campaigns that resemble the excitement of high discounts before holidays.
Amazon is a prime example of pre-holiday shopping deals. On their website homepage, visitors can find "Epic daily deals". These deals range from a variety of products and discounts. While not indicating a holiday-related sale, their use of design cues that they can be gifts.
Your company's best course of action is to start planning early. An early start gives you the opportunity to adjust if you discover a better way to reach your shoppers.
Starting your planning on your website is an important place to start. Ecommerce Black Friday successes rely on shoppers' ability to navigate your site. Now is the time to think of how your company will handle increased visits to prevent a site overload.
Your company should prepare your site before you share advertisements. Before Black Friday people will visit your website to review your offerings. Being prepared for window shoppers before they shop on Black Friday can set the tone of if they return.
Giving your team an ample amount of time to plan their advertisements will only help you. Your company will need to tell an exciting story of why shoppers should pick your deals. That involves finding the right content and messaging.
If you plan to advertise on social media, what might work for your company on one platform might not fit with another. Understing the landscape early on will allow you to tailor your advertisements.
Walmart's #UnwrapTheDeals is a prime example of how to run a Black Friday campaign. In their campaign, they leveraged last year's shopping shift from in-store to virtual. Their eCommerce approach used Tik Tok with shoppable filters to receive their deals.
Walmart created widespread interest through user-generated content for shopping deals on TikTok. They were then able to optimize that interest in their "Deals for Days" campaign of November deals.
REI's #OptOutside campaign is a creative alternative to Black Friday. Instead of encouraging shoppers to visit their stores. They use opting out of Black Friday as an avenue to show how their brand fits in consumer lives.
Their relationship with consumers is the center of their campaign. By closing their stores and giving resources to get active outside. REI is able to use Black Friday to build on its relationship with consumers.
With Black Friday being weeks away. There is still time for ecommerce companies to make a Black Friday strategy. Consumers will continue to choose online retails and enjoy lower-stress holiday shopping. To optimize your Black Friday success your strategy needs to make shopping effortless.