Maximising Black Friday and Cyber Monday success

Black Friday refers to the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States and traditionally marks the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, many stores offer special shopping deals, promotions, and discounts, to get consumers excited about the holiday season.

Since the 1960s, Black Friday has been an American tradition and is the most popular time of year for Americans to begin and/or complete their Christmas gift shopping. Today, the unofficial holiday has been adopted by many other countries who wish to capitalise on the season of giving.

In recent years, Black Friday has been followed by other shopping holidays, including Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Giving Tuesday.

In 2010, Amazon first introduced the concept of Black Friday to the British public. Almost 13 years later, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are considered to be the biggest sales of the year with many popular retailers taking part.

This year, over half of UK adults plan to spend during the Black Friday weekend. This means there is ample opportunity for your e-commerce store to benefit from the busiest shopping even of the year.

Here are our top tips to ensure your e-commerce store can maximise sales during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday sale weekend.

Begin planning as soon as possible

In the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday retailers begin promoting their sales. By planning as soon as possible, you have more time to share your promos and discounts to engage new and existing customers.

It is also important to begin planning to ensure you have enough inventory by November. Leaving it too late could mean you are without a well-stocked inventory when the day rolls around due to an increase in demand at this time and supply chain issues.

Review last year’s Black Friday e-commerce strategy

By reviewing and analysing last year’s Black Friday e-commerce strategy, you can see what went well and what you need to improve. When creating your plan, consider what previously worked well and what you would rather not repeat this year to maximise sales.

You can also apply this to your competitors. Take a look at their marketing and content from last year’s Black Friday event to see how consumers reacted and engaged with their brand.

Build anticipation in the lead up to Black Friday

The pace of your promotions is very important in the lead up the Black Friday. Sharing exclusive offers, discount codes, and promotions on social media helps to create a buzz about your brand and get consumers excited for the sales.

This can also be achieved through email marketing to attract and engage existing and loyal customers. Remember, you want to catch the attention of your target audience, so it is important to include stand out words and phrases, such as limited edition, giveaway, and exclusive. You want your deals and copy to stop consumers in their tracks and remember your brand.

Offer personalised deals and discounts

In the modern online retail world, shoppers have become accustomed to experiences that are personalised to their individual needs and preferences. This now extends beyond finding the best price to full-scale shopping experiences through the entire buyer journey. When it comes to providing a competitive edge, you may want to consider offering tailored deals and discounts, specific to their interests. Offer bundle deals, exclusive packages, personalised discounts and even loyalty schemes that can help convert one-time customers to loyal ones.

Perfect your marketing activity

In the lead up to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’ll need to pick and choose your marketing activity, prioritising a few key areas where you’re most likely to see the best return.

Email marketing can be a key tactic in your strategic toolkit and can help create meaningful connections with your audience. Look at segmenting your email audience based on preferences and past purchases and create highly targeted campaigns that will help to increase your chances of conversion.

Don’t neglect your social media presence. Plan ahead and create a detailed content calendar with posts, stories and paid ads leading up to and during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend. Prioritise the platforms where your audience are most active and make sure to stay active and engage with your audience through comments and messages.

Why choose Unicorn Accounting?

Ensure you keep on top of your finances and tax obligations by outsourcing to an accountant. This means that you don’t need to worry about your end of year accounts, payroll, or bookkeeping requirements.

At Unicorn Accounting we are e-commerce accountants who help make your online business a growing success. We offer e-commerce accounting advice, financial management, bookkeeping, cash flow statement, and tax filing services to support and scale your business.

Our team of accountants and Xero-certified advisors have experience working with both small start-ups and family-run online stores to large-scale, international retail and e-commerce brands.

If you’ve got an online store, we have the best solution for you. Providing you with a financial arm to your business through our sector experience, and skills with innovative technologies. To see how we can help you maximise the scalability of your e-commerce brand all year round, get in touch with Unicorn Accounting today. Or, click here to get a free quote.

Related articles

https://unicornaccounting.co.uk/blog/is-your-e-commerce-store-ready-for-halloween/

https://unicornaccounting.co.uk/blog/will-ai-help-maximise-christmas-sales/

https://unicornaccounting.co.uk/blog/how-much-do-consumers-spend-at-christmas/