Preparing your ecommerce business for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Preparing your ecommerce business for Black Friday and Cyber Monday | 5 minute read

It’s that time of year again! Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest shopping days of the year.

Held on the last Friday in November (so that’s the 26^th this year), Black Friday sees stores around the country and online reducing their prices and offering their very best deals.

If you’re an ecommerce business, Black Friday and Cyber Monday should be key dates in your business calendar, and it’s vital that your site is ready to ensure your customers have a seamless experience.

So here are our top tips for preparing your ecommerce business for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Test your website

The last thing you want is for your website to go down on Black Friday!

So ahead of the day, check for any potential faults and ensure it is equipped to handle an increase in traffic. If you do find any problems, get them fixed straight away.

It’s also important to check the speed of your site, including how fast the images load and how quickly payments can be taken. It it’s not up to scratch, now’s the time to upgrade it!

Create sale banners with impact!

As soon as people land on your site, they need to know about the great deals you’re offering. So update your site with new, Black Friday sale banners and ensure the deals are clearly marked across the site.

Set delivery expectations

Customers expect fast, easy shipping and returns and, if the process seems complex, they probably won’t buy in the first place.

During busy times such as Black Friday, it’s important to be honest about delivery times and policies. So make sure you’ve got a clear shipping policy and ensure its visible to all of your visitors. Customers don’t mind waiting for delivery if they know how long it will take – but if they pay for next day delivery and you fail to deliver, you’re likely to have complaints on your hands!

Offer as many payment methods as possible

The easier you make it for your customers to pay, the more likely they are to buy. In fact, 12% of online shoppers cancelled their last purchase because their preferred payment method wasn’t available.

So check that you’re offering the key payment methods your customers expect and ensure everything is connected and running smoothly from your side to give your customers the best possible chance of a seamless checkout experience.

Read more about accepting payments here.

Don’t forget mobile

When checking your ecommerce site is ready to handle the chaos of Black Friday, be sure to check that it is easy to sue on smartphones and tablets. After all, mobile devices make up over 70% of ecommerce sales globally, so you don’t want to lose out on mobile customers.

As well as ensuring your site is fully responsive and mobile friendly, ensure that any apps you have are ready for the big day. And, if you don’t have an app just yet, it’s definitely something to think about ready for next year’s Black Friday sales!

 Get marketing

If you want people to flock to your store and take advantage of your Black Friday offers, you need to make sure they know about them! So spread the word via your social media channels and send out emails to your mailing list to let them know what you’ve got planned.

Email is one of the most effective ways to attract shoppers to your ecommerce site, so preparing an effective, engaging email marketing campaign in the run up to the big day will help raise awareness of your offers and get customers excited.

This is a big day for the ecommerce sector, so you need to shout about it!

Use influencers to spread to the world

On top of your usual marketing efforts, why not reach out to relevant influencers to help promote your brand this Black Friday?

Influencers have the ability to boost your brand, increase sales, and engage your target audience, so it’s definitely worth considering.

Social shopping

Social media platforms are increasingly offering social commerce – so your audience can tap your posts and buy directly through the app. If you haven’t got this set up already, it’s worth sorting it out prior to Black Friday.

Not only will it make it quick and easy for your customers to buy, but combined with your social media marketing activity, it will help you reach out to a whole new audience.

Stock

There’s no point luring customers in with great deals if you can’t fulfil their orders. So make sure you have plenty of stock of your best selling products.

You’ll also need enough packing materials and the staff to pack your parcels. If you don’t think you’ve got enough hands on deck, it’s worth bringing in temporary staff to ensure you can fulfil your orders as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Get in touch!

Here at Unicorn Accounting, our team of specialist e-commerce accountants is happy to chat about all of your eCommerce accounting needs. So, what are you waiting for? Let’s talk and maximise the growth of your e-commerce store

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