Is Black Friday a Real Deal this time?

Here are our insights about how app development companies can help retailers in scaling their business’ during Black Friday sale 2020!

Planning for a Black Friday or a Cyber Monday is big in e-commerce as it follows planning-strategizing-aligning products, which is often perceived as a triple black-diamond ski slope of the digital marketing world. It’s a thrill ride if you’re prepared, when you are not, you’ll probably tumble down. Businesses must think of inspiring and incentivizing a chaotic line-up of anonymous buyers.

Why do Q4 sales matter?

The fourth tax quarter (October, November, and December) brings in the inherent sale season where retailers get the chance to spread some advertising magic through their campaigns and subsequently scale their business. Savings are the main reason for why these sale events matter. The deals and discounts offer an opportunity to get a jump on Christmas shopping and purchase some essential (often expensive) items in advance at cheap prices. The ballyhoo around Black Friday and Cyber Monday have often led to a decline in the overall retail turnover (according to the ABS report in 2018). As this time Black Friday falls on November 27 followed by Cyber Monday on November 30, it’s perceived to be a perfect time to check your Christmas present shopping off your to-do list.

Let’s start by acknowledging which retailers are doing Black Friday?

You may find Black Friday deals here: Amazon, Apple, ASOS, David Jones, Gymshark, Lululemon, Myer, Nike, Catch, The Good Guys, Walmart, Kohl, Sam’s Club, Macy, JCPenney, Samsung, Toys R Us, Belk, HP, Groupon, Target, the Home Depot, Sears, Kmart, Dell etc.

How Black Friday will be like this year?

Ecommerce platforms display their products on sale or at a discounted price towards the fourth quarter of the year, which is usually a holiday season in western countries till the year-end and the New Year. Sales around such occasions are infact worth looking forward. E-retailers put almost every category on sale with at most 50% or more discount. Businesses that rarely put any discount through also become visible with a reduced price on not-so-common items (E.g.: Apple). Walmart has announced to close its doors on thanksgiving and make an online blast on black Friday. This voluntary leave is for their employees to make them spend some close time together with their families.

What strategies should the retail businesses follow to utilize the sale season to the fullest?

Retailers do have a chance here to make it right for their customers and even fetch some new ones. For this to happen, they need to have an online presence. This is possible if they start with e-commerce app development if they haven’t already been there. Making a move at the early stages before the sale season starts can give them a jump start. Research by Shopkick reveals that as many as 34% of customers intend to cover their holiday purchases before the actual holiday season starts.

Handling that Extra Traffic

Businesses need to have the stress test done to handle that extra bit of traffic on their app/website during BCFM. Companies do need to flip the marketing funnel and earn loyalty first before they endeavour to have more leads. It is also advisable to invest in a scalable technology that can help your online store deal effectively with any spikes in traffic and sales as the BCFM rolls.

Having a Unique Landing Page

If you are keen to sell and want your customers to pick up on your vibes, it becomes perennial that you offer them the same thing that they wish to see. Featuring Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on the landing page will help target organic search traffic. A page dedicated to a specific sale season like a separate page for black Friday and then a separate page for Cyber Monday will help give your customers some benefit of the doubt. Even if you choose to make the page live all year round, as people visit your website/app your normal offerings won’t hold any Black Friday sales back, shoppers will simply get to see a banner linking to the store’s daily deals.

Complement Your Online Marketing with Fulfilment Centre

Despite the social distancing norms in place, people will still be tempted to retail stores, either to shop or to pick up their online purchases. So to successfully create an omnichannel BFCM shopping experience your online platform must synchronize your inventory, sales, customer data across all sales channels; try making your store look like a fulfilment centre rather than just seeing it as a “store”.

Putting Conditional Offers on The App

It is also important to implement conditional offers and help protect your margins during the sale period. So you got to be running sales with conditions like putting item-specific offers, spending minimums, putting on with shopper-specific offers.

Plan your Products-on-sale Catalog

Last and probably the most important thing to be considered should be planning the catalogue – allocating discounts on the product categories with a close check on customer’s lifestyle and preferences, stocking up on the products they’re most likely to be interested in.

A Teaser Landing Page

Building a teaser page for upcoming black Friday or Cyber Monday sale will help in the remarketing audience. This will be even more helpful while collecting emails, sending ads to this page and cookie-ing the traffic. This landing page will eventually help in building up a lot of hype for Black Friday.

Having Your Audience

While you are in there, ensure that you have your own Black Friday audience rather than trying to fetch those of your competitors. With the ongoing voluntary off for thanksgiving, it is preferable to come refreshed and keep all channels of communication open for the upcoming Black Friday and forward.

What should we do to capture maximum profit out of the upcoming Black Friday?

There are reasons for why the retail businesses need to have their mobile applications – to boost your sales, to be up-to-date, build brand loyalty (gamification, coupons), hook more potential customers, and also to make the in-store experience better. Clients do prefer making use of retail store mobile applications to amplify their shopping experience if in case they buy in-store. This year has the potential to surpass the sales record of the previous years due to Covid-19 led lockdown, ongoing e-commerce trends followed by social distancing norms. Business groups are practicing safety protocols, expecting the effect of Black Friday sales to be carried forward till online-centric Cyber Monday. Learn more about how top retail mobile app development companies can help you bust the myth around the upcoming holiday season and increase conversions.