Your Black Friday Checklist: 7 (Lucky) Tips for Winning This Shopping Season
We’ve finally arrived at the busiest shopping season of the year! As soon as shoppers finish their Thanksgiving dinners, they’ll get ready for the weekend-long deals, whether that’s bundling up to wait in line or having the credit card ready to shop online.
What should brands and retailers expect?
In 2020, nearly 50% of orders were desktop, and 43% were from smartphones. Similarly, most people will be shopping digitally this weekend. While ecommerce will remain the preferred way to shop, in-store shopping is making a return this year. According to a survey conducted by BlackFriday.com, 77% of respondents will shop in-store if the store is open and if deals are not available online. Most will shop at big box stores like Target and Walmart.
The survey also revealed some common concerns with the upcoming shopping weekend, with more than half of consumers anticipating delayed shipping and out-of-stock items due to the ongoing supply chain disruptions. Consumer demand and industrious activity fell during the pandemic, and with demands skyrocketing, supply chains are struggling to recover because of labor shortages, insufficient raw materials, and, in the US in particular, a shortage of truckers. Despite supply chain disruptions, online Black Friday spending is predicted to reach $17 billion this year, a 20% increase from 2020.
The countdown to Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) has begun and shoppers are ready. Here is a checklist of 7 tips to make sure your brand is ready for them, too.
1. The Basics
- Optimize the mobile shopping experience - Last year during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Shopify merchants saw mobile transactions make up 66% of all sales. With more customers shopping on mobile, brands need to think mobile-first and audit the mobile experience to ensure a seamless landing to checkout experience.
- Improve site navigation and user interface - Shoppers will be looking at the landing page with certain goals in mind; they will want to see the best-selling and highest rated items, and the best deals. To avoid losing the shopper’s attention, brands should make sure their landing pages are communicating the most important pieces of information.
2. Have a seamless and quick checkout experience
This goes for both the in-store and online experiences. Brands should offer multiple payment options, including Apple Pay, PayPal, and Google Pay. Customers are also paying by scanning the QR code associated with their Venmo account. A streamlined checkout is another effective way to reduce cart abandonment online and long lines in person.
3. Personalize emails and texts (and make them festive, too)
It is easy for your brand’s messages to blend with everyone else’s BFCM emails and texts, so it is important for brands to add a touch of personalization. Whether that’s offering product recommendations based on purchasing history or sending a message from the founder, there is no shortage of creative and thoughtful ways to win the consumer’s attention. Brij helps brands personalize the experience with all of your customers, regardless of the channel you’ve acquired them from.
4. Attract customers with creative and incentivized wording
One of the staples of BFCM is the sense of urgency and excitement created by flashy limited deal signs and decreasing product availability. They might just be what the consumer needs to go for it.
5. Complement your site with major online marketplaces as additional sales channels
With more than 50% of consumers planning on shopping on ecommerce sites, brands should complement their own site with major online marketplaces such as Amazon to reach more customers. There is no doubt that most people visit Amazon first, but brands can incentivize shoppers on their Amazon page to navigate to their product website. Thursday Boots, for example, did this by making certain products available exclusively on their website.
6. Have a clear and seamless shipping and returns plan
More than 50% of consumers anticipate shipping delays, so brands should make plans to be transparent and keep shoppers updated throughout the shipping process. Additionally, brands should outline clear returns policies and make the returns process as frictionless as possible for consumers.
7. Convert one-time customers with post-Black Friday loyalty programs
Lastly, while the BFCM season is only a weekend long, brands can take advantage of traffic influx to convert first-time shoppers to loyal customers with loyalty programs and personalized marketing campaigns post-purchase.
