Black Friday, one of the greatest shopping days of the year and the start of the Christmas shopping period, is on November 26th. So if you are an ecommerce retailer, you are obviously looking for tips to boost your black Friday sales.
Before we discuss tips to boost your black Friday sales, let’s look at statistics around this global shopping behemoth.
- Black Friday online shopping increased by 22% year-on-year, up to $9 billion globally.
- 49% of consumers shop online more now than they did pre-COVID-19.
- 100 million consumers shopped online, an increase of 8% year-on-year.
- 52% of shoppers took advantage of early deals, often starting in October.
- The average conversion rate was up by 3.8% in 2020, compared to 2019.
Black Friday is part of Black Week, also known as Cyber Week.
Black week begins on the Monday before Black Friday, November 22nd, and ends on Cyber Monday, November 29th, this year. Some stores also host Cyber Monday sales that begin earlier and/or end later.
We can’t be positive about anything these days, but one thing is clear: future purchasing behaviour will be greatly influenced by eCommerce.
We’ll look at what you need to do to make your eCommerce store ready for Black Friday in this guide.
In many ways, last year was a watershed moment:
- Black Friday internet sales climbed by 22% year over year, reaching $9 billion globally.
- Consumers now purchase online 49% more than they did before COVID-19, with 100 million people doing so, an increase of 8% year over year.
- Early offers, which generally began in October, were taken advantage of by 52 percent of customers.
In 2020, compared to 2019, the average conversion rate increased by 3.8 percent.
ten suggestions
Tips to boost your black Friday sales:
1. Provide a variety of payment options
The greater the number of payment choices you have, the more likely you are to appeal to a broader audience. The simpler it is for individuals to pay you, the more probable it is that you will receive more money.
Did you know that 12% of internet customers cancelled their most recent purchase because they couldn’t pay the way they wanted?
Online businesses and stores boosted their gross sales by 46 percent to $56 billion in 2020 thanks to Klarna, a Swedish payment and shopping solution for eCommerce sites.
PayPal is a global online payment service that allows customers to make payments and money transfers over the internet; it is widely regarded as the industry leader in both online and mobile payments. In 2021, according to Statista, there are 403 million active PayPal users around the world.
Stripe accepts payments from customers all throughout the world, both online and in person. You can use a Stripe POS system in addition to the gateway on your eCommerce store if you already have a physical location. You’ll be able to maintain consistency across both marketplaces this way.
Check to see if your checkout procedure is up to par. Black Friday customers are fickle since there are so many stores to choose from and so little time. If your checkout isn’t working properly, they’ll abandon your eCommerce store.
2. Meet the delivery deadlines set by customers
It’s critical to have a simple method for delivering and returning packages. If it’s not basic enough, it’s unlikely to generate a sale in the first place.
Different modes of transportation
Home deliveries are more popular than ever, according to Postnord. Instead of picking up their box at a delivery agent, an increasing number of customers choose to have it delivered directly to their door.
Despite this, click and collect/store pickup has expanded significantly during the pandemic. This is an excellent choice for businesses who have both a physical and an online presence. Customers may easily place their orders online and pick up their packages a few hours later at the store.
Make your shipping regulations known.
During the Black Friday deals, it’s critical to be upfront with customers about when the things they ordered will arrive. Make sure your shipping charges and methods are clear to your customers. Provide a clear shipping policy that lets your customers know how long delivery will take in the current situation.
Transports that are environmentally friendly
Everyone has a role to play in ensuring that eCommerce develops in a more sustainable manner.
Take your responsibilities seriously and wisely use the Earth’s resources. By having sustainable transportation options, you can provide your customers with a sustainable delivery option.
From a sustainability standpoint, consumers place a higher value on production and delivery. Many clients demand more information about the manufacturing process. Provide complete supply chain traceability to your consumers. Customers will be able to see where everything is made, created, and where it originates.
This is to match the ever-increasing demands and expectations of consumers.
The most crucial product category for shopping responsibly is food and beverages/groceries. Clothes and shoes, as well as beauty and health, come in second and third, respectively.
3. Don’t forget to bring your phone.
By the end of 2021, mobile devices are expected to account for over 73 percent of all eCommerce sales worldwide.
So, one thing is certain: your eCommerce store must be mobile-friendly and compatible with smartphones and tablets.
Apps for mobile devices
Mobile apps have grown in popularity in recent years and have produced excellent outcomes. Companies who have a mobile app have a significant edge over those that do not.
The conversion rate of mobile apps is 157 percent higher than the conversion rate of mobile web sessions. If you don’t have an app, it’s critical that your website is mobile-friendly as well as laptop-friendly.
Wallets for mobile phones
Mobile wallets such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, and PayPal have also grown in popularity. When buying via a mobile retail app, this is a secure way for customers to check out.
What exactly is a mobile wallet, and how does it function?
A virtual wallet that contains payment card information is known as a mobile wallet. It can be accessed using a mobile device that has an app loaded. Mobile wallets enable customers to make in-store payments without the need for a physical wallet, as well as make secure and convenient internet transactions.
Search on your phone
Mobile is the most popular platform for searching, and in many situations, it is also where the consumer journey begins.
Simicart claims that:
A mobile device is used by 48% of purchasers to begin their search with a search engine.
A mobile device is used for 58 percent of Google searches. In 2016, the figure was 34%.
A mobile device accounts for 65 percent of clicks on paid Google search results.
a man talking on his phone
4. This Black Friday, use reviews to drive purchases.
Before making a purchase, online customers acquire information about the goods they wish to buy. Reading about other people’s experiences, as well as product evaluations and ratings, is an important part of the buying process.
Inquire about comments and make use of it.
Are you aware that…
Consumers trust internet reviews as much as personal recommendations, according to 88 percent of respondents.
Only 12% of customers disregard customer evaluations before making a purchase.
Consumers claim they read up to ten reviews before making a selection, according to 85 percent of respondents.
A conversion rate boost of 4-5 percent can be achieved with 50 or more reviews per product.
You will obtain more honest feedback from your customers if you ask for input on a product and then indicate that you will publish it after it is received. Both the good and the bad. When you receive feedback, you have the opportunity to act on it and develop. You have the option of receiving no feedback and selling fewer items, or receiving comments and selling more items.
Make friends with your clients.
Customers will believe reviews are phoney if there are no negative ones if a company receives only positive feedback.
Make sure you have a response strategy in place that can manage any type of review. Both positive and bad aspects are present. Customers who are dissatisfied and angry are more likely to leave a review than those who are happy and satisfied.
One thing is certain: negative evaluations are not always detrimental to a company’s success. If a retailer answers well, it is common for cautious shoppers to make purchases. It’s critical to understand how to turn a poor review into a positive experience.
Offline marketing can benefit from reviews.
It’s important to remember that your internet reputation is linked to your offline reputation. You just cannot afford to overlook either of them.
Insert a flyer or a card demonstrating your reputation when packaging a goods. Take use of the opportunity to solicit feedback at the same time; this demonstrates a desire to improve and do better.
5. Launch a Black Friday influencer marketing campaign.
Influencers may help your company get traction, improve sales, and connect with your target audience in ways that have never been possible before. This has an impact on your eCommerce conversion rate.
It’s nearly impossible to keep track of everything and handle your merchandising in real time. Your merchandising must be extremely automated in order to respond to this influence. The more relevant your products are, the higher your sales will be.
What is the best way to get started with influencer marketing?
You must think thoroughly before you begin working with influencer marketing.
What kind of brand are you, and what kind of value do you bring to the table? You won’t be able to explain it to influencers if it’s unclear, and they won’t be able to pass it on to their followers if it’s unclear.
What is the demographic of your target market? The more accurately you can define them, the easier it will be to determine which types of influencers you should collaborate with to reach your target audience.
What is the campaign’s objective? Is it to raise the number of clicks to your online store or to boost the number of sales of a specific product? Or are you looking for something completely different? These criteria will influence the organisation of the partnership, as well as the influencer selections and evaluation of the results.
Influencer marketing can help you increase conversions.
Influencer marketing is a powerful strategy for increasing conversion rates. Use one-of-a-kind links for each influencer, as well as discount coupons for limited-time deals. This way, you can readily track how much was sold as a result of that influencer’s efforts on Black Friday.
Involve influencers in the creation process.
Nelly.com has been working with Bianca Ingrosso, one of Sweden’s top influencers, for the past year and a half. Several collections that Bianca was involved in creating were released throughout this relationship, resulting in a significant profit for Nelly.com.
During their initial collaboration, 80 percent of the collection was sold out on the first day.
The most recent collection was just released a few weeks ago. The site failed within five minutes due to the excessive pressure. There were at least 30 thousand people in line, ready to see the collection. As a result, ensure sure you have enough server capacity to handle the predicted traffic.
6. Take use of social commerce
Combining eCommerce and social media can be extremely effective. It allows customers to explore and discover products that they would not normally find on a fashion eCommerce site.
Consumers utilise social media to learn about new products and services in 60 percent of cases.
Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and TikTok are just a few of the social media sites that currently allow for social commerce.
Customers can see a product on the app, tap the “buy now” button, and complete the transaction while still in the app. Customers are not transferred to an eCommerce site and hence cannot make the purchase in the app, as is the case with Pinterest.
Who are the people who go shopping?
Consumer behaviour has changed to social media, and this is a truth. Generation Z (born 1995-2012) was almost born with a phone or other mobile device in their hands, and they have a very different attitude toward social media and digitisation in general than earlier generations.
In the United States, 60 percent of Generation Z uses Instagram to discover new brands, goods, and services.
48% of 18-34-year-olds in the United States have made a purchase on social media.
Growth of social commerce
According to Business Insider, social commerce will account for 4.3 percent of all retail eCommerce sales in the United States in 2021. According to Emarketer, social commerce will grow from $34.8 billion in 2017 to $36.09 billion in 2021.
Fashion, which includes garments and accessories, is still the most popular sector for social commerce today.
To put it another way, social commerce is an eCommerce trend that will continue to grow in importance in the future.
7. Send out an email marketing campaign
Utilize your clients’ online behaviour to give them more relevant email product recommendations, which will increase your click-through rate, conversion rate, and income.
Make your newsletters more personalised.
Add personalised email product recommendations based on each user’s particular behaviour, such as the things they’ve viewed or purchased, to increase relevancy.
Incorporate suggestions into your transactional emails.
Add a block of appealing product recommendations to your ‘order confirmation’ and ‘abandoned basket’ emails to increase interaction.
Relevance-on-the-fly
Create the suggestions when the user sees the email, not when the email is received, to get the most up-to-date list of personalised products possible.
8. Plan ahead to ensure a successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Many businesses wait far too long to begin planning for one of the year’s most crucial internet sales. You can keep your brand front of mind when your clients are considering which Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to take advantage of by continuously connecting with your target audience throughout the year.
In October, customers begin hunting for bargains.
Begin early: in October, people begin seeking for bargains and making plans. By planning beforehand, you can get the word out to your customers about your Black Friday specials as early as possible in the season. The sooner people are aware of your offerings, the more likely they are to take advantage of them. And the more money you bring in, the better.
Make a plan and a checklist.
- What kind of discounts should you get?
- When is the best time to set prices?
- When should customers receive the text/email?
- Check to see if your website is up to date.
Check for any flaws to ensure your site is ready for Black Friday. Check to see if the site can handle the expected traffic during the entire event. Last year’s eSales Black Week facilitated about 1 billion sessions without problem, and we’re happy of that. Our customers broke some incredible sales records! Over 15 million queries were handled, and nearly 4.4 million purchases were made.
9. Pay attention to the customer’s experience.
As the popularity of eCommerce grows, so do customer expectations and needs. To be able to expand and develop an eCommerce site, you must provide your clients with the best possible customer experience. Make sure your website is prepared for everything.
Whether you and your eCommerce business perform well during Black Friday will depend on how well you provide the best possible customer experience.
A positive customer experience is essential.
Customer service is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s now a requirement for successful sales.
Make sure your customer care department can answer all of your clients’ questions regarding your products or services.
Chatbots for Ecommerce
For online shoppers, chatbots are a handy tool. They can, for example, assist in informing clients about out-of-stock products and suggesting alternatives. They can also be used to notify customers about delivery, order status, or even make product recommendations based on what they’re looking for.
Another advantage of utilising chatbots in eCommerce is the ability to remind customers about shopping carts that have been abandoned. Some customers do not abandon their carts on purpose, but if they do, a chatbot can alert them of their shopping cart status and assist them in completing their purchase.
Statistics on ecommerce chatbots
68 percent of respondents said they are more likely to buy from a company that provides easy communication.
Chatbots, according to IBM, can cut customer service costs by 30%.
According to Juniper Research, the retail sector may profit the most from chatbot technology, with over 70% of chatbots accessed being retail-based by 2023. Cost savings, up-selling, marketing, and cart recovery are all important store chatbot ‘push’ drivers, according to Juniper.
10. Make your internet merchandising more automated.
Automate your online commerce to increase productivity and save time. Make sure you’re not advertising sold-out items on your homepage at any time.
A manual merchandising strategy will not suffice.
Manually performed online merchandising will never generate the sales increase required to justify merchants’ significant investments in attracting high-quality traffic to their websites. It has much too many restrictions.
There are just not enough merchandisers or hours in the day to efficiently analyse the massive volumes of consumer and product data required to optimise product exposure in real-time across tens of thousands of items catalogues.
You’ll need a system that uses AI and machine learning, as well as predictive analytics based on customer behaviour, context, and collective wisdom. It provides each consumer with the most appropriate selection of products, which are then ordered in the most efficient way possible in order to maximise sales.
Keeping up with the latest eCommerce trends
Lack of adaptability is one of the most typical concerns from internet businesses. Many businesses miss out on crucial sales and long-term brand loyalty by failing to respond promptly to trends, particularly micro-trends fueled by social media. It can take up to 24 hours for a response to arrive, which is simply too late.
By automating product assortment and sort order decisions, merchandising enabled by AI and machine learning technologies changes the game. Trends are identified in real time, and everything from search and suggestions to promotional panels pushes trending products to the front of the line, and the system reacts just as rapidly when trends fade.
Humans and machines working together to do what they do best.
Of course, increasing sales isn’t the only way to succeed in retail; cost and resource efficiency are also important factors. This is especially tough for online businesses who still rely on manual merchandising, because scaling up employees to do more of the same is costly.
In reality, much of the day-to-day merchandising job entails number crunching, which is an activity that computers excel at. The nature of merchandising has entirely changed as a result of AI and automation. The day-to-day decisions are made by computers, which react in real-time to vast volumes of customer data.
This frees merchandisers to concentrate on areas where their expertise may have the most impact: higher-level strategic and creative decisions.
