Black Friday: should you, shouldn’t you?

Black Friday took the UK by storm in 2014, and it’s been a mainstay in the retail calendar ever since. Some businesses embrace it, others loathe it. What should you do?

In recent years we’ve seen some businesses initially write Black Friday off, only to panic and do an about-turn as the day draws near. The result? Less-than-impressive results and a bucketload of stress.

If you’re in retail, don’t write Black Friday off. It might seem like a brash and over-the-top import from the States, but the fact is consumers typically spend far more on that day than almost any other day of the year.

According to The Guardian, the quantity of goods bought in November 2018 was up 1.4% compared with October 2018 – with an overall annual increase of 3.6%. Retail giant John Lewis also reported record sales over the Black Friday week. Why wouldn’t you want a slice of that?

To make a success of it, you need to commit early, and plan the hell out of it. Here are our top tips for your Black Friday campaign:

Optimise for mobile

Statistics from recent years show us that more and more people make Black Friday purchases on mobile. Clunky shopping carts that aren’t optimised for mobile devices are likely to put people off and lose you sales.

Make sure you’ve tested your whole customer journey through to checkout on mobile devices and iron out any problems.

Plan your marketing

It’s no good running a sale if nobody knows about it. You’ll need to build a multi-channel marketing campaign around it, to make sure you get the traffic to your website. Remember, you’ll be competing with plenty of other businesses for attention – more so than on any other day of the year.

Alert your mailing list to your sale and get them excited. Why not give them a countdown, or make them feel special with a sneak preview of what’s going to be in the sale? They could even get a pre-sale code so they can access the deals before anyone else.

Paid advertising

Google Shopping campaigns can be particularly powerful during big sale events. Consumers will often be searching for a particular product at the cheapest price they can find. If they can’t find it on one site, they’ll move to another, rather than stay and browse for something else.

Brand loyalty goes out the window in the bargain-hunter mindset, so placing highly in Google Shopping listings will put you in a strong position to capitalise.

A well planned, data-driven campaign combined with competitive pricing will give you a great chance of success. Need help developing an effective strategy that will help you maximise revenue for the Black Friday weekend? Contact us or give us a call on 01273 208913.