Black Friday and Cyber Monday are going to be incredible opportunities for sales and profit – but only if you prepare properly. According to a 2024 study conducted by Adobe Analytics, U.S. online sales are expected to hit $240.8 billion this holiday season, which represents year-over-year growth of over 8.4% from last year. And it’s helpful to note that Cyber Monday alone is expected to drive over $13.2 billion in online spending.
That’s a lot of potential revenue at stake, making it critical to use proven and highly practical tactics that you can apply now for the fast-approaching peak season.
Strategies are at the heart of successful retail efforts, but it can be easy to overcomplicate things. If you’re just now getting started with your Black Friday strategies, promotions, inventory and fulfillment plans, stick to the basics. Here are some tried-and-true actions you can take:
Build anticipation
If you’ve got a great Black Friday promotion or deal for your customers, they need to know about it. You should advertise these deals as far ahead as you can; but if you’re only reading this post now, don’t worry: If it’s not Black Friday, then you’re not too late.
Start with a series of targeted email blasts. Hopefully, you’ve got your customer database organized into segments. Create an email for each segment that contains the deals that would best catch their interest. For example, if you’re a pet store owner, then you can put together separate emails for cat owners, dog owners, fish owners and so on (you get the idea).
You can also start announcing your best deals on your company’s social media accounts. Use the proper hashtags so that these posts reach the right audience, and keep the announcements going at a consistent cadence.
Another simple action is to change your website banner and create pop-up announcements that are designed to drive conversions.
Reduce site friction
When customers shop on your site, ensure a seamless and streamlined experience. This is true all year round, but especially true during Black Friday.
There are many places they can find Black Friday deals, and if they experience any kind of difficulty on your ecommerce site, they are more likely to bounce and find someplace else.
Examine your site through the eyes of the user and try to see where the potential snags, bottlenecks and friction are. If possible, find others to test it. Determine things like:
- Is it hard to find a specific item? (You might have to add or improve your search function.)
- Do people get lost navigating your site? (You may need to optimize navigation menus or layout.)
- Is the checkout process too complicated? (Consider simplifying it to reduce cart abandonment.)
- Are there any broken links or slow-loading pages? (Ensure all links work and optimize page load speeds.)
- Do users struggle to find customer support options? (Prominently display contact methods like live chat, phone or email.)
Making those changes might be a tall order depending on how close Black Friday is and your current capabilities, but focus on faster changes like adding guest checkout to your site or implementing multiple payment or shipping options.
Offer product bundles or groups
Massive single-product discounts aren’t the only ways to get consumers to click “buy.” You can also try grouping similar products and selling them as a packaged bundle. This can be very enticing to buyers who are immersed in a niche or hobby and would find extra value in getting things as a collection.
For example, instead of selling a single spice rack for 70% off, you could offer one that comes with a collection of spice jars. If you’re selling pet equipment, you could sell a dog-walking kit that comes with a harness, leash, scooper, disposable plastic bags and collapsible water bowl.
These product groups are very easy to set up in Cart.com’s B2B Commerce platform. Just define the items that make up the kit, and the system will automatically deduct each individual product from your inventory whenever the customer purchases one. You can also set up special pricing and shipping rules for these kits as well (depending on what you’re selling).
Find ways to increase order value
While we’re all happy to serve customers regardless of how much (or how little) they buy on Black Friday, we’d still prefer larger orders over smaller ones. Thankfully, there are ways to encourage customers to buy more while still making them feel good about the purchase.
Tying order value to shipping is a very popular strategy. Nobody likes paying for shipping. According to Statista, 48% of customers who abandon their carts do so because of extra costs like shipping. By offering free or expedited shipping with minimum purchase requirements, shoppers will be encouraged to add more items to their basket to meet the minimum value. After all, if you were going to spend $12 either way, wouldn’t you rather spend it on an actual item you could use?
You can easily set up free shipping in Cart.com’s B2B Commerce platform. All you need to do is create a new shipping method and set up the rules for it.
Reward your loyal customers
Black Friday isn’t just about bringing in new customers; it’s also about reminding your best customers why they should stick around. Treat the Black Friday and Cyber Monday holidays as an opportunity to reward loyal customers. This might include giving them exclusive discounts that aren’t available to other shoppers or giving them early access to Black Friday deals.
If you’re not offering discounts, give additional reward points for anything your loyal customers buy during Black Friday (assuming you have such a loyalty program in place). You can even offer them free shipping on any item they buy!
The point isn’t the money you make from their Black Friday purchases. It’s the amount of goodwill you generate. Play your cards right, and these customers will turn into staunch advocates who sing your praises to everyone they know – both online and offline, which delivers more benefit to your business than anything they could’ve purchased.
There’s still time to implement winning BFCM strategies
Black Friday is approaching fast: Implement some or all of these tactics right away. If you’re using B2B Commerce from Cart.com and need help putting any of these measures into practice, reach out to our support team, and we’ll do what we can to assist! Together, we’ll make Black Friday 2024 a resounding success.
Cart.com offers solutions and services that span the buyer’s journey from discovery to delivery. Contact our team today to find out how we can assist you this peak season with marketing, website optimization, customer service, marketplace services, omnichannel fulfillment and more.
