If you’re a retailer then Black Friday, 25th November, will be a date engrained on your business calendar, for it is famously known as the one of the busiest shopping days of the year and generates approximately 40% of sales. Originally from the US as it falls the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday has quickly become a key event for retailers in the UK too. In 2021, the UK accounted for 10% of all global Black Friday searches online.
With the cost-of-living crisis affecting the spending power of consumers, it is predicted that there will be even more bargain hunters looking for deals this year. We will now examine our 8 top tips for retailers for a successful Black Friday.
Did you know that a staggering 66% online consumers expect free delivery on all purchases they make? To add to this, many also expect next day delivery too, an expectation which has been set by the likes of Amazon and Asos. Put simply, if you cannot offer free delivery on your products, regardless of the deal, consumers may well look elsewhere – 42% of consumers are said to abandon shopping baskets if the delivery costs or dates are too long or expensive.
Bundling products has become a popular way to increase revenue on discounted items and well bundled items can increase revenue by 30%. The process of bundling items involves reducing the price per product and selling them as a bundle with similar products, thus reducing the unit price for the consumer but increasing your average order value. It’s a good way for consumers to try out new products and for companies to sell some items which have high stock levels.
Planning you inventory carefully is critical to your success or failure on Black Friday, and this process needs to be started well in advance to ensure you have your stock ready to dispatch as soon as the orders begin to come in. Inventory planning needs careful consideration because too much stock means leftover stock, but too little means missed sales opportunities, however if you have too much stock, at least this can be sold later if you have the capacity to store it. Back in 2011 Best Buy failed to stock the correct amount of inventory to fulfil orders, but what’s more, they didn’t fully notify customers until the week before Christmas.
Using your historic data is a valuable way to help with your inventory planning rather than using guesswork. Use your data to analyse your weekly and annual sales data, along with your sales data from last year’s Black Friday to examine how much inventory you might need and explore what sold well or not so well previously. It’s important to consider how much stock you think you can move within your organisation and don’t overstock yourself if you do not have the resources to physically pack and dispatch it all.
A good inventory management system is essential for any retailer in today’s market but becomes essential during heavy sales periods like Black Friday. Are you able to see your exact stock volumes in real-time and locate your stock’s location at the click of a button? Stock management software would help you to plan your inventory and flag when numbers are running low to help you efficiently manage demand without alienating customers.
An overlooked area, but equally as important to a retailer’s success is how well-equipped employees are to deal with increased levels of sales and customer enquiries. Making sure your employees are well versed in their customer service skills and trained confidently to use your inventory management software will go a long way in your success or failure on Black Friday.
As a result of inflation and rising energy costs, consumers will have less disposable income this year and are likely to be more risk adverse when it comes to Black Friday shopping. Not only will they be looking for good deals, but it’s likely they will flock to the retailers they trust, where they know they will get good customer service. Use this to your advantage in your marketing activity and draw upon your reputation using customer testimonials to support this.
Timing is everything when it comes to email marketing and in 2020, emails were responsible for over two million orders throughout the Black Friday and festive season. Send too early and people aren’t ready to engage but send too late and you’ve missed the opportunity as someone else has got there first. Our big tips here are to know your audience, use your creativity and get personal.
Are you ready for Black Friday, and the busiest sales period of the year? By engaging with some of the tips in this blog post, hopefully you can guarantee success this year, despite consumers feeling the pressure financially. Preparation is key and analysing your sales data carefully, along with using inventory management software to carefully plan your stock levels according to demand.
For more information on how Pegasus Software can help retailers succeed, please contact us today.
Posted On: November 02, 2022
