When the time for carving turkeys and giving thanks with loved ones has passed, what happens next? Naptime? Work? For many, Black Friday is the next big holiday that comes to mind, serving as the beginning of the Christmas shopping season—at least in America. The event has traditionally marked an extraordinary time of year where it’s okay to spend without holding back.
Over the years, however, Black Friday has seen a diminishing impact, especially with Christmas creep hanging around every corner. Some stores have turned Black Friday into “Gray Thursday”, opening their stores around dinnertime on Thanksgiving; others got their head start months in advance.
Don’t believe us? Try checking your inbox.
From as early as October, Black Friday deals came pouring into emails with prominent retailers like Macy’s lowering prices early to snatch some sales against competition. And to their credit, Christmas creep has helped retailers gain sales…just not in the format they’re used to.
During this year’s Black Friday, retailers were able to amass a record of $7.4 billion in online sales alone. Shopper visits to retail stores, by contrast, saw a 6.2% decline from 2018’s Black Friday, according to ShopperTrak.
These reports exhibit the developing shift between the retail and digital world that many retailers are still struggling to get behind. That, and the irrelevance of Black Friday means retailers need to switch up their game plan, especially if their goals are to rack up sales.
On this blog, we’ve compiled a few key tips that can help retailers improve their Black Friday outcome.
1. Create deals that are worth it.
Despite the early discounts and promotions weeks before Thanksgiving, many consumers were still looking to find “even better deals” on Black Friday. It isn’t enough to just slap on a 10% discount to a specific item anymore. Instead, retailers must be able to create and leverage their promotions to bring traffic to their store or website.
And this also applies to the type of item a business is promoting. Many of the “winners’ during this year’s Black Friday, for instance, were retailers that offered a broad variety of merchandise both in-store and online, especially stores that sell home, electronics, clothing, and accessories. These are key factors that every retailer should keep in mind while they plan out their sales strategies.
2. Bring in some holiday spirit.
Holiday cheer is an important part of Black Friday shopping. It’s true that e-commerce has become quite lucrative on Black Friday. But even in our highly digitized world, consumers still seek a strong communal environment that the online platform can’t offer (at least, not at the moment). In the past decades, it was the shared sense of excitement and anticipation for the upcoming holidays that made Black Friday so special to consumers. It’s this definitive factor that retailers can compete with each other on.
By providing consumers with some sweet holiday magic (think winter wonderlands or holiday-themed snacks), retailers can inspire them to venture out to shop and thus, gain a myriad of sales opportunities. For smaller retailers with a niche, it can also give them a boost against their competition, according to Social Media Today.
3. Focus on mobile devices.
Love it or hate it, mobile devices have become a huge player of the overall shopping experience. A sizeable chunk of shoppers spent their Black Friday making orders on their phones, increasing 35% this year. Overall, 65% of e-commerce came through a mobile device.
With these numbers in mind, it’s clear that many consumers prefer the simple process of shopping through their smartphones than standing in long lines at a crowded store. This trend should give retailers the hint: prioritize shopping from mobile devices. Few retailers have caught on, leading to missed opportunities that can turn off consumers from a brand.
Through website enhancements, accessible product reviews, and relevant online information, retailers can polish the mobile shopping experience and keep consumers loyal to their brand.
This year’s Thanksgiving-Black Friday weekend didn’t boast huge numbers, mostly staying in line with projected estimates. Retailers shouldn’t be discouraged into watering down their sales and abandoning their goals. Rather, the low sales numbers can present an opportunity to align deals with shifting consumer interests while staying true to the spirit of Black Friday (and the overall holiday shopping season).
Check out our blog, Using Data to Expand Your Content Marketing Strategy to learn about how to leverage data for your content marketing goals.