Black Friday: Is it Really Worth It?

Black Friday: Is it Really Worth It?

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are almost upon us. With a 240% – 380% increase in eCommerce sales over this period, it’s easy to see why retailers are keen to jump on board with this shopping extravaganza. But this increased shopping frenzy comes at a cost and it’s worth understanding what some of the pitfalls can be and what you as a retailer can be doing to mitigate them.

Firstly it’s worth understanding what the challenges are with the BF/CM period before we jump into what you can do about it. 

Three Key Challenges

  1. Increased Advertising Costs: The intense competition during Black Friday drives up the cost of advertising across various platforms. Advertisers are willing to pay premium rates to reach their target audience, making it more expensive to acquire new customers. On Meta, it is estimated that CPM rates can jump anywhere from 43% – 100% over the period, making it much harder to get your product in front of the right eyeballs.
  2. Elevated Consumer Expectations: Shoppers have come to expect substantial discounts and deals during Black Friday. Meeting these expectations can be challenging, especially for brands with limited profit margins. With the costs to attract customers increasing this can squeeze retailers and a recent analysis of pricing showed that only a third of product pricing for Black Friday was at its lowest point for the preceding 3 months. Meaning, there were discounts but not necessarily bargains.  
  3. Divided Attention: With countless brands vying for consumer attention, it’s easy for shoppers to become overwhelmed and distracted. This can make it difficult to stand out and capture their interest. It is estimated that nearly 181 million people shopped for BF/CM in 2021 and that in the UK nearly half population made a sale purchase in that period. This is a huge upswing in shopping behaviour but it can lead to there being a sea of ‘bargains’ that are hard to differentiate from.

So with that in mind what can you as a marketer do about the BF/CM season? Where is it you should play and what should you avoid.

3 Tips to help focus you in the BF/CM Season

  1. Know who you want to target
    • Leverage Customer Data: It’s important to get that product to customer fit. Especially for BF/CM. You’re not going to discount your entire catalog so what type of customer will be interested in the products you are discounting? 
    • Utilize Lookalike Audiences: Once you have that core subset of customers that have purchased similar products previously try expanding that audience with a lookalike audience to further the reach of your campaign.
    • Segment Effectively: Segment but don’t segment too much is the key. Understanding the traits of those that are likely to purchase is important but overcomplicating your segmentation can reduce its size and make it hard for the algorithm to hone in on your target customer in that short of a time period.
  2. Make it worthwhile:
    • Cross-Selling and Upselling: Ensure you are doing your best to increase your cart size by cross-selling & upselling products that complement the BF/CM sale items
    • Bundles and Packages: You can also use bundles and packages to increase the AOV (average order value).
    • Free Shipping and Returns: Reducing the purchase barrier can help smoothen the purchase process. Free shipping and a clear returns policy can help to do this. 
  3. Utilize First-Party Data:
    • Personalized Campaigns: using your first-party data you make sure that you are reaching out and targeting the right customers with the right message
    • Exclusive Offers: Using your first-party data you can target loyal/repeat customers with special offers.

The Black Friday & Cyber Monday period can represent a valuable opportunity to inject cash and turn over stock. However, with the increased focus by consumers during that period and their appetite for discounts, there are pitfalls that you can fall into if you’re not careful. These tips will hopefully help you identify the areas you need to focus on to have a successful sale.

If you are looking for help with your e-commerce sales Binary & Co has helped countless online store maximise their returns during Black Friday & beyond. Contact us now to start rocket fueling your online sales.

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