Expert Tips on Preparing Your Online Shop for Black Friday
If you are running a business online, or even just have an online element to your business, you will know that it can be quite a challenging process. Black Friday is absolutely no exception, as the amount people are spending online for a platitude of discounts only seems to increase year upon year. Over £1billion is spent online in the UK on black Friday, meaning it is a big money maker that you should not pass up on.
So, with that in mind, how can your eCommerce business prepare for Black Friday and capitalise on the additional sales that come with it. This article will discuss in greater detail some top tips on how you can prepare your online shop for Black Friday.
Preparation is Key
If you use couriers, it would be good practice to speak to them in advance in an effort to get information on what they can collect on the Saturday and Sunday of Black Friday weekend. They will do it because it will help them, not to mention you and your customers.
It is also a good idea to put together some product bundles to promote in advance of Black Friday. Finally, pre-pack ahead of time so that when it comes to sending items out on the day, all you need to do is put a label on the box.
Make Your Customers Feel Special
Prepare a list of potential customers in advance and target your products towards them based on what products they have already purchased. If you are simply emailing people with “30% off everything” then this comes across as lazy and that laziness likely won’t lead to any kind of conversion. Chances are you will have a better click-through and conversion rate if you are targeting your customers.
Most of your competitors are going to email previous customers on the day with a generic offer but don’t do that. Instead, plant the seed a week or so before, send out some presale emails and whet their appetite a little. The increased traffic you’ll get from these emails will be incredibly beneficial and will lead to more actual sales on Black Friday.
Make sure though that the emails you are sending will be of genuine interest to your customers, not spam. Just because something is cheap does not mean that someone is going to buy it and if you are sending email after email then it could damage your brand. Make sure people are opening your emails because they want to see what’s in them, not because they want to clear their inbox.
Make the Most of Amazon Black Friday
If you head over to Amazon on Black Friday, they will offer you lots of opportunities to make more sales thanks to the huge increase in traffic they have. If you are going to do this then you should ensure that your inventory stocks are high enough to cope with the new demand.
The aim should be to get as many people to view your products as possible, which will be doable due to the fact more people will be on Amazon to see it. As well as inventory, you will need to be prepared to take customer feedback and respond to it promptly. This can be beneficial as more people will buy from you when they see these swift responses.
Something else that could help you with getting some sales on Black Friday is by offering free shipping on your products. People are expecting to come across good deals on Black Friday and so if you reduce your prices and offer free shipping you will put yourself in good stead to secure a heap of sales.
Perform a Check of Your Website
Performing a site search can be incredibly useful when it comes to driving improvements when you are going into a period of peak trading. Your site will be dealing with an influx of customers and so you want it to be performing at its best.
You should apply some boosting rules as a means to ensure that the products you are promoting are the right ones, this can be based on their margin, the general popularity of them or if there has been a seasonal surge.
You should also have a look at your advertising, specifically paid media budgets. Be sure to invest some time in server-provisioning as a means to make sure that it’s the top sections of your site that are being merchandised effectively.
Only Reduce Prices Based on Your Industry
Realistically, the preparation for your Black Friday is going to depend on the industry that you work in. You will need a banner that advertises Black Friday and highlights the short period it takes place for as a means to create urgency in your consumers, you also need to be realistic when it comes to knocking your prices down.
Pick some of your most popular products and knock the price down as much as you can whilst still making a profit. Maybe consider your competitors and make your reductions based on what they are promising customers. If you can, it’s also a good idea to knock down the price on items that require accessories, which you can then sell for full price and recoup on some of the discounts you’ve made.
Conclusion
Naturally, due to the influx of people who have been online shopping since the start of the pandemic, paired with the amount of people who utilise the discounts that are available on black Friday, using this period to promote your products and brand is a no brainer. Preparing for black Friday is incredibly important and there are lots of steps you can take to be as productive as possible.
At the centre of all of your Black Friday sales will be an easy to use and slick website. If your site is not up and running to its maximum potential then you could lose out on lots of sales, as there will be lots of other offers for customers out there so they’re unlikely to stick around on a loading page for hours. If you would like some assistance with creating or updating your website then you should consider seeking the help of professional web designers such as those at It’seeze Milton Keynes.
Get in touch
If you’d like to find out more about It’seeze websites, why not get in touch today? We’re committed to building brilliant websites that help businesses grow - and we’d love to hear your plans.
Tagged as: Black Friday, Ecommerce
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