You can never prepare too much for the biggest shopping event of the year. Everyone loves Black Friday, and whether you’re a seller or a buyer, there’s something great you can get out of it. When done right, Black Friday sales can be an opportunity for massive growth for merchants.
Most consumers have probably already thought about their Black Friday plans. While most might be planning on securing holiday gifts early, others are planning sprees at their favourite stores. Whatever your spending method of choice is, the time is coming fast and the anticipation is building.
Similarly, most sellers have already started hopefully preparing for an increase in sales. Marketing early is an important part of gaining attention and getting shoppers excited for your upcoming sales.
However, there’s always a few last minute changes you can make for the better. Keep reading to find out how to make Black Friday for your store even better, and see what factors will impact your sales the most (hint: it’s probably going to be your delivery options).
Black Friday Stats
How big really is Black Friday? The truth is, pretty big. Almost everyone is expecting to buy at least something while the sales last, which means all that’s left for you to do is find a way to fit the buyers needs. Let’s see what the trends are saying this year, and then dive into how you can use this knowledge to your advantage.
Here are some of the most significant Black Friday stats for sellers in 2022:
- 76% of consumers expect to shop over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend.
- 94% of shoppers will shop at least partially online.
- The average Black Friday shopping budget will be around $800.
- 78% of Black Friday carts will be abandoned.
What do these mean for merchants like you?
First and foremost, the potential reach is massive. More consumers than ever are going to be shopping, whether that’s in-store or online. The number of viewers you can convert to buyers will be bigger than any other time of year. However, there’s plenty of competition out there trying to steal these buyers away from you. Luckily, the tips below can help you beat them out!
Secondly, 2022 Black Friday shopping is going to be predominantly online. In fact, even buyers who plan on shopping in-person are likely going to buy something online as well. This means optimizing your online selling is going to be crucial.
Thirdly, budgets are expected to increase per customer this year, even amid the state of the economy. This could be due to the sales, and customers are hoping to buy all their Christmas gifts when items will be priced the lowest. Regardless, buyers are on the look for products at the right price points.
And finally, on a more upsetting note, the majority of online orders added to a shopping cart will be abandoned. This could happen for many reasons – but of the most impactful factors affecting cart abandonment is shipping rates and times. To avoid abandoned carts, you need to offer an easy checkout experience with limited decision-making required. In other words, fast and cheap delivery that doesn’t have buyers thinking twice.
How to Boost Black Friday Sales
Ready to improve Black Friday sales? Even with just a little bit of time left to prepare you can set yourself apart from competition and give the last push you need to make the weekend successful.
1. Offer fast and affordable delivery
The first way to secure a growth in sales is to buckle down on the best delivery solutions available. One way to lose customers fast is to make delivery stressful or too expensive.
Same-day delivery is a lot more important than most merchants believe. While there are misconceptions that customers don’t mind three or five day delivery times, more than 80% actually do want their orders to arrive that same day. Especially on Black Friday, when buyers have more options than ever to pick from, offering same-day delivery is essential.
The reason delivery needs to be fast and affordable is because of “ease of purchasing.” Ease of purchasing refers to how simple, or easy, it is for a customer to purchase from you. In terms of online purchasing, delivery costs make it difficult for customers to order when they cause the overall order cost to jump significantly.
2. Build anticipation
There’s no better way to increase sales than to make customers wait. When anticipation rises, customers count down the days until your sale is live and they can finally get their hands on their favourite items. Building anticipation will have consumers buying as soon as they can.
But, how can you build anticipation? One powerful strategy is to run ads or have website banners with a countdown timer. Not only does this build excitement in potential customers, but they’ll come back once it goes live since they waited so long.
3. Merge in-person and online sales
As mentioned above, shoppers are splitting their purchasing between different streams. Most consumers are not looking to buy just in-person or online, but want a mix of both. At the very least, they want the opportunity to shop in both ways.
Multi-channel refers to selling through various means, like retail and online. More channels means a wider audience reach and a larger potential for increasing sales. However, you need to make every channel just as good as the last, optimizing each selling solution.
Optimizing your channels means making it easy to purchase from anywhere. Customers don’t need to make many decisions before checking out and they can quickly get their items into their hands. Same-day delivery can help you achieve a strong online selling presence in addition to in-store selling.
4. Use smart email campaigns
When used correctly, email campaigns can bring a big boost in customer activity. Smart email campaigns target specific groups of buyers, or potential buyers, to boost sales.
Smart email campaigns are sent to customers that share common traits. For example, you share different emails and sales with the customers who are likely to be most interested. This might be your most loyal customers, your least active customers, or even a subgroup interested in a specific line of your products. This attention to detail is more successful than general emails to everyone.
5. Target old customers
Similar to email campaigns, selling is all about getting your brand name out there. Past buyers might have loved your store the first time around, but forgotten about it as time went on. Reaching back out to them to get them re-engaged might entice them to come back this Black Friday.
Targeting old customers is especially useful if you are willing to offer a deal that’s going to get their attention. Since you most likely already have Black Friday sales in the works, why not reach out and let them now? In combination with some of our other tips, like an attractive loyalty program, this can be a great tactic for selling more on Black Friday.
Focusing on keeping old customers coming back should never be overlooked. It’s well know that maintaining customers is more affordable than acquiring new ones. This is why constant outreach and targeting of previous buyers can be a very cost-effective way to keep your business flourishing.
6. Build loyalty programs
Loyalty programs are a great way to turn buyers into loyal customers. Loyalty programs incentivize placing larger orders and buying more often so customers can earn points and eventually redeem them.
During Black Friday sales, loyalty programs are an easy way to help customers choose your products over another. If they get a great deal, plus they earn points or another offer if they return in the future, they have another reason to buy from you.
Loyalty programs can be set up quickly. With all the help available on the internet today, you can find plenty of resources that will offer you guidance in creating one that suits your business. Here are some great examples of loyalty programs that work for different types of sellers and keep customer loyalty high.
7. Optimize fulfillment processes
Maximizing Black Friday sales goes beyond just selling. To take advantage of the sales you get, you need to know how to handle them.
Your fulfillment process will hold you back unless you optimize them before the peak season hits. Being able to pick, pack, and complete orders quickly will help you get items out the door faster. Then, you can spend more time focusing on your business and its sales.
Before Black Friday arrives, make sure you have enough people and knowledge to take care of the influx in orders. Slow fulfillment affects all the other parts of your business. Hence, it’s important to keep all parts of your store well oiled so you can keep orders moving through the process, and get new ones started faster.
8. Encourage up-selling
Up-selling refers to buying more than you originally expected. As a seller, you can upsell products to have customers buy more than they came for. When talking about growing Black Friday sales, you can’t forget about the many ways to increase the average order value.
Some beneficial ways to upsell are offering bundled orders for discounted prices or convincing buyers to purchase more of one item for a better rate on each one. One common place you’ll see this is in coffee shops, where a large coffee is always just a little bit more than a medium, but the overall takeaway is better for the coffee shop when customers buy large. You can apply these same principles to your retail or online store.
9. Capitalize on trends
Mobile commerce is quickly taking over other shopping methods. More than ever, customers are buying products based on how popular they see online or which influencers are promoting them. Hence, following up on these trends can be a game changer.
Paying attention to trending items and social media trends can help you stay in touch with customers. You’ll know what they’re interested in and how best to market it. More buyers than ever are shopping based on what they see online, so to keep up, you’ll need to pay attention.
To take this one step further, you might want to try promoting your own products through social media platforms. That extra touch point with customers is one beneficial way to convince them your product is what they need. You can gain plenty of attention and target a much larger audience, just by taking advantage of where buying trends are today.
10. Have excellent customer support
And finally, customer support cannot be overlooked. A helpful customer support team can make all the difference by ensuring customers have a positive experience buying from you.
One of the easiest ways to lose customers is to end their delivery on a bad note. Even if you sell great products, a poor delivery experience can dampen their opinion. Hence, having a dedicated customer support team who can solve problems and help make the delivery experience successful will set you apart from other sellers.
Customers love having fast contact with a knowledgeable support agent. Without it, customers feel unsupported and are much less likely to return in the future. They are also more likely to spread a less than favourable word about your store. Make a win-win situation for yourself by bringing customers back and improving their opinion of you, all with great customer service.
Growing Sales with FlashBox
With FlashBox, upgrading your Black Friday sales is easier than ever. Our innovative same-day delivery technology gives customers exactly what they’re looking for this holiday season.
Same-day delivery helps you limit abandoned carts, increase customer satisfaction, and make the checkout experience much easier. Our flat-rate deliveries decrease the decision-making required by shoppers, helping them place their order without having second thoughts.
In addition to the price, our delivery quality stands out to buyers. We care about your customers’ experience, and that means taking care of them as our own. Our customer support team is ready to help make deliveries successful six days a week. Plus, our live driver tracking is one of the most customer-appreciated features that gives them full clarity over their estimated delivery time frames.
As Black Friday shopping turns into a significantly online event, delivery is becoming a factor you can’t afford to forget about. Successfully getting your items to customers fast will be the differentiating factor between you and your competition.
Ready to see the different same-day delivery can make? Get started with FlashBox deliveries today and take advantage of cutting-edge delivery solutions.
Plus, follow us on social media to be updated with more hints about finding success this holiday season.
