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Black Friday 2022 is getting closer and closer. As with Easter eggs, it is always difficult to make forecasts with one of the biggest eCommerce events of the year.
In 2020 many analysts predicted that sales would plummet due to the pandemic. But this never happened: global online spending during Black Friday week climbed to $270 billion, 36% more than the year before.
The spike in prices due to global inflation and recession fears looming over the holidays raises many questions about what will happen this year. But most of the experts anticipate that eCommerce growth will not slow down.
However, it is never a bad moment to recall what online sellers should avoid when planning this peak period of sales. Will go through the worst mistakes that brands and eCommerce managers can suffer during the next Black Friday, and what to do to prevent them.
1. Becoming a ghost
Online retail sites and marketplaces are full of ghosts. Many brands literally disappear when this big moment of the year arrives, whether it’s because they haven’t been taking care of their product content (like titles and images) or haven’t been measuring the impact of their e retail media campaigns
eCommerce visibility is relevant for brands, no matter their size, goals and type of product. But this becomes even more tangible in a worldwide event such as Black Friday.
Not properly planning your strategy to become visible during this event with enough time in advance can lead to several problems. This is because a successful Black Friday campaign usually starts weeks before, paving the way to position your products on the first results page.
However, becoming visible goes beyond Keyword optimization to appear high on search results, it also involves planning your e-retail media campaigns with the right banners and promote your products with the right discounts. You want to capture as much possible space of the Digital Shelf during these dates.
2. Leaving your costumer alone
Counting on the outburst of products promoted during Black Friday, many brands have a misconception of the online relationship they must have with new and old consumers.
Despite the evidence we have today, some sellers still think that purchase decisions can’t be modified in the final stages of a buying experience.
Consumers let themselves be guided more than ever by the timing of so many promotions and offers. That is why it is so important to provide a personalized experience that includes a long list of potential sales.
3. Not having a clear and defined eCommerce strategy
Massive events like Black Friday or Amazon Prime Day are great opportunities to boost sales. But a good eCommerce manager doesn't just look at the short term.
Shalion’s eCommerce experts recommend setting clear goals on what you want to achieve during these dates. But also on how to integrate them into your brand’s overall strategy, taking into account the general health of metrics inside the Digital Shelf: pricing, product content, assortment, rating and reviews, out of stocks, etc.
One of the most common goals for brands that want to consolidate their eCommerce ambitions is to use the Black Friday to attract new types of consumers and forecast future sales with higher margins.
The lack of a proper strategy can ruin these aims and damage your balance sheet ledger for the upcoming holiday & Christmas season that’s just around the corner.
4. Promoting products that are out-of-stock
Having an out of control online product stock is one of the most frequent mistakes in the eCommerce world. The unavailability of a product that you are actually offering through a promo in a specific marketplace or retailer will probably mean losing customers but also the money invested in achieving that failed sale. Just to mention two consequences.
We better not forget that Black Friday anticipates other great sales windows such as the Christmas period. So a mistake in the supply chain during these dates can lead to more problems in the short and mid-term. Choose wisely the promo you'd want to activate: remember that if there's shortage of your hero products you might end up with a negative margin.
5. Putting data aside
eCommerce activity is a constant source of data. The period of the year we are thinking about doesn’t matter. But this becomes more dramatically true during an event like Black Friday or other unmissable eCommerce dates like Amazon prime.
You do not need to be an experienced eCommerce manager to know how challenging it can be managing this enormous amount of information. Which, more often than not, is not directly in our hands, but externalized in a specific marketplace.
At Shalion we have built specific tools that can help you monitor in a very precise manner what is going on with your products online across hundreds of retailers and sellers. This includes; how the product content is presented, the consumer ratings each product is receiving, and the kinds of discounts which have been used to promote them.
Putting aside data during the next Black Friday can become a real nightmare for your business. To avoid this we firmly recommend that you set up a robust and professional data management system to monitor your eCommerce activity. At Shalion we know how to help you! Contact us to learn more
