As shopper anticipation builds for the Black Friday, Cyber Monday weekend, Andrew Scanlon, Head of Sales and Marketing at e-commerce logistics provider Active Ants, looks at the four steps that can help retailers to drive sales and satisfaction.
Black Friday sales events have almost gone full circle. A one-day flash promotion grew into a weekend of discounts and then morphed into a month-long campaign of deals. It now looks like the mega sale is returning to a weekend event.
Recent data from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) shows UK retail sales growth slowed to just 1.6% in October, the weakest since May, as shoppers held back purchases in anticipation of Black Friday, Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend deals.
Retailers have a four-day, super-competitive sales window to win shoppers and deliver levels of service and satisfaction that will keep customers coming back once the discounts have ended. Preparation in four key areas is crucial.
1. Create compelling reasons to checkout
Big discounts and low RSPs are an important part of BFCM, but there’s much more to attracting shoppers and driving sales.
Many of the retailers and brands we work with find there are two types of discount shopper active during mega sales events. There are those with shopping lists, who have clear intentions about what they want to buy and the products they want to make savings on. These shoppers have options A, B and C lined up, so if their first choice isn’t cheap enough for them, they’ve got contingencies.
Impulse shoppers are the second group. They are much less targeted in terms of the products they’re shopping for and more spontaneous with their purchasing. There is opportunity to upsell and cross-sell to both types of shopper during BFCM. Time-limited promotions, bundled deals, spend-related delivery discounts, exclusive VIP offers and highlighting hero products can all boost basket sizes and checkout values.
2. Engage shoppers early
BFCM shoppers might be waiting until the end of November to snap up bargains, but that doesn’t mean they won’t be window shopping earlier in the month. Consumers will be scouring websites and social media looking for inspiration and deal hunting, and starting to think about Christmas gifting, as well as party season outfits.
Teaser and countdown campaigns, and BFCM weekend previews can engage both ‘list shoppers’ and impulse purchasers. Reviewing web traffic, page views and dwell time, and abandoned carts can all provide valuable insight about purchase intent. This knowledge is vital for refining and personalising deals, and creating compelling offers that consumers really want.
3. Optimise inventory
Striking a balance between overstocking and avoiding out of stock scenarios becomes even more challenging during short-term, quick-fire sales events. Finding the sweet spot for levels of stock inventory levels is complex, but not impossible. Collaboration between sales and marketing teams and logistics and fulfilment counterparts is vital. Data and insight can be shared to consider market trends, historic purchasing, customer behaviour and hero promotions to accurately forecast sales volumes and pinpoint when shopper orders will spike.
Our teams work closely with retailers and brands to analyse the sales promotions that have truly worked. Data shows which level of discount most effectively resonated with consumers and converted to cart checkouts, while also revealing the most effective times for launching BFCM deals. Discounts and selling prices can be optimised, and stock inventory management primed, so products are readily available for picking and packing. Preparations can be made for getting orders to customers quickly and efficiently, avoiding bottlenecks and delays that threaten shopper satisfaction.
4. Stress test operations
Order fulfilment has to work like clockwork at the best of times and becomes even more critical during BFCM weekend. Just In Time (JIT) inventory management will come under intense pressure.
Black Friday orders must be processed and dispatched, while stock inventory is replenished and readied at the same time for Cyber Monday orders. Hundreds of thousands of products will be moving in and out of a fulfilment centre during a fast-paced 24-hour window, meaning there’s no margin for error. Stock must be in the right place at the right time to ensure orders can be efficiently fulfilled to satisfy shopper expectations.
Scenario planning and modelling can test fulfilment operations, checking that they are working seamlessly with webshop systems and are ready to cope with a spike in BFCM sales. Machine learning, automation and digitalisation during logistics and fulfilment can all support accurate testing and forecasting and are able to continuously draw on shopper data to optimise processes in real time.
BFCM weekend success is about much more that low prices. Shoppers expect readily available products and want these quickly. Retailers and brands must avoid stock inventory vacuums and fulfilment bottlenecks. Data-driven planning can make this a reality and, with the right systems and strategies, it’s still possible to achieve this, even as the weeks and days tick down to Friday 28th November. E-commerce platforms, webshops and fulfilment software systems can be successfully integrated and live with 24 hours.
