How to Nail Black Friday, Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2024
No pressure, but one of the biggest sales events of the year is on the horizon. Okay, a little healthy pressure.
Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) weekend will kick off on Friday, November 29th, and run through Monday, December 2nd, 2024.
Significantly, this is where ecommerce retailers will fight to stand out in the crowd of competition and meet customers’ high expectations regarding price and efficiency. It’s also a huge opportunity to increase sales throughout the end of the year.
Instead of panicking, prepare. Get ahead of trends, optimize your fulfillment strategy, and start your preparation now. Luckily, success begins with reading this blog.
What do consumers want to see during this BFCM?
Insight: Earlier discounts and extended sales will be prevalent
While BFCM used to be a two-day affair, there is much more gray area as retailers battle for attention. You may have heard these terms tossed around, Black November and Cyber Week, meaning the sales period is extended.
One survey suggests that in 2023, 56% of shoppers took advantage of pre-Thanksgiving sales or other promotions. This is evidenced by Walmart’s decision to launch its Black Friday promotion on November 8th last year.
What does this mean for ecommerce brands? They should begin to offer sales a few days earlier, or at least communicate what the deals might look like.
How you design your strategy is up to you, but it’s still favorable to create a competitive discount your customer base is not used to seeing on an average shopping day.
Insight: Sustainable purchasing options will be in demand
While shipping speed and price are priorities, planet-friendly processes have been top of mind for shoppers. A study from the National Retail Foundation found that up to two-thirds of consumers say they will pay more for sustainable products, which they often spot by reading product labels or conducting online research.
That being said, it’s vital for ecommerce merchants to ensure their sustainability commitment is clearly displayed in product descriptions or on their website to attract conscious buyers.
Aside from merchandise, you can easily adjust your shipping practices too, as it has been reported that 69% of customers say that sustainable shipping has influenced their past purchases.
Throughout the buying process, communicate the materials you will ship with, or give consumers the option to choose more eco-friendly shipping speeds. Alternatively, you can work with a sustainability partner like EcoCart, where each order’s carbon footprint is estimated and offset to ensure carbon-neutral orders.
Insight: User-friendly mobile and social shopping will be favored
For BFCM weekend, it’s assured that scrolling will be a major activity.
This is the time to ensure your mobile site is optimized to create a seamless shopping experience, from browsing to buying. It may be time to tap into the power of social commerce too, as it’s been reported that there will be 110.4 million U.S. social media buyers by the end of 2024. Woah is right.
Social media is a powerful way to reach a wider audience, boost product discovery, connect with customers right where they are, and build social proof.
Some popular platforms include TikTok Shop, Instagram Shopping, and Facebook Shop, which offer direct shipping options. Pinterest is also a great social platform to leverage as it acts as a fantastic personalized search tool.
Insight: Personalization and AI recommendations will be expected
One of the most effective ways to engage your customers? Stay human. With the help of robots of course. At this point, consumers expect tailored offers and recommendations based on their browsing history.
Leverage AI tools and personalization throughout your ad and email campaigns to build strong connections with your target audience. For instance, you can adjust your subject lines in an email to populate your subscriber’s first name.
Every friendly tweak leaves a better impression.
How to stand out from the crowd, boost sales, and retain customers
One thing for sure about BFCM? The competition will be intense. It’s guaranteed that almost every retail store will be itching to steal the spotlight. Here’s how to stand out in this saturated market.
Leverage influencers and user-generated content
In the smartphone era, consumers are less impressed by traditional advertising. They often gravitate towards influencers or content creators they trust to align with their values and interests. According to one report by Sprout Social, 49% of all consumers make daily, weekly, or monthly purchases because of influencer posts.
If you have the bandwidth, collaborate with influencers that have an organic connection to your brand to build user-generated content (UGC) showcasing your products. The influencer you choose is important, with some experts recommending sticking with micro-influencers, or creators with less than 100,000 followers, to create a more authentic experience.
Lastly, invite your customers to be your influencers too! Incentivize them to share their purchases and product experiences online. Or if they tag you naturally, reshare on social media platforms or comment back to show them you saw it, solidifying the connection and more brand loyalty.
Personalize, personalize, personalize
Tying into the last point, building a personal connection is key to developing brand loyalty. Take a look at your current email strategy, and figure out the best way to segment your customer base according to their shopping history.
For instance, if you’re a retail company, it might make sense to segment based on the category they typically shop for, like accessories. That way, you can send them targeted emails for specific product lines, such as a new set of earrings.
You also have the option to leverage dynamic content in emails, social media and on-site messaging to put relevant content front and center. This practice can increase customer engagement, the overall experience, and ultimately boost sales.
Ensure your channels have cohesive branding
From social media to mobile shops to emails, screen sizes may differ—but branding should remain the same. To leave a lasting, memorable impression, don’t confuse your customer. In a world where an omnichannel strategy is ideal, it’s critical to create a fluid, functional experience across every platform.
Don’t forget about the purchase, and post-purchase experience
Once your consumer has made it to the finish line, AKA the checkout, ensure that process is fast and flexible. Knowing that budgets can be tight, especially around the holidays,offer different payment options. This includes buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) options such as Klarna.
Once a customer clicks that purchase button, what you do next matters. First, send a clear confirmation email that offers shipping updates. Next, thank them for their purchase by offering exclusive post-BFCM discounts either through email, or as a marketing insert in the shipping box.
Bottom line, your customer should feel like a VIP. If they are a first-time buyer, this is a fantastic opportunity to showcase your loyalty programs to incentivize coming back for ongoing rewards.
Use your BFCM data to improve the customer experience
While this is certainly the best time to show off your marketing genius, it’s also the best time to collect data. Examine BFCM purchasing data from the year before (and the current season!) to better understand preferences and tailor future campaigns. Why? Because while this busy season will come to an end, there will be more ahead.
Use customer relationship management (CRM) software to stay organized, and automate personalized follow-up emails based on purchase history. The presents your customers purchase this BFCM could be a strong indicator of what they will buy for the remainder of the year.
Meet increased customer demand with the right fulfillment strategy
As the sales start to roll in, the real test is up next. Fulfillment.
Without a flawless strategy, your brand runs the risk of delaying orders or (even worse) sending out the wrong products. To avoid errors, follow the guidelines below.
Ensure efficient and fast shipping
During this time of year, consumers are pressured to get their gifts on time, which means shipping must be a priority. To avoid snail mail, partner with reliable carriers and use management platforms to streamline processes.
While having one strong carrier relationship is great, it’s smart to diversify, especially if you’re shipping nationwide to big cities and small towns where distribution networks vary.
A simple way to do this is to enact a multi-node fulfillment strategy, where you can strategically distribute your inventory across warehouses to get closer to your customer base.
Prep your external or internal fulfillment teams
Like any test, preparation is key. By crunching the numbers and examining historical sales data, you can have a better picture of demand and order accordingly to avoid stockouts and putting added stress on your team.
Don’t forget that the little details count. Make your internal fulfillment team or 3PL aware about fulfillment add-ons like discount inserts or new packaging, which is particularly common around peak season as brands design exclusive unboxing experiences.
And while you can train your team to prepare for anything, make sure they have the bandwidth. It might make sense to hire temporary staff to help fill in the gaps when you anticipate an increased sales volume, like when your team is running a popular promotion during BFCM. This is common for stores who choose to highly discount certain products, or even sitewide.
Build out your returns process
Returns are always guaranteed, especially during the post-holiday season. This is particularly true in the apparel industry, where consumers may buy different sizes, and return or exchange what isn’t the perfect fit. Transparently communicating this process upfront matters, with one report suggesting that 82% of customers say return policies affect their purchase decisions.
Creating a positive experience means you must be explicitly clear at checkout on how customers can return products, whether or not there’s a deadline, or whether exchange credit is an option. Partnering with an easy management tool like Loop can help you optimize the process.
But before the request is submitted, develop clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) with your fulfillment team so they know where returns go when they head back to the warehouse.
Build a contingency plan
During the holidays, ecommerce brands have to prepare for, well, anything. The BFCM weekend means an influx of orders, and chaos. Anticipate unexpected disruptions like supply chain delays or carrier issues.
Button up your backup strategies, such as finding alternate shipping providers, or additional warehouses as mentioned above. Your customer service team will be on the front lines of questions, so prepare them with messaging guides for all potential mishaps. Remember that empathy and transparency go a long way when responding to customers.
Before Black Friday Begins, One More Thing
While we threw a lot of advice at you, the most important piece is to put the customer first.
In order to stand out against industry rivals, you must strive to make every customer interaction a positive one. If you win them over during BFCM, chances are they’ll come back for more throughout the holiday season, and next year too.
To ensure the best quality possible, get your fulfillment operations on track. Partnering with a third-party logistics (3PL) provider like our team at ShippingTree can help ensure accuracy and efficiency. We’ve seen many seasons of BFCM, and would love to take the heavy lifting off your hands for the holidays, and beyond.
As always, we’re here for your questions. Fill out the contact form.
