The biggest online shopping event of the year is upon us. With Black Friday and Cyber Monday just around the corner, planning for a successful 2022 peak season is essential – now more than ever. But despite current economic uncertainty, the outlook for the upcoming golden quarter is promising.
As the supply chain issues and labour shortages that defined the 2021 festive period are more or less resolved, the opportunity for a strong peak period presents itself. It’s no secret that customers start their research well in advance of Black Friday, with eager bargain hunters revealed to be searching for deals 12 weeks before the big day.
But the peak season sales market is a competitive one, so getting ahead of the game and understanding your customer’s wants and needs is critical. In order to maximise ROI and end the year on a high, eCommerce brands and retailers need to avoid common mistakes and leverage these key calendar dates to generate revenue and get 2023 off to a strong start.
Plan, plan and plan some more!
Over the last decade, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have firmly established themselves in the UK. In fact, in 2021, the UK alone accounted for over ten per cent of global Black Friday searches online. Using a sound PPC and SEO strategy to support enticing promotions is a surefire tactic to create a buzz around your brand early on. However, if you really want to get ahead of the trend and guarantee a busy retail season, here are some of the top tips to maximise sales:
-
Inventory management is key
It’s imperative to manage your inventory effectively ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Meticulous sales and stock forecasting will put you in the strongest position to drive efficiency and beat your competition – consider monthly and annual sales data and industry trends to build reliable projections. This in turn will help you make educated predictions on how much stock you can unload – too much, and you’ll have excess; not enough and you’ll miss out on potential sales.
You can always make your life easier by investing in inventory management software, especially if you are selling through multiple channels like Shopify or eBay. You must know when to restock and make sure you don’t sell items that aren’t available, after all, astute inventory management drives scalability, profit, and customer retention.
-
What upsells and bundles you’re going to offer
On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, you’ll want to increase your AOV as much as possible. A strategy to help do this is product bundling: offering items that are commonly bought together to your customers. So, if your average order value is £5 on one hot-selling item, you create the opportunity to increase the AOV to £10 or £15. ‘Bundling’ your products and services together in one package drives customer satisfaction, as they’ll be receiving a better deal overall. It can also help drive efficiencies and get idle stock off the shelves; by offering ‘a little something extra’, brands can finally offload any excess slow-moving stock that might have been holding them back.
Upselling is a little like bundling and can also help increase your average order value while fulfilling the needs of your customer. Make sure your website always recommends related products to your customer to pique their interest and satisfy their shopping experience. Offer similar items alongside their chosen product, such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, coffee and coffee mugs, makeup and make-up remover. Understanding trends and opportunities for your strongest offers, as well as the most in-demand items, will deliver healthy margins and boost peak season profitability.
-
Driving customer loyalty through flexibility
If you’re in a position to offer free shipping – then you absolutely should. Research shows that 45% of British consumers are more likely to shop with a merchant if next-day delivery is available at the point of purchase. If you can’t offer this, then be sure to promote same-day dispatch and rapid delivery options to give your customers the fast, flexible service they expect.
If order fulfilment isn’t one of your biggest strengths, then it could be time to automate your fulfilment with a 3PL provider to help drive efficiencies and bring your customers closer to your brand. To scale effectively, online retailers need business-friendly pricing with reputable fulfilment partners whose service exceeds expectations, offering flexible payment options that include bespoke pricing for your specific business needs.
Leveraging 3PL services to drive efficiencies is key
The cost-of-living crisis is having a serious impact on retailers and consumers. Rising price points negatively impact sales, so keeping operating costs and overheads to a minimum is more critical than ever for businesses looking to stay profitable in this challenging economic landscape.
One way to reduce costs and streamline efficiencies is opting for 3PL fulfilment. By outsourcing supply chain order fulfilment operations during peak times, you relieve your team from dealing with routine error-prone tasks. Third-party logistics are experts in what they do – including managing inventory, low-cost picking and packing and rapid delivery services – helping businesses save up to 40% compared to ineffective in-house fulfilment operations.
Get your affairs in order today!
The fundamentals of ensuring that your business is ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday boil down to one key thing: preparation. If you have an efficient system of managing inventory and know which items need to be sold, you’re halfway there. What’s more, opting for a tech-powered 3PL provider can ensure some of the organisational load can be taken off, meaning you can invest time into forecasting and strategising for a robust end-of-year campaign.
Tony Wilcox
