The traditional Black Friday shopping experience for consumers has given way to the “Cyber 5“, a five-day period that includes Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday, the two-day weekend, and Cyber Monday, as a result of shifting mindsets and the expansion of eCommerce.
In other words, before you get a chance to catch your breath, your Black Friday will probably run for five days straight. The requirement for eCommerce businesses to be fully ready for Christmas shopping traffic is increased.
Here’s our last-minute checklist for eCommerce businesses for this year’s Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend for you.
Number 1: Get ready for a longer shopping season.
In the pre-Holiday rush of to-do lists, family outings, finishing work before the holidays, and other activities, people want to find gifts quickly. Customers desire flexible payment choices, advance product availability information, and the assurance that any required returns or exchanges will be honored.
Beginning the last week of November, online sales are anticipated to significantly increase and take over the Black Friday/Cyber 5 period.
According to Clowdwards, 76% of shoppers bought online during this time. Over 50% of people stated they planned to begin their holiday shopping before Halloween.
Number 2: Finalize your inventory choices.
You’ve certainly already decided on the goods you want to market for the season and ordered that inventory as part of your preparations for Black Friday and the holidays.
It’s still possible to add at least a few more things, depending on the supplier’s inventory. Review the products that have been selling since the majority of your holiday inventory orders were made. Has a certain product or line of products suddenly become popular?
Make sure you have enough inventory of what is selling fast.
Number 3: Improve your workflows for order fulfillment.
Make sure your most popular products are positioned in the warehouse for easy access, and that you have enough packaging materials on hand to cover more than the estimated sales volume.
Almost invariably, shipping during the holidays necessitates hiring more fulfillment personnel. Because of the labor shortage, it will be more difficult for you to find temporary workers, and you’ll probably have to pay them more than you’re used to.
Make these preparations well in advance.
How you’ll be giving orders priority is another crucial aspect to arrange. Regular prioritization techniques include product category, shipment mode, shipping provider, and customer priority (repeat customers shipped first).
Flesh out the checkpoints in your order to shipping to delivery processes. Are all the parts in order? Now is a good time to take a close look at your order fulfillment workflows.
Number 4: Make a compelling offer.
Inboxes of consumers are overflowing with messages during the holiday season. To get their attention, concentrate on one fantastic promotional offer.
What kind of “Oh my God!” deal would make people visit your shop?
Instead of confusing them with many offers in promotional emails, concentrate on the one deal you find to be the most alluring.
When you find a great deal, it’s natural to question if there are any more you might be overlooking. You can present a wider range of special offers, upsells, and cross-sells once they are on your website.
Number 5: It’s not too late to send email marketing messages.
Before Black Friday and the Cyber 5, every eCommerce company should launch at least a few email marketing campaigns for the holiday season.
An easy-to-use but successful email campaign might have the following:
- From two weeks till Black Friday, send one email once a week.
- The evening of Black Friday and Cyber Monday, an email.
- A message on Cyber Monday and Black Friday.
- Create a widget on your website that allows visitors to sign up for your promotional email list, and collect email addresses from client orders all year long.
Before Black Friday, send teaser emails letting them know about the deals they can take advantage of that weekend. Think of providing specialized offers to previous clients depending on their previous purchases.
Sending special offers to people who have requested to be added to your mailing list but have not yet made a purchase is another smart step.
When a customer leaves their cart unattended, use your platform’s tools to set up automatic emails to thank them and ask if they’d like to stay on your promotional mailing list.
This was our last-minute checklist for this holiday season. Do you have a Black Friday/Cyber 5 Checklist? Mail it to us at cs@qubriux.com.