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Black Friday is one of the most competitive shopping days of the year. With more and more consumers choosing to buy online, Cyber Monday was created to conclude the Thanksgiving weekend in the United States, but this trend has also spread to Europe.
Online sales increased significantly during the 2021 “BFCM” campaign. The Shopify platform shared the these data: Total BFCM sales worldwide reached $6.5 billion, compared to $5.1 billion in 2020. The average value per order also increased, from $89.20 in 2020 to $100.70 in 2021.
According to Adobe, consumers spent $10.7 billion on Cyber Monday 2021. This represents a 1.4% decrease from 2020, but Cyber Monday remains one of the busiest days of the year. During peak hours, consumers spent up to $12 million per minute.
Preparing your e-commerce site for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 is crucial. With the advice in this article, you will be able to make the most of the influx of visitors to your site.
How to prepare your online store for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
We’ve selected the best tips to help you make the most of this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaign.
1- Start early
It is essential to start your preparation early. This includes ensuring your site is up to date, implementing a BFCM marketing strategy and ensuring you have the necessary inventory to respond to an influx of orders. You can also start announcing your special offers earlier to stand out.
2- Update your products and inventory online
Being inundated with visitors and sales isn’t the worst problem. But, to avoid lost sales, it’s essential to ensure your website accurately reflects your products and inventory. Consider spending a few hours reviewing your product descriptions to make sure the details are clear and concise. This can help reduce the number of questions potential customers may have, making it easier to choose and order.
3- Optimize your site for mobile browsing
According to our data, from November 2021 to August 2022, payments via mobile phone represent almost 60% of transactions processed by MONEI. Mobile shopping (along with mobile payments) continues to grow in popularity among consumers.
In 2021, 72.9% of all e-commerce was generated via m-commerce (mobile commerce), up from 58.9% in 2017. According to Statista, emerging e-commerce markets are a big driver of this tendency.
According to eMarketer, in the United States, m-commerce sales reached $359.32 billion in 2021, an increase of 15.2% from 2020, and by 2025, m-commerce sales are expected to more than double to $728.28 billion and account for 44.2% of U.S. e-commerce sales.
Improving the user experience (UX) for mobile shopping is a clear necessity. Optimize your site for mobile devices:
- Make sure the menu and navigation are clear
- Show clear and visible call to action (CTA) buttons
- Eliminate pop-ups and side navigation bars
- Provide a frictionless shopping experience
4- Audit your checkout page
Before you see an increase in online orders, it’s important to test your online checkout page experience and improve it if necessary. It’s essential to make the checkout process as easy as possible for customers to prevent them from abandoning their cart. You must therefore ensure that the page is secure, that navigation is easy and that the buyer does not have to take too many steps to finalize their purchase.
5- Increase your social media activity
Being present on social media is essential to raise awareness of your brand, increase traffic to your website and promote your products. Consumers may no longer be as skeptical of in-person shopping, but it’s safe to assume that people are still scrolling through their social media feeds to learn about Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. Build your community to expand your audience and reach as Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach.
Spend time creating impactful content and use social media as a way to provide additional customer service. To do this, let people know that they can DM you if they have any questions.
6- Create product bundles and special offers
Help your customers make their choice by combining your products. For example, if you sell beauty products, you might bundle a cleanser, mask, and facial lotion. This can help your customers find a gift (or treat themselves) easily. And it can help you increase your average order value (AOV). Incentivize your potential customers to choose your bundles by offering a special offer, such as free shipping or a discount on purchases made during Black Friday and Cyer Monday weekend.
7- Create a gift guide and publish it on your blog
You can find gift guides all over the internet during the holiday season. Help your customers choose your products by creating a gift guide that showcases various products and gift sets you sell. You can choose three to five themes, create relevant content, and share your gift guide via email and social media.
8- Offer in-person pickup options
If you have a brick-and-mortar store – in addition to your e-commerce site – you can offer in-person pickup. According to Retail Brew, in-person pickup has become a must for customers (and retailers).
Shopify’s 2021 retail data also revealed that 41% of retailers plan to invest more in buy online and collect in store options, such as curbside pickup and click and collect. collect, and 58% of consumers say flexible mixed delivery options are important to them.
Some of your customers may want to avoid shipping costs and home pickup and these systems are attractive alternatives to in-store purchases.
9- Offer free shipping
Offering free shipping exclusively during BFCM weekend could help increase your conversion rate. In fact, according to the Baymard Institute, additional shipping costs are one of the main reasons why shoppers abandon their online shopping carts.
Pass the savings on to your customers to improve customer satisfaction and compete with similar businesses that don’t offer this promotion.
10- Add payment methods to your online store
Accepting a wide range of online payment methods can help you reach more customers (locally and internationally), improve the checkout experience, and ultimately make more sales.
Adding additional forms of payment to your online store can seem like a daunting task, however, so we help you accept and administer all major and alternative payment methods from a single platform. .
Set up multiple payment methods including credit and debit cards, digital wallets like Google Pay, Apple Pay, and PayPal, and offer local payment options like Bizum (Spain), ReddePayments (USA,Canada), Cofidis 4xcard (Spain), Multibanco (Portugal) ), iDEAL (Netherlands), and more to accept international payments.
11- Automate a Post-Cart Abandonment Notification Flow
According to the Baymard Institute, on average, 69.80% of online shopping carts are abandoned. This represents a lot of money lost for traders. As you can see in the chart above, the reasons range from additional costs to a complicated checkout process to not enough payment methods. Whatever the reason, you can set up automated email flows to recover abandoned carts.
An abandoned cart follow-up email is used to follow up with potential customers who leave your website without purchasing the items in their cart. Sending a discreet follow-up message can help you recover up to 10% of lost revenue.
Abandoned cart email automation can take the form of a series of emails (two or three). You can also start with a single email that triggers a few hours after cart abandonment.
12- Experiment with in-person selling
Consumer behavior has changed dramatically during the pandemic, but now that the situation has normalized, shoppers are eager to get out there. In fact, according to Shopify’s 2021 retail statistics, 32% of consumers are looking for engaging in-store experiences, and 32% of brands intend to test pop-up events and in-person experiences.
Getting your business online can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. You can start simply, by attending pop-up events or markets. And accepting payments in person doesn’t require investing in expensive point-of-sale hardware and software.
Get ready for BFCM 2024
Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 won’t be long. By preparing in advance, you will be able to make your e-commerce profitable and increase your sales. Listen to your customers and their needs to be more creative and targeted in your BFCM strategy.
