“How does it feel to treat me like you do?” Oops, that’s not Black Friday, it’s Blue Monday by New Order. Still, that’s hardly the only way you could confuse Black Friday with something else, as this discount-heavy period now seems to stretch over several weeks.
Traditionally, it has tended to be limited to the in-person shopping experience, too – but, since then, has comprised an emerging online component with notable implications for your retail firm.
Is Black Friday really still relevant?
Black Friday has arguably lost some of the lustre it once had, as many potential shoppers despair at the lack of discounts on products they actually want or how quickly the best deals sell out. This was all before the pandemic, too, which has certainly left in-person shopping a lot less appealing.
Nonetheless, with pandemic-fuelled job losses and furloughs having also left many people with less money in their pockets, these people could still feel enticed by the money-saving opportunities that Black Friday promises. So, how can you get the word out about your store’s cut-price offerings?
Beef up your retail store’s online operations
Around this time of year, we once had a system that looked simple on paper: Black Friday, lined up this year for 26 November, would see the discounts rolled out in brick-and-mortar stores, whereas the following Cyber Monday – this year, 29 November – would switch the attention to online sales.
However, over time, the boundaries between Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become increasingly blurred. With the COVID crisis having accelerated the already buoyant popularity of online retail, Black Friday 2020 is tipped to become the biggest online shopping day yet in the UK.
So, even if your retail business usually sells most of its wares the traditional way, you shouldn’t neglect the online side of your store’s operations. Fortunately, even if you don’t currently have any online retail arm to speak of, we can help you set up a fully-fledged ecommerce site.
Make sure your social isn’t… so-so
Like with Christmas, it can often feel as though Black Friday starts earlier every year, with many retailers beginning to advertise their seasonal discounts long before Black Friday proper arrives. You should try to beat your competitors to it, and you can do that especially well on social media.
Even if you start with just a trickle of Black Friday-themed content on your social pages, now’s a good time for you to drum up excitement among your followers. If you’re concerned that many of them could still be too busy right now to pay much attention, our graphic designers could prepare some eye-catching cover images for you to temporarily place on your company’s social profiles.
See if you could speed up your site’s responsiveness
What if many shoppers descend on your ecommerce site on Black Friday but are often left waiting due to loading times worsened by high traffic volumes heavily straining your site’s server? To help make your online store zippier, we could switch it to a higher-capacity server.
