Black Friday Will Be Bigger Than Ever
Understand the trends and prepare your online marketing
Black Friday has seen incredible growth over the past 5 years, with year on year jumps of more than 20%. Some believe COVID-19 will bring this level of growth to a halt, however, digital marketers are expecting to see even larger growth figures in 2020. Rather than taking these predictions at face value, I wanted to dive deeper to explore the trends, as well as the important tactics I think will be key in having success in this entirely unpredictable year.
The Argument for Black Friday Slowing Down This Year
With a global pandemic and recession hanging over us, there’s an obvious argument for why growth will be curbed this year, and it’s a hard one to disagree with on face value. However, a big part of the argument for Black Friday being a smaller deal in 2020 is that consumers, from the comfort of their own homes, won’t be sucked into buying products they otherwise wouldn’t have if it wasn’t for the deals on offer. I don’t think it’s a surprise that this argument is being pushed by more traditional media outlets, who I believe are massively underestimating the power of online retail
The Argument for Black Friday Growing This Year
Despite the current state of affairs, certain industries are seeing much stronger than expected growth this year, a lot of which can be explained as a direct result of behavioural shifts forced by the pandemic. Existing restrictions mean that consumers are being forced to bring their spending online, and even once these restrictions are being lifted in certain areas, we are seeing that a level of fear still discourages people from visiting stores. This has hit the fast forward button on a gradual trend away from the high street to online, cramming years of growth into months. I believe this will continue throughout Black Friday and the holiday season.
What Do I Think Will Happen This Year?
I believe the shift to more online spending will continue through the peak shopping periods of Black Friday and the holiday season. Certain groups of consumers, such as older generations, who may have never previously shopped online will now effectively be forced to make the switch and will be the ones driving the online growth.
A study from Google Ads found that 78% of people plan to shop more online for Christmas this year and to avoid playing favourites with my search engines, Microsoft Ads say that 50% of their searches are now from people aged 50 and above, up from 40% in March. A small but notable shift in search behaviour that has wider implications for how different demographics are shopping during 2020.
My personal opinion is that all of these changes will create a double-edged sword for brands looking to market during Black Friday. Smaller brands will suddenly be able to compete for the high street customer, but they will be at risk of being bullied out of the market by the big high street names trying to make up for the loss of in-store revenue. I think this will result in very good offers for the customer — however, I strongly believe it will be those brands who think further than the discount that will have the most successful Black Friday period.
What’s More Important Than a Discount?
It’s really important to ensure that your brand is visible throughout the whole of November, rather than saving your marketing budgets for the core Black Friday dates. Typical behaviour shows that consumers search for generic, non-branded queries early on in the month, before switching to branded queries about two weeks before the event, as they identify the brands they want to purchase from. If you’re not visible early on in the month, you likely won’t be considered as we reach the end of it, and although I’ve used searches as the example here, I believe the behaviour has further implications for your primary marketing channel of choice.
During this research period, consumers are always significantly more likely to be shopping around for the best deal. Factoring in the current economic climate, I believe there will be even more brand comparisons happening. Of course, price is the main factor here, but it will be super important to consider things like product reviews and offering a meaningful brand story. People are not just money conscious in 2020, they are also brand conscious — so make sure you’re not just focussed on price and give consumers more reason to buy from you.
Video can be surprisingly inexpensive to produce and is an extremely effective way of getting your brand values across and building trust with your audience. If you can encourage previous customers to produce video reviews for you, that is a double win as you not only get free content to advertise your products with, you also get the opportunity to exchange an enticing offer to your old customer — something that is extremely likely to push them from casual customer to a loyal one.
Prepare for the Comparison
The other thing to consider with comparison shoppers is that even if they have a positive experience and are considering becoming a customer, they are still likely to leave your website without purchasing, and if there is one thing we can sure of over this Black Friday period, it’s that they are going to be bombarded with online ads from all angles. So, although they may have left your website with all the intent in the world to return and purchase, this is a fickle world and consumers can easily be swayed by a competitor brand running better marketing or better prices.
I believe the key to avoiding losing customers at this stage is to give yourself the toolkit to bring these engaged customers back into your universe — channels such as email marketing and digital remarketing are, in my opinion, the most impactful way of achieving this.
Delivery is another huge factor in winning a conversion, with 78% of people in a Google Study saying free delivery was the biggest driver for them choosing a website over a competitor. This time around, it is also worth considering that those unable to visit friends and family at Christmas may shift to sending presents directly from an online store — making gift wrapping a particularly useful add-on at checkout that will make your customers lives a little easier, and you an extra buck.
In Conclusion
It’s going to be a fascinating time for anyone with an interest in online retail, and for those of you who are hoping to use this period to create a positive finish to what has been, without a doubt, a really difficult year, I hope the following summary of advice is helpful
Plan and prepare early, consider more than your pricing, and make those that are shopping online for the first time feel welcome.
