Get Your Business Ready for Black Friday Sales
Black Friday Sales: A Guide for Australian Businesses
Are you ready for the year’s massive sales? You need to be. It’s your opportunity to claw back some of the sales restrictions that most Australian businesses experienced during the pandemic. The experts are convinced that shoppers will spend big. So, let’s talk about the Black Friday sales.
- What do you need to know?
- What should you do to prepare for Black Friday sales?
- When to start preparing?
What do you need to know?
Friday, 26th November is the day. But it’s no longer just restricted to Friday. The promotional activity is now spreading to the days around Black Friday. Cyber Monday sales are on the 29th November, and many businesses try to get ahead of Black Friday with promotions leading up to the day.
What should you do to prepare for Black Friday sales?
Prepare your Black Friday Sales checklist to make sure you are ready to capitalise on this opportunity. As a starter, you will need to consider the following:
- Inventory and promotion planning
- Digital preparation
- In-store preparation
- Delivery
- Communication
The right product and the best promotion – get your share of Black Friday Sales Australia
Consider what has worked in the past. Even trial product offers in the lead up to Black Friday 2021 to see how your customers react. Be aware of issues that currently exist in terms of supply chain logistics. If you are going to promote a product, ensure that you can access, sell and deliver sufficient quantities.
Get digital-ready for Black Friday Australia
Will your website cope with a surge in traffic as people seek out Black Friday deals? Look at past high sales events. With so many sales opportunities available in the market, you want your site to be easy and fast. Maybe now is the time to review your web hosting plan.
Consider your website customer experience. Is your site easy to navigate? Is it compelling? How many steps are involved in completing a purchase online? Is it mobile friendly?
Check-out is an area that you should optimise. Customers often abandon their shop at this point, so ensure it is intuitive and convenient. Try to consolidate it to one page and offer all the payment options you can. Enable automated cart abandonment notifications wherever possible.
Let’s get our social media channels working to push traffic to your site or drive traffic through your doors. In combination with emails, they offer a perfect way to build pre-sale excitement and even provide VIP access to Black Friday deals.
Be ready to welcome your customers in-store
Post pandemic, it isn’t easy to know exactly how customers will react to crowded store environments. Clearly, crowd control will be a paramount concern in-store as people try to find their best Black Friday deals. In addition, customers may want to engage in click-and-collect transactions in-store. Test your ability to do it all in the physical setting and have your teams trained and ready to welcome customers back.
Delivery is key
Get your delivery right, and you will likely see less shopping cart abandonment and an uptake in sales. Use it to upsell with delivery offers built around total basket value. Just as you are gearing up for Black Friday, make sure your delivery suppliers are ready and capable of dealing with that surge. Consider your returns policy. Provide a clear, user-friendly and upfront returns policy and a reasonable returns timeframe. Ease of return will give confidence to customers to commit to the purchase.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
This needs a checklist of its own. There are three communication targets:
The team
When you are in the midst of the sale, you will not have time to discuss your Black Friday specials with the team. Provide all team members with a full brief well before the sale gets underway. Provide notes but also try to do it in person so you can answer questions. FAQ’s are an excellent way to provide insights.
Existing customers
Consider rewarding existing customers for their loyalty. Let them know what’s coming and, if possible, give them advance access to promotions. Encourage your customers to share their purchases on social media.
New customers
New customers will be inundated with information about upcoming sales in the days leading up to Black Friday. Consumers will be expecting steep discounts and great deals. Think about how you can package the offers you have, so shoppers will feel they’re getting real value for money. Many businesses create a landing page for Black Friday on their website well before Black Friday with an email opt-in for consumers to subscribe to hear about offers.
Ensure all your channels are aligned and working hard to drive traffic to your Black Friday promotions.
Don’t wait – act now
The time to act is now. Know what your offer is and start talking about it. Check your digital channels to see that they are aligned. Ensure your website is optimised and able to cope with a surge in traffic. Check your website’s performance with our free website 5 point health check. It will tell you:
- How Google rates your website
- Your website speed
- Website accessibility
- Quick wins to attract more online leads and sales
- Recommendations report to help increase website visitors, leads and sales.