22 Nov 2017 eCommerce trends: Goodbye Black Friday and hello Cyber November?
We are on the cusp of Black Friday 2016, and as the excitement mounts for consumers and retailers alike, we look ahead to how this one day extravaganza could be changing and shaping retailers future marketing strategies.
Although the UK has only jumped on the back of the Black Friday phenomenon in recent years, it would appear that the competitiveness of retailers has already started to create a shift in what originally started as a one day price slash to kick start the Christmas shopping season.
In 2016, we have already seen many retailers launch their Black Friday deal’s before the big day, with some even starting as early as the first week of November. Deals and discounts have also been extended to ‘weeks’, rather than ‘days’, showing a clear move away from the 24 hour discount shopping rush. As we know, it only takes one leading retailer to make the first move, and the rest quickly follow, as the battle to have the lowest price on the high street and online remains as competitive as ever. We don’t foresee this price war slowing down anytime soon, and we anticipate that promotional timeframes for Black Friday will continue to lengthen in 2017, moving retailers further away from the original ‘one day only’ deal.
So, could this be the end of Black Friday and the start of an entire month of discounts, or ’Cyber November’? How beneficial could this be for retailer’s?
Amazon officially launched their Black Friday event in early November this year with a “countdown to Black Friday”. By running increasingly attractive promotions for a limited time or in limited quantities, Amazon were able to maintain that sense of urgency during the entire duration of their promotion rather than saving it up for one specific day. Additionally, extending the length of their promotion and by taking advantage of the wide range of products sold throughout its platform, Amazon was able to refresh its eCommerce offering while responding quickly to trends.
By following Amazon’s lead, ‘Cyber November’ could also have significant benefits for smaller retailers too. Spreading promotions out over an entire month, will ease the pressure on logistics and operational management, and the headaches related to hordes of shoppers that grind some stores – online or physical – to a halt during Black Friday would be no more!
In 2015 Amazon accounted for 35% of total Black Friday sales online, and we have no doubt that they will remain the online retail benchmark 2016 too.
So if you want to stay inline with competitors and utilise your operational strategy and sales opportunities during the peak trading period, make sure you consider ‘Cyber November’ in your 2017 marketing strategy.
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