What Black Friday Sales mean to an E-commerce Business.

Black Friday sales are known to be a day of mass sales and hysteric buying. With your company offering a range of lower price points, is this actually a profitable selling technique? Let’s let the numbers speak for themself.

Last year, the contribution of the 2019 Black Friday sales saw Australians spend a total of $27.9 billion within the month of November. This exceeded experts forecasts of spending by consumers by 0.4% as conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. On the actual Black Friday, 71% of Australians shopped- meaning that 13.8 million consumers were actively searching for deals and looking to make a purchase. This shows great potential for E-commerce businesses, who have a huge profit potential when they participate in these sales.

With consumers increasingly aware of both Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales, these sales have become even more essential for businesses to participate in. This is seen through a decrease in sales in October sales as Australians wait for the Black Friday sales to spend.

Giving Thanks

Black Friday refers to the day after Thanksgiving, and is a day that shoppers and retailers alike are very grateful for. After all, Black Friday sales kick start the spending for the incoming holiday shopping season, accounting for 20% of revenue for most companies who participate.

As a traditionally US-based sale day, which originated in Philadelphia- Black Friday has gained prominence in Australia in recent years. This is seen in Mccrindle’s surveys, wherein 2017, 1 in 4 Australians had not heard of Black Friday. The same survey was conducted in 2019, showing that only 6% of Australians had not heard of Black Friday. Here, their 2019 estimates show that 44% of Australians aim to try and take advantage of these sales. This shows massive potential for e-commerce businesses and brick-and-mortar businesses alike.

As an e-commerce business, your online platform can stand to benefit from less people going into physical brick-and-mortar stores. Since people are more reluctant to encounter large crowds when shopping (which is expected for Black Friday) it is expected for there to be a surge in e-commerce purchases. This, combined with the previous 73% year on year increase in e-commerce shoppers during Black Friday is just another reason that participating and investing in these sales will pay off. Black Friday is also a great opportunity for shoppers to utilise sales ahead of Christmas. Many will be making convenient purchases for gifting, further pushing revenue for the month of November.

But wait, there’s more…
Immediately following Black Friday, Cyber Monday sales are another chance to drive up your sales. This subsequent shopping day has itself also become a shopping event of its own right, and has in the past even surpassed the revenue gained from Black Friday itself.

Cyber Monday is usually a day for even more discounted prices, where the remainder of stock is offered at large discounts to drive further sales. In the US, this sale day has seen growth year on year, with a 16.9% increase from 2018-2019.

E-commerce brands are again, gaining prominence here- with online mobile purchases representing 33% of US sales, amounting to a total of $3 billion. This also accounted for 46% of year on year growth. The 2019 Black Friday in the US also represented a generation in record-breaking shopping behaviour, with $9.2 billion total revenue and the first day where consumers spend more than $3 billion in one day. The sales potential for Black Friday is confirmed by Roy Morgan, who attributes 3.3% of November retail sales to the occasion in 2019. Notably, this is expected to increase this year, as more Australians are inclined to purchase.

How should you prepare?

So, if you don’t already have a Black Friday campaign in place, that includes a strategic digital marketing plan for this year, and years to come – start searching!

It’s important to be prepared to make the most of this colossal revenue opportunity, especially in the days or weeks beforehand. Black Friday Sales are an incredible acquisition opportunity, to remove barriers to purchase and convince customers to try your brand’s products for a great price. Make sure your social media marketing and PPC campaigns are built out to appropriately tease or inform consumers of your Black Friday Sales, to raise awareness and bring more traffic and shoppers to your website.

Ensure that your website is ready for higher than usual volumes of traffic and that it is fully compatible for mobile devices. Your web design should ensure that all sales communications and buttons are clear, user-centric and sales-focused for a seamless shopping experience. It’s also worthwhile to set up Google Shopping and utilise the Instagram Shopping feature to capture multiple leads and streams of traffic.

Make sure to not to pass on this huge, once-a-year shopping event, to stay on top of your competitors and continue to drive growth for your E-commerce Business. For more information or strategy expertise, enquire here to see how we can help you make Black Friday Sales work for you.