In just a few short days, Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will begin. And this brings a tremendous opportunity for your Shopify store to make money. As Shopping enthusiasts prepare their wallets for this bargain hunter’s dream, you can focus on capturing their attention with regular store activities.

In 2021, almost 6.3 billion dollars was sold through Shopify stores during Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend. So, if you have an eCommerce store, make sure you’re ready!

In recent years, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become one of the busiest times for eCommerce businesses due to the increasing number of online shoppers. The store sales rely heavily on convenience and reliability. With increasing customer expectations, eCommerce businesses find it difficult to keep up with demand. They face many challenges, including – inevitable supply chain disruptions, high cost of advertisement and even inventory management becomes quite tricky.

However, the increase in demand brings in new prospective clients and allows your business to create a long-lasting relationship with these customers and retain them in the long run.

A successful eCommerce business faces its own obstacles, pitfalls, and best practices. These steps are intended to ensure that the Shopify store is visible, attracts visitors, and maximizes revenue opportunities. We’re here to help you do just that.

When is Black Friday in 2022?

Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving and the most eagerly awaited shopping day of the year. The day embarks on the beginning of the long holiday season for  US consumers and falls on the fourth Thursday of November. This year Black Friday is on November 25th and brings the beginning of the Christmas shopping season.

From eCommerce businesses to brick-and-mortar stores, Black Friday starts at the same time for all!

Stats: By Shopify

Tactics & Ideas to Prepare Your Store for Shopify Black Friday & Cyber Monday Sales

“Did you know that last year, over $1.5 billion was collectively sold by Shopify merchants around the world during BFCM and shoppers spent billions more throughout the four-day event at businesses of all shapes and sizes?”

BFCM is the most substantial campaign of the year. Research suggests that 34% of buyers wait until November to start festive shopping. BCFM weekends are ideal promotional opportunities for eCommerce businesses looking to lure customers with the most appealing offers and products.

Here are some of the best strategies to help your eCommerce store generate more sales this BFCM season:

1. Make Sure Stock and Support Are Ready

Ensuring your warehouse processes are up to speed is very essential. Selling out too fast during a sale and not meeting consumer demand is one of the worst things that can happen. Ensure your inventory management, fulfillment, customer service, and returns processes are robust enough to handle the influx of orders.

To get user data and bring them back to the store, send personalized “back in stock” emails or SMS. This will bring them back to your Shopify store to shop more. Boost your contact database, sell more products, and satisfy your customers!

2. Craft an Irresistible Offer

Customers are often attracted to a store by running a “jaw-dropping” sale on a popular item. On the way to checkout, customers may pick up other items alongside the “doorbuster”. The idea is simple – make a clear and irresistible offer!

Give flat percentage discounts, set a minimum order value to qualify for free delivery, attach a freebie with orders placed over a certain amount, and give BOGO offers to attract more customers and erode your profit margins.

3. Enhance Your Website’s User Journey

The chances are that you’re most likely to see way more traffic than usual on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Make sure your website can handle this influx of traffic without creating a bad user experience. Optimizing your website speed, home & product pages, and checkout process is the most crucial step.

Moreover, making sure your website is mobile-friendly is also necessary!

For the second year in a row, Shopify stores saw more mobile than desktop purchases across BFCM. Filling in every field required on mobiles to check out can be a conversion killer, which is why options like Shopify Pay and Google Pay can provide a boost to your mobile conversions if you’re using Shopify Payments. This allows customers to autofill saved information, reducing the clicks required to make a purchase.

Stats: By Statista

4. Build a Target Email List

Target list building is an excellent strategy for creating hype around Black Friday 2022. A Black Friday emailing campaign involves collecting potential clients’ email addresses and informing them of impending sales.

People are most likely to subscribe to your eCommerce store if they can obtain anything in exchange for their information. Two frequent possibilities are – a unique discount code or a gift card.

Additionally, personalized emails with content tailored to their requirements can result in greater transaction rates and return on investment. Real-time marketing automation tools like Klaviyo get the most out of email campaigns, allowing each user to go down the sales funnel and generate greater ROI.

5. Establish a Strong Social Media Presence

Social media is a potent marketing tool that allows direct audience participation for eCommerce companies. Using digital marketing platforms to learn more about customers’ demands, helps you boost awareness about Black Friday specials and meet user requirements.

Integrate your eCommerce store with social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, allowing customers to purchase right from the feeds and eliminating any friction that can impede their buying experience.

6. Retarget Past Visitors & Customers

Retargeting past visitors to reach people who may have forgotten about your store and wouldn’t have checked out your sale otherwise can be beneficial in bringing them back again.

You can also retarget customers that have made a purchase from your eCommerce store in the past. Customers you’ve already sold to should be particularly receptive to your Black Friday Cyber Monday sales this year given that existing customers are often easier to reach and market to than new customers.

7. Start Ads & Campaigns Early

Effective use of ads and campaigns allows you to reach your prospective clients and potential customers on time. As a result, you can find out which creative assets work best during the long shopping weekend and ramp up spending. 

With Black Friday just around the corner, online shoppers will see more ads and begin to experience ad fatigue. But if you start now, you can take advantage of these benefits:

• Know which creative works best with the customers
• Make it easier for the brand to be recalled by customers
• You have a segment of users who are receptive to your offers

8. Create a Holiday Plan

Do you know that in some quarters November is considered a black month or black November because it hosts some of the biggest shopping holiday seasons in the world?

The month embraces the following holidays when the shoppers are most active:

• Thanksgiving – November 24th
• Black Friday – November 25th
• Small business Saturday – November 26th

With an effective shopping strategy calendar, you can get the most out of your customers and first-time visitors coming to your site throughout November.

Offer great deals, tempting discounts, and BOGO sales, and convey the value of your product in the best way possible!

9. Utilize Social Media To Build Anticipation

You can easily find your customers on social media, making it a viable channel to drive awareness for your upcoming Black Friday sale. All your marketing team needs to do is build hype around your sales offers and an emotional connection with customers.

Some of the ways you can create hype include:

• Offer giveaways or freebies on products
• Create a brand-centric hashtag & ask customers to use the hashtag to create a buzz
• Give shoutouts to influencers
• Share customer reviews and messages as a social proof
• Highlight your brand’s initiative to save the environment

10. Reflect on the Successful Tricks

The holiday season is an ideal time for your business to learn from its mistakes and successes. It is imperative to realize that the lessons you learn extend beyond the revenue earned. Thus, it’s essential to track everything and reflect on what worked and what didn’t.

Document your decisions and outcomes as you implement new strategies and tactics this year. These records can serve as benchmarks for next year’s holiday season. Furthermore, they will allow you to see what’s working for your business so you can do more of it the next time.

Black Friday Sales Statistics!

• Shoppers spent $1M per minute in online sales.
• Roughly 40% of Black Friday online sales are made on mobile devices.
• The average amount saved per shopper on Black Friday is about 24%.
• According to Dot Digital, a whopping 94% of shoppers plan to do their shopping online this year.
• Search volume for the keyword “Black Friday” has increased by a whopping  419% since September 1, 2022, as people begin searching for Black Friday sales.

Boost Your Marketing Communication And Special Offers This Black Friday!

Is your eCommerce site ready for the biggest retail event of the year?

To have a successful Black Friday/Cyber Monday, preparation, planning, and starting early are essential. Don’t delay in organizing your store and team, and fine-tune your sales strategies right away.

While most of what you need to know about this year’s sale events can be found in this checklist, you can always reach out to the Three Acres team to build a Shopify store from scratch or upgrade it to generate better revenue!