The best Black Friday tips for online store owners
Everything store operators should know about Black Friday!
Black Friday is a day for bargain hunters who already want to do their Christmas shopping or just want to benefit from the good offers. But that's exactly why it's important that store operators prepare really well so as not to be overlooked in the flood of offers. In this article you will find everything you need to know about Black Friday as a store owner. If you implement our tips, you are sure to have a successful Black Friday.
Reading time 7 min
- what Black Friday is all about
- What advantages and disadvantages Black Friday has for online store operators
- which tips you should consider for Black Friday as a store operator
- how Black Friday looks like with some store systems like
- and we draw a short conclusion to
- answer a few questions in our FAQ at the end like
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday is a day that originated in the United States and takes place on the Friday after Thanksgiving, which is the American Thanksgiving holiday. Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November to give thanks for the harvest and blessings of the past year.
Unofficially, Black Friday kicks off the shopping for the holiday season. Many retailers offer massive discounts and special deals, leading to a huge rush of customers in stores and online stores. You may be wondering why Black Friday is called Black Friday. It's because many retailers become profitable through this day and thus are in the black. In the meantime, the concept has spread all over the world and even in Germany you can find many special offers and discounts on this day in the stores.
The economic significance of Black Friday
Black Friday plays a decisive role for the retail trade. This is because it is a real sales boost for many retailers and is often one of the highest-turnover days of the year. Also, as a retailer, Black Friday gives you the opportunity to acquire new customers who would like to try out your products for a lower price. The influence of Black Friday has grown steadily over the years: from an American phenomenon to a global event.
And what is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday is the first Monday after the US Thanksgiving holiday. The term for this day was first used by National Retail Federation in a press release from its Shop.org website in 2005. The idea was to introduce a special day for online shopping as a counter-action to Black Friday, as the latter initially took place mainly in retail stores. Since then, there have also been discounts online on Cyber Monday, and not only in the USA, but also to some extent in Germany.
Advantages and disadvantages of Black Friday for store operators
Black Friday has advantages especially for bargain hunters. But of course, this day is also important for store operators and has some advantages, but also disadvantages. For your better overview, we have summarized all the advantages and disadvantages of Black Friday for store operators:
| The Black Friday Advantages: | The disadvantages of Black Friday: |
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The best Black Friday tips for store operators
To help you get ready for Black Friday, we've put together some tips for you. This way, you can prepare your online store and your team for the day to enjoy excellent sales at the end!
1. prepare your online store technically
Since it is expected that more customers will visit your online store at the same time on Black Friday, you should prepare your store accordingly. On the one hand, you should check whether your server can withstand the increased traffic and on the other hand, you should also check the loading times. It is important that your online store loads quickly even though many customers are browsing your products, so that they don't bounce and go shopping in another online store. Other things you should prepare on the technical side are the mobile optimization of your web store and an efficient, easy to understand checkout process. To avoid overselling, you should use a system that updates your stock in real time.
2. check your stock
One of the most important things for Black Friday is a well-prepared stock. For example, you should check your sales figures in previous years to adjust and increase your stock. Identify bestsellers and focus on them. Store them easily accessible and have an extensive inventory, because these are the products that also make upselling possible. Depending on the situation, you should also plan for more staff that can quickly get the orders ready for shipping.
3. think about good offers
In order to create good offers, you need to know exactly what your cost structure looks like in order to remain profitable in the end despite Black Friday. So while you're at it, go over what discounts you can afford and also try a combination of products to increase the average order value. Other options would be free shipping, volume discounts, loyalty programs, limited time or exclusive offers.
4. prepare customer service
Customer inquiries and issues are also likely to come up more frequently than normal on Black Friday. You should be able to handle these quickly and efficiently to avoid losing customers. For this time, you should think about hiring more staff for customer service. Also, properly train your staff on discounts, promotions, and important policies so they can efficiently address any issues. Another thing you should consider for Black Friday is extended service hours.
5. communicate discounts clearly
So that there is no confusion and your customers know exactly what they can save. Therefore, on the product page, both the original price (crossed out) and the discounted price should be clearly visible. You can also highlight the percentage savings. Also make it clear how long the discount is valid and if there are any conditions attached to the discount.
6. use upselling opportunities
You can use upselling to increase the average order value, or Average Order Value. This way you can increase your sales without having to get more customers or more traffic. For example, you can upsell with special offers that are linked to the purchase of additional products. But also displaying more relevant products is a strategy. Product sets and bundles at a better price are also a good option.
7. retain customers
Many shoppers are only looking for the best bargain on Black Friday. However, it's also a way for you to retain new regular customers who will come back to your store in the future. With special offers for loyal customers, newsletters, very good customer service, etc. you can ensure that customers come back to you.
8. analysis of the day
After Black Friday, you should analyze this day to find out which strategies worked well and which did not. These insights can also help you in your future day-to-day business. Review your sales figures, look at which products did well and which didn't, where the customers came from and what the conversion rate looked like. Also consider the customer reviews and returns you received as a result of the day.
Black Friday and the store systems
If you run your online store with a store system, then you can draw on the features already available in the system to make Black Friday successful for you and your business. This is especially helpful because you usually don't have to spend a lot of time preparing your sales promotions accordingly.
Shopify Black Friday
For Shopify, there is a so-called discount manager that allows you to quickly set up limited-time discounts or special promo codes. With the real-time reports, you can see how your traffic and sales are developing. By the way, you'll also find a theme editor in Shopify, so you can better adapt your online store to the Black Friday promotion and even enable better loading times.
With Shopify Email, you can promote your Black Friday discount promotion to newsletter subscribers. You can also optimize your customer service by enabling Shopify Chat. This offers you native live chat functions. This way, you can answer customer questions quickly and efficiently. For more individuality and better customer retention, Shopify gives you the option to activate order processing.
Shopware and Black Friday
With the promotion suite, Shopware also has an integrated tool for promotions. To keep performance high with any rush of customers, you should analyze your store performance and prepare for Black Friday with the options in Shopware. For example, use a good theme and avoid unnecessary features or widgets that could make your store slow. In Shopware, there is a menu item called "Worlds of Experience". With this you can create landing pages especially for Black Friday.
An important hint from Shopware:
"Attention: For some product groups, the term "Black Friday" is protected and may not be used in ads. In the area of electrical and electronic goods, the Federal Court of Justice has revoked the trademark protection. If you want to protect yourself safely from a warning, let your creativity run free when looking for paraphrases or use safe terms like "Black Week"."
(Cited from: https://www.shopware.com/de/news/black-friday-im-e-commerce-tipps-fuer-mehr-umsatz/)
Our conclusion
Black Friday represents an indispensable opportunity for store operators to significantly increase sales and attract new customers at the same time. As a prelude to the Christmas shopping season and in the midst of bargain hunting, this day offers the chance to highlight products with tempting offers and recommended prices.
To make the most of this day and increase your sales, you should implement our tips in your company. If you still need help with this, feel free to contact our online store experts. They will be happy to help you implement the appropriate adjustments so that you are best prepared for Black Friday.
FAQ: All about Black Friday
Last but not least, we would like to address a few questions that keep coming up about Black Friday. If you as a store operator of an online store have a specific question that we have not answered yet, you can of course contact us so that we can help you directly and individually. You can use our contact form or simply give us a call!
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What is Green Friday?
Green Friday is an action day that was created as a countermovement to the traditional Black Friday. While Black Friday is mainly known for its high discounts, shopping frenzy and the enormous rush of customers to the stores and online stores, Green Friday sets a different focus. It aims to steer people's buying behavior in a more sustainable and environmentally conscious direction.
Instead of indulging in the usual Black Friday consumer frenzy, Green Friday encourages consumers to shop more consciously and support companies that offer environmentally friendly, ethically produced and sustainable products. This is not just about buying green or organic products, but also about consuming less in general to conserve resources.
It is an attempt to reduce the negative impact of mass consumption while raising awareness of environmental and social issues.
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How important is Black Friday for retailers?
Black Friday has become one of the most important days in retail, especially for online retailers. Many consider it the unofficial kickoff to the holiday shopping season. In the midst of bargain hunting, customers use this day to search for enticing deals and recommended prices, allowing retailers to significantly increase their sales. Retailers use Black Friday to prominently display their products and attract customers. By creating particularly attractive offers, you not only increase sales for the day, but also potentially tie new customers to the store for the long term. So, all in all, Black Friday is of great importance for retailers to stand out in the competitive market and positively influence the annual result.
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When is Black Friday this year?
Black Friday for the year 2023 falls on November 24. Online retailers should mark this date as it is an important opportunity to offer discounts and attract customers.
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Hello, my name is Meike. I take care of the EXWE back office and am responsible for our social media channels. All of our articles are meant to make your life easier and help you make decisions. Nevertheless, it can happen that something remains unclear, so: If you have questions about this article you can easily reach me at +49 231 93149827.
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