Near, far, wherever you are, BFCM 2023 is getting closer. When is the best time to prepare for BFCM 2023? It's now. And how to prepare for Black Friday? It's here!
Yes, we're talking about the highly anticipated Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) shopping extravaganza!
As we gear up for BFCM 2023, it's the perfect moment to reflect on the lessons we learned from previous years’ strategies and discover how we can convert even better this time around.
So grab a cup of coffee and get ready to dive into the world of BFCM, where we'll uncover valuable insights and tips to make this year's BFCM your most successful one yet!
This is a timeless lesson.
Obviously, online merchants who started strategizing well in advance were able to maximize their sales and stay ahead of the competition. From inventory management to marketing campaigns, meticulous planning was a game-changer.
ℹ️ When is Black Friday 2023?
Black Friday is November 24, 2023. This annual shopping holiday occurs on the day immediately following Thanksgiving, which conveniently falls on the fourth Friday of November.
Let the numbers speak.
According to Think With Google, online shoppers usually search for Black Friday very early - from 10 to 4 weeks before the official day.
According to Okendo's holiday shopping report in 2022, 48% of consumers in the U.S. expressed their intention to initiate their holiday shopping earlier than their usual timeframe.
This behavior is predicted to remain in BFCM 2023 due to customers’ stringent spending habits.
In conclusion:
Since your potential customers start searching for Black Friday deals in September, you should be ready to test and run some early-bird promotions.
Source: Think With Google
When planning early for BFCM 2023, you are building up the expectations and anticipations for your customers.
During this period, the best-proven strategy is to run offers for EVERYONE.
At the early stage before the official Black Friday, consumers tend not to commit to any particular brand or product, and they are receptive to recommendations.
🧠 Pro tip:
Select a line among your product categories and spice it up with a sweet deal. Run, test, and adjust to collect customers’ insights.
By starting promotions early, you can strategize and identify what is the best way to excite your audience for the campaigns to be executed in October and November.
Remember, increasing your reach to a broader audience of potential customers is crucial during the early BFCM stage.
So, focus on increasing your email list, spending more on ads to target new customers, and warming up all your social media handles.
Not all deals are good deals.
Studies showed that before BFCM 2021, 56% of consumers expressed concerns that brands tend to promote lower-quality products during the event. However, in 2022, that percentage has decreased to 48%.
In the same studies, 54% of inquiring customers predicted that the discounts offered during BFCM wouldn't meet their expectations.
👉 Lesson learned:
These numbers are the wake-up call for any retailers who want to rely on “obsolete inventory” (aka the products remain in stock for a long time without being sold) as the main promoted and discounted items during BFCM 2023.
Answer: Offer your customers multiple ways to save.
Don’t limit your BFCM 2023 deals to just discounts in price.
This approach aims to attract and engage customers by providing various opportunities for discounts and promotions.
Here are a few examples of the best types of BFCM deals that work wonders on your Shopify store:
It’s obviously true that not all deals are the best deals for your customers. This is true for online retailers too.
We always associate BFCM discounts with the most significant discounts of the year. However, it's important to note that offering deep discounts can have a negative impact on profit margins, especially when it comes to smaller orders.
That’s when tiered discounts come into play. This is one of the most popular (and effective) BFCM strategies for online stores.
To optimize revenue per shopper during BFCM 2023, you can elevate the stakes by raising both the potential rewards and the risk of missing out.
By incentivizing customers to shop more, they can unlock sweeter deals. If customers hesitate or delay their purchase, they risk missing out on the most significant deal of the year.
For example, you can set 3 tiers for customers who buy from your store:
An example of Buy More Save More (tiered discounts) on Pottery Barn during Memorial Day
🧠 Pro tip: Don’t over-complicate your BFCM offers
If your offer becomes overly complex, shoppers will seek alternative places to purchase their holiday gifts.
You will need to understand what to focus on during different promotional stages.
Although you can test and run the pre-BFCM campaigns from September, evaluating the official time length of your BFCM promotion is crucial.
So, how long should a BFCM deal last?
Quick answer: no longer than a week.
Those retailers who buy into the idea that the bigger equals better don't realize that customers are facing weeks’ worth of BFCM bombardment. They don't like it!
Less is actually more regarding the duration of your Black Friday sale.
Instead of following your competitors, prioritize keeping your customers happy by limiting the activities to a maximum of one week.
By doing so, you'll maintain their interest for longer and have more chances to engage with them in the future. It's a win-win situation!
Real-time analytics provide valuable insights into your customer behavior during BFCM.
You won’t want to sleep on these data to understand which types of customers responded the most positively to your deals.
Boost AI's analytics feature with detailed store's performance report
This information also helps tailor marketing efforts and offerings to specific customer segments, improving engagement and conversion rates for upcoming promotions.
Also, while ramping up your marketing efforts during BFCM, you need to take measures to strike a balance and avoid overwhelming your audience.
Excessive ads or emails can lead to user fatigue and even result in unsubscribing from your email list.
Don’t forget that you can leverage insights from past BFCMs and other promotional campaigns’ performances too.
For instance, imagine you operate an online electronics brand. Analyzing BFCM 2022 performance may reveal that brand A’s smartphones were your best-selling products.
Additionally, you may notice a significant surge in sales velocity during the early hours of BFCM, indicating heightened customer demand during that time.
By examining customer preference data, you might also discover that customers showed a strong interest in brand A’s smartphones with advanced camera features, competitive pricing, and positive customer reviews.
Armed with this knowledge, you can strategically optimize your inventory by ensuring sufficient stock levels of high-demand items and adjusting prices to remain competitive in attracting potential customers.
When you’re working on how to prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it's important to approach with integrity and strategic planning.
Here are some essential DON’Ts to help you make the most of this significant sales event:
With all of the BFCM lessons learned above, we hope that you can be off to a good start in your preparation for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Although much behind-the-curtain work goes into BFCM strategies and preparation, you'll soon harvest what you've been pouring effort into.
Here’s to a winning BFCM!
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Last BFCM, we helped +13,000 Shopify stores worldwide generate $551+ million - Black Friday and Cyber Monday alone!