Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, kicks off the US holiday shopping season. And during Black Friday Weekend — the period from Thanksgiving Thursday to Cyber Monday — there’s some serious shopping to be had.
As you scroll, you’ll find a box on the right where you can download our free holiday rush checklist.
Need help getting your site or marketing strategy ready for BF/CM?
When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2023?
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, which falls on a Thursday. In 2023, Black Friday is on November 24th, and Cyber Monday – on November 27th
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Cyber Monday typically falls on the Monday after Thanksgiving.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2022
If the 2022 holiday shopping season indicates what to expect for this year’s Black Friday & Cyber Monday Weekend, the economy could use the much-needed boost. Last year:
Black Friday 2022 Statistics:
- According to Digital Commerce 360, U.S. online retail consumers spent a record $9.12 billion, up 2.3% year over year.
- In-store traffic increased 2.9% on Black Friday compared to 2021.
- Retail Dive reports that electronics and accessories were among the most popular categories to shop for globally on Black Friday.
Cyber Monday 2022 Statistics:
- Cyber Monday sales reached a record $11.3 billion, a 5.8% year-over-year growth.
- Again, Digital Commerce 360 reports that the increase in sales was primarily driven by deep discounts in various categories, such as toys (online sales were 684% higher than on an average day in October), sporting goods (up 466%), appliances (458%), books (439%), jewelry (410%), electronics (391%), and computers (372%).
- Discounts were higher than last year in several categories, such as electronics (25% off list price compared to 8% in 2021), toys (34% off compared to 19% in 2021), computers (20% off compared to 10% in 2021), and televisions (17% off compared to 11% in 2021).
Overall, despite inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty, consumers participated in Black Friday and Cyber Monday in a significant way. Gen Z was the top shoppers; 69% of people shopped during Black Friday, 64% of people shopped during Cyber Monday, and 42% of the sales during Black Friday came through mobile purchases.
With the unemployment rate decreasing to 3.5% in July 2023 and the inflation rate slowing down to 3% in June 2023, there’s no doubt that the upcoming 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday will see another increase in consumer spending. To get your piece of that billion-dollar pie, you’ll need to plan, prep, and execute — well.
The opportunity is huge — and so is the competition. We put together this post to help you have your most successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday selling season yet.
What Holiday Shoppers Want and Expect for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023
Your potential customers not only want high-quality products at deep discounts — they also expect hassle-free experiences on and offline.
Surprise them. Wow them. Give them an unforgettable online shopping experience with these Black Friday Prep tips.
1. Start Your Marketing And Promotions Early
And the sooner, the better.
According to the National Retail Federation, last year 44% of customers said they would start shopping sooner, and you must be ready.
Begin your BFCM preparations to optimize your website, customer support, and marketing strategies as soon as possible. This includes planning all your marketing campaigns, updating your website design, clarifying policies, and ensuring a smooth checkout process.
When it comes to eCommerce, planning your marketing and promotions for the 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales should start as soon as summer’s over. With more competition than ever and consumers promising to start their holiday shopping early, smart eCommerce stores will launch their promotions as early as October. From acquiring new customers from social media, Facebook Ads, Google ads, and Google Shopping to email marketing, the more you can do to promote your deals, the better.
Ideally, your marketing campaigns and promotions are set up 6-8 weeks before Black Friday.
2. Offer Free Shipping
Customers want, expect, and need free shipping. Whether you absorb or build shipping fees into the price, free shipping is non-negotiable for most customers — especially during Black Friday holiday shopping. Also, have your customer service team ready to communicate any expected shipping delays, and plan accordingly.
3. Offer Buy Online Pickup in Store
If you have a brick-and-mortar store, customers expect to buy online and pick up in-store (BOPIS) — and they want a seamless online-to-store experience. Both experiences must be exceptional, especially if this is a customer’s first interaction with your store.
BOPIS benefits customers and merchants by saving shipping costs, lower cart abandonment rates, quicker service, and higher foot traffic. However, BOPIS requires some insurance that your inventory is always in stock in the store.
BOPIS customers aren’t looky-loos. They ordered online because they wanted to purchase fast and efficiently. So don’t drop the ball once they’re in the store. Give them fast, friendly, and efficient services — and a reason to return.
4. Offer Hassle-Free Returns
Let’s face it: Returns are a hassle for you and your customers but can also be opportunities. Instead of looking at returns like liabilities, turn them into assets. When a customer makes an in-store or online return, use that interaction to delight them with exceptional service.
Customers return products for various reasons, and it’s not always your fault. Even though you lost the sale this time, focus on selling the customer on your business, brand, and products for future brand-loyalty opportunities.
5. Recover Abandoned Carts
Recovering abandoned shopping carts is a crucial strategy you need to put a lot of thinking behind. By amplifying the number of customer touchpoints and extending personalized offers, you can effectively re-engage shoppers who left items in their carts.
Some techniques to recover abanded carts are retargeting ads, email reminders, push notifications, text notifications, and personalized offers like discounts or coupon codes.
Let’s look at how you can recover abandoned shopping carts in two popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify and BigCommerce.
If your website is running on Shopify, go to Orders > Abandoned checkouts. Click the number of the checkout that you want to recover. Click Send a cart recovery email. You can send the client a custom personalized email or select from pre-populated emails.
If your website is running on BigCommerce, use the built-in tool called Abandoned Cart Saver that sends an email invitation to customers who have added an item to their cart but left before completing checkout. The emails are customizable and can be combined with coupons to entice your shoppers to complete their purchases.
Implementing this approach can increase your conversion rates, especially during peak shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, paving the way for increased potential revenue.
6. Test Your Site — Especially On Mobile
As reported by The Food Institute, 44% of people shop for groceries on mobile. Why?
Grocery stores make it possible by optimizing their stores’ experiences for mobile.
Moreover, as mentioned above, 42% of purchases during BFCM in 2022 were completed through mobile devices. (Much easier to place an order while prepping the turkey vs. going on a desktop).
Shoppers take to mobile-first — even if they purchase on desktop. While most may start their searches on mobile, more and more are getting comfortable purchasing on mobile if the experience supports it.
An unoptimized mobile experience isn’t just a bad mobile experience; it’s a bad brand experience.
Therefore, you must ensure your website is mobile-friendly and offers customers a seamless browsing and shopping experience. With more people shopping on their mobile devices, it’s crucial to provide a smooth and user-friendly experience.
PS: Read our Brand Awareness Guide for more ways to enhance your brand awareness like the biggest brands.
7. Offer Personalized Deals and Promotions
To offer personalized deals and promotions, you can tailor your offers based on customer preferences and purchase history to increase the likelihood of conversions.
Personalized promotions should not be run only during the BFCM period. You can apply them throughout the year.
For example, if a customer frequently shops for athletic wear, you can send them a tailored discount on the latest running shoes or an exclusive pre-sale invitation for gym gear.
For Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, consider offering early-bird specials to those who’ve shown interest in high-demand products in the past. To be even more granular, you can use customers’ browsing history to send sneak peeks of doorbuster deals or exclusive bundles tailored just for them.
By aligning promotions with individual shopping behaviors and purchase history, you will cater to your customer’s unique needs and maximize the potential for sales during peak shopping events such as BFCM.
8. Test Checkout Process
Your checkout process is your moneymaker, especially during the holiday shopping season. At least 30 days before Black Friday, test your checkout process to ensure everything is working correctly.
Be sure to test:
- Order placing – Place a test order to check for ordering, inventory, shipping, and tax calculation errors.
- Payment Processing – An error-ridden payment processing experience can result in abandoned carts, revenue losses, and damage to your business’ reputation. To ensure accurate payment processing, test anything related to payment processing, like adding a card, deleting a card, or updating billing and shipping addresses. Once you’ve completed testing, you’re launch-ready.
WATCH: Learn more about how to increase customer experience by streamlining your checkout system in the video below.
9. Utilize Email Marketing Campaigns
One of the most popular ways to keep customers informed about your BFCM deals and promotions in advance is through a targeted email marketing campaign. Use attention-grabbing subject lines and visually appealing email designs to encourage customers to open and engage with your emails. We’ve covered the best email marketing strategies for the holiday season extensively here:
There’s a lot of eCommerce competition on the block vying for your customer’s attention. To get a leg up on the competition, you must stand out — in a major way. Get creative with your promotions and use customer faves like BOGOs and tried-and-true campaigns. While you’re at it, 10X your campaigns, if your budget allows.
10. Consider Extending BFCM Deals
As we’ve discussed above, starting your BFCM promotions early is important. Another spin you can give your marketing and keep customers happy is to extend your promotions past Cyber Monday. That way, you’ll cater to customers who were too busy to buy before or didn’t find the right deals and also maximize sales and customer engagement.
To maintain a sense of urgency and exclusivity., keep in mind to offer such extended for a limited time and avoid extending the deals too far beyond Cyber Monday.
Here are some ideas and examples of how to extend BFCM deals for the 2023 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Holiday season:
- Week-long BFCM deals: Offer week-long BFCM sales, giving customers more time to take advantage of discounts and promotions.
- Daily deals during an extended BFCM period: Choose a different product deal to highlight each day throughout a long sale period. Hudson’s Bay was a great example of applying this marketing strategy last year. They ran single-day offers called “Bay Days, highlighting a unique product deal each day.
- Post-Cyber Monday sale extensions: In 2022, some retailers extended their BFCM sales beyond Cyber Monday, offering additional discounts or promotions for a limited time.
- Limited-time subscription offers: Offer limited-time subscription deals for customers who signed up during BFCM, such as an additional percentage off subscriptions or a free product added to the bundle.
- Exclusive deals for loyal customers: Provide exclusive deals and promotions for your loyal customers during the BFCM period, giving them a unique shopping experience and encouraging repeat purchases.
Conclusion
Remember to tailor these examples to your eCommerce business and consider your target audience, product offerings, and overall marketing strategy when extending BFCM deals.
Like the other tactics, it is important to set up each marketing campaign early, test rigorously, and automate wherever possible. Black Fridays are crazy-busy so you won’t have the luxury of QA testing post-launch.
Take these Black Friday and Cyber Monday tips and make this the most successful holiday shopping season in your company’s history.
Whether you need help with creative or email marketing for the BFCM season, Contact us for a free consultation today!
Gentian, CSO and co-founder of Shero Commerce, guides the company and client digital strategies. He's an expert in technical SEO, Inbound Marketing, and eCommerce strategy.
