Black Friday vs Cyber Monday

When it comes to large scale sale campaigns, few are bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but if you are running a business, which one should you focus on?  Is one going to be more beneficial for your turnover than the other?  Here are a few key points that you should keep in mind when planning your pre-Christmas sales campaigns.

Black Friday

Figures show that while around 40% of shoppers go online on Black Friday, the majority like to hit the stores in person. It is estimated that the average spend is as much as $400 per person.  For those that have retail stores, Black Friday is a good time to boost sales as it is thought that 40% of shoppers who do go to the store will spend more time there than they originally intended, as they are distracted by other discounted items, even if they had gone there with the intention of buying a specific item. It should be noted that more and more retailers are also offering Black Friday sales that span several days instead of just one day, so keep an eye on what your competitors are doing so that they do not beat you to the punch with early discounts that could entice your customers away.

Black Friday is traditionally a day for picking up discounts on high ticket items or bigger discounts than you might offer any other time of year.  By giving in-store sales as much attention as online you can remind people that by picking up bargains in-store they can avoid shipping fees, or take advantage of discounts that are not online at all.

Cyber Monday

There are obvious advantages to shopping online.  Not everyone wants to wake up at a very early hour to go and wait at a store to find a bargain.  It is so much easier to do it with a quick Google search and find what you’re looking for with a few clicks of the mouse.  Many people find it quicker and easier to shop online and would prefer not to pick up household appliances and furniture themselves – it is so much easier to have it delivered.  However, only 25% of those who shop online are likely to spend more time browsing than they intended, so this could mean missing out on potential sales.

Cyber Monday is also seen as the day when retailers are likely to mark prices down even further on items that they expected to sell well on Black Friday. If you decided to stock up on a certain brand of product in the hope of selling them all easily, take advantage of Cyber Monday to mark down the cost a little further and encourage those who are undecided to buy.

It is estimated that last year both Black Friday and Cyber Monday achieved around $2 billion in sales and most retailers seem to consider that Cyber Monday is just an extension of Black Friday.  One strategy that could work for your business is to treat them as two different sales, discounting different items for each one.  This could bring you in two different sets of customers and boost your turnover dramatically.

We hope you found this post helpful! As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me Amy at amy@socialfocus.com.