Black Friday boom or bluff? (And tips for traders)

1. Offer quality deals with genuine discounts in order to gain new customers and build interest in your brand. Think about long term customer acquisition and not only about the cost of the deal that you are offering. Also, use digital marketing to convert offline customers to online and vice versa, aiming for an omnichannel shopping experience.
2. Use cross-selling to introduce new products to already established customers. Offering other products with attractive discounts to already established customers is a great way to consolidate customer loyalty.
3. Make the most of Black Friday to offer discounts on stock that you need to move in order to take on new arrivals. Greater discounts can be offered on electronic devices and technological products which will be more difficult to sell as new models are launched.

3 Things to avoid on Black Friday

1. Don’t offer fake discounts. Remember that customers have wised up to this and can easily spot an inflated deal. If you do this, you risk losing customers and can provoke a negative backlash on social media. This also applies to limited offer deals, where high discounts are applied to a very limited number of products, which are used as bait for other deals. This makes it almost impossible for customers to make those purchases and results in frustration and lack of trust in the brand.
2. Don’t lower your service pledge to your customers. If you offer product or service guarantees, don’t deny these or break your commitment to your customer when offering Black Friday deals. Remember that the customer is looking for real value deals, and that value must be maintained regardless of the discount offered.
3. Ensure that you have the necessary human resources, in stores, and technical infrastructure, online. You must be prepared for the increase in e-commerce traffic that you will have to deal with on Black Friday and if you’re not, you will lose out. In 2015, the supermarket giant Tesco UK, lost many of its Black Friday customers to Amazon because its website crashed, as did several other large UK retailers. Estimating traffic peaks is hard to predict because this is a relatively new phenomenon and shopping habits are constantly changing but you must try to be prepared.

* JJ Delgado is chief digital officer of Estrella Galicia and former head of Amazon Marketing Services for South of Europe

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