There’s a chill in the air, folks, and that means one thing: the holiday shopping season is quickly approaching.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (aka BFCM) kickstart holiday shopping not only in the US, but around the globe. If you’re an eCommerce product brand, you’ve got to plan right now to win BFCM this year.

Let’s be honest: 2020 has been a struggle. BFCM eCommerce gives you one last hurrah to get in the black before Q4 ends.

30% of all annual retail sales happen between Black Friday and Christmas, you can’t let this year’s BFCM pass you by.

Check out this guide to understand why Black Friday and Cyber Monday matter for your biz (no matter your size) and our 5 fave strategies for dominating BFCM eCommerce.

What is BFCM?

Black Friday is always the day after Thanksgiving, while Cyber Monday is always the Monday after Black Friday.

For 2020:

Black Friday is on Friday, November 27.

Cyber Monday is on Monday, November 30.

While Cyber Monday came to be in 2005, Black Friday has been with us for decades. These holidays entice shoppers to plan ahead for holiday gifts, offering steep discounts for one day only.

Of course, brands are planning for BFCM earlier and earlier these days. Some even offer Black Friday deals through all of November!

Odds are, fewer shoppers want to risk a) getting COVID-19 in a crowd and b) getting trampled to death in Walmart over a flat-screen TV.

The stats don’t lie: a whopping 67% of shoppers intend to shop online this year because of the pandemic.

Our prediction is that online Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals will be huge for product brands this year.

Why does BFCM matter?

If you’ve treated BCFM willy-nilly in the past, it’s time to get your head in the game. Even if you’re small, you can get in front of a huge audience this year for BCFM, thanks to eCommerce shoppers.

When you invest in a proper Black Friday and Cyber Monday eCommerce strategy, you’ll see 2 major wins for your brand.

1 - Make more sales

This is the biggest reason you need a BCFM eCommerce strategy, stat. BCFM kicks off the holiday shopping season, and boy, are people ready to spend money.

Online shopping gets bigger and bigger every year. Even in the midst of an economic downturn and pandemic, people are willing to spend serious money on gifts.

Don’t miss out on getting a bigger slice of the pie. The BCFM shopping frenzy helps your eCommerce store make a crazy amount of sales.

2 - Keep pace with the competition

Oh, and if you choose not to participate in BCFM, you’re already behind. That’s because your competitors are happily participating.

Do you want customers flocking to your competitors’ better deals? We don’t think so.

Even as a small business, you can be competitive and make a name for yourself with online commerce. Don’t feel discouraged by the big guys; BCFM eCommerce helps even the little guys stand out.

5 actionable strategies for BFCM

To be honest, you can’t afford to miss out on the holiday shopping action, even if you think Black Friday or Cyber Monday is overplayed.

Bottom line, BFCM are the busiest shopping days of the year. This is NOT the time to fly by the seat of your pants. Get profitable amidst the craziness of Q4 with these 5 BCFM eCommerce strategies.

1 - Set goals

Look at last year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday metrics. How did you do? Is there anything you want to do differently? What targets do you need to hit?

Set goals before you do anything. That means having benchmarks for:

• New customers
• Repeat customers
• Revenue
• Conversions
• Upgrades or up-sells

If you want to make big-time sales for BCFM, you’ve got to know where the end zone is.

Always start your eCommerce marketing strategy with a goal.

That helps you get to your goals faster and more efficiently.

2 - Plan your inventory carefully

There’s nothing worse than running out of inventory (or the right inventory) when the shopping season starts. While it’s important to plan your promotion strategies, have a plan for fulfilling all of your orders, too.

That means:

• Focusing on best-sellers: Now is not the time to push your second-string products. Sell what sells!
• Offering bundled products: If you’re trying to get rid of inventory before the end of the year, bundle less-popular products with your top-sellers. Bundling increases order value and simplifies the buying process. It’s a win-win.
• Planning limited-release packaging: Give your products a festive theme! A candy cane or snowflake on your packaging can get customers into the spendy spirit. Done right, premium holiday packaging boosts perceived value by 45% (hint: that means you can charge more).

3 - Offer juicy deals

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are synonymous with deals and discounts. Customers are on the hunt for a good deal right now, so give it to them.

Always make deals and discounts part of your BCFM eCommerce plan. That means offering:

• Free shipping: 93% of shoppers buy more stuff if they get free shipping. If you can’t give free shipping on all orders, at least offer it for orders over a certain value.
• Discount codes: Build hype around your BCFM sale with discount codes for savings, freebies, and BOGO deals. For reference, the average Black Friday discount is 37%, so don’t be stingy with the discounts.
• Gift wrap: 67% of people hate wrapping gifts. Include this value-laden deal at no charge to boost order values and entice purchases.

If you aren’t a fan of discounts, think about this: 80% of shoppers say they’re more likely to buy if they get a discount.

Don’t give shoppers any reason to abandon their carts; invest in wise discounts that make their purchase a no-brainer.

4 - Invest in email

Did you know that 75% of BCFM shoppers look in their email for discount codes before they buy?

If you have a customer’s email, that’s marketing gold. Use it for:

• Abandoned cart sequences
• Shipping notifications
• Nurturing sequences (so they’re more than a one-time shopper)
• Requesting reviews

Start planning your drip campaigns for BCFM right now. Use carefully-planned email sequences to get customers excited and at the ready when BCFM hits.

5 - Partner with influencers and content creators

Not to alarm you, but a third of all shoppers plan to do all holiday shopping before Thanksgiving. 27% plan to shop during BCFM.

You need an effective customer outreach strategy long before BCFM even happens.

But building an audience takes time, and you don’t have a lot of that right now.

The fastest way to jumpstart your Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing is to partner with an influencer/content creator.

Influencers alone are great for your biz: they put your products in front of thousands of potential shoppers.

But you should also partner with content creators. These folks have the technical chops to:

• Film product videos.
• Conduct awesome demos or unboxing videos.
• Stage product photoshoots.

You need cute, holiday-centric content. That’s expensive to produce in-house and it takes forever and a day to produce.

Collaborate with influencers who are also content creators to get more bang for your buck. Their user-generated content is perfect for your social media, email, and paid ad campaigns.

Influencers work for BCFM because customers trust their content more than yours (sorry, but it’s true). 49% of shoppers rely on influencer recommendations before they buy.

Instead of pulling your hair out trying to DIY influencer marketing overnight, use a platform like Trend. We source a curated, vetted list of content creators who can jumpstart your BCFM eCommerce marketing ASAP.

Conclusion

In spite of the global pandemic, people are still buying stuff online—billions of dollars’ worth of stuff. If your brand sells products, you need to tap into the frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers to boost sales.

Even if your marketing efforts are on lock right now, holiday marketing is another beast.

Optimize your BCFM eCommerce brand right now. Set goals, check your inventory, focus on deals, connect with shoppers via email, and partner with trustworthy content creators to come out ahead.

Don’t make holiday marketing harder than it needs to be. Source awesome Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing content with Trend’s content creators. Sign up now for free.