Despite Prime Day being Amazon’s biggest sales holiday of the year, Black Friday remains the king of the holiday season by many online retailers.
When is Black Friday 2019?
Make a date: Black Friday 2019 is Friday, November 29. The date shifts every year but it is always the Friday immediately after Thanksgiving. It marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season. That doesn’t mean, however, that things will kick off on the same day. This is because many retailers are now seeing the benefits of launching deals in advance as more and more shoppers start their deal hunting early. Thus, encouraging retailers to craft offers not only to gain more profit but also to build up excitement leading to the big sale period. The really good news here, especially among shoppers, is that Black Friday deals often extend until December!
How to Prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Before you take your first step, ensure that your strategies are aligned with Amazon’s best practices for the holiday season. Amazon has its own set of Black Friday and Cyber Monday rules that you have to study. You may visit Amazon’s blog or ask seasoned sellers for advice. Playing by these rules will help you gain a significant amount of traffic and boost your sales ten-fold. Research claims that sales made on this day can solely contribute to the biggest chunk of a seller’s annual revenue.
Plan Ahead of Time
Prepare your marketing strategies and inventory a few months ahead so that you’re all set to go come October. Notice how both online and brick-and-mortar stores begin their Christmas promotions in September? The same thing goes for Black Friday. Look into organizing and ordering your inventory as early as August. Assess how to optimize your product pricing and listing in advance too! In so doing, you will be able to capture more customers, increase profit and improve brand awareness.
Stock Up Your Inventory
This is not something new – but the smartest way to capitalize on Black Friday and Cyber Monday is to ensure that you have adequate inventory to meet the huge uprise in demand. If you are using the FBA program, track your inventory to make sure you have enough items for this festive holiday sales. This can be a time-consuming task if you do it manually. Using SellerMobile, you can see all your inventory assets in one integrated dashboard. You can also monitor the number of items available in every warehouse. SellerMobile also lets you set alerts to track your orders. This way, you receive notifications when you are running out of stock.
If your capital is nice enough to allow you to stock on your inventory until the end of fourth quarter, then go for it! Many shoppers use their Amazon gift cards in January so better stock well so you don’t miss any precious opportunities. Most importantly, ship all you inventory to fulfillment centers before the deadlines.
Look for Profitable Products
Research products that are more likely to sell during this holiday season. Each year, new items come out that are so trendy they sell out like hotcakes. You don’t necessarily have to make it your “bread and butter”, but you should look into stocking it. Pay close attention to what your target customers will likely purchase to help you make well-informed decision. You may also want to look at your competitors and see which of their items are really doing well right now. Spend a couple of hours a day sourcing these best seller items and use tools to ease this tedious task for you. Once you bring them in, odds are customers will flock your page and check out other products that you offer.
Offer Free Shipping
Who doesn’t love free shipping? Nobody! Distinguish yourself from the crowd by offering free shipping. The holiday season makes the competition much tougher than it already is. Make free shipping a main selling feature to entice more shoppers over to your page. You see, consumers easily get discouraged when they see a separate fee for the shipping cost. Remember, consumers are more impulsive during the holidays so when they spot something they know they could save money on, they won’t hesitate to purchase it. With a trendy product and free-shipping offer, you can rake in that revenue with ease!
Keep an Eye on the Competition
Another way to set yourself apart from the competition is through your pricing. Other than offering popular products, sell items that give you enough margin. This way, you get a sufficient rate of return while your products remain competitively priced. Using SellerMobile repricing tool, you put your brand in a better position to earn a good profit margin. Our repricer lets you monitor your competitors’ pricing strategy so you can make any necessary adjustments and improve your own pricing strategy.
Tap into Amazon Advertising
Set up an Amazon PPC budget before the fourth quarter even begins. You can go for Sponsored Products so your products are displayed at the bottom of the search results or on the product detail pages. With Sponsored Product Ads, you only pay when a customer clicks on your ads. If you’re familiar already with PPC, working your way through this type of Amazon advertising comes easy. Once a customer clicks on your ad, they’ll be directed to your product details page where they can buy the product from you. The product detail page appears just like any other non-sponsored page. When done effectively, Amazon advertising could take your marketing to greater heights, help you target your intended audience, and increase your profits.
Optimize Your Amazon Listing Photos
Photos are integral to your Amazon listing. They are what give your customers the idea of whether or not they need your product. Use high-quality photos with a clean white background so your target buyers could see exactly what you are selling. It also goes without saying that your photos should show all the angles of the item.
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It’s never too early to start preparing for the holidays. The endless shopping events in the fourth quarter can tremendously affect your bottom line throughout the year. If you have been selling online for some time, don’t forget to check your data from previous years so you can implement strategies that will make Black Friday and Cyber Monday the best holiday events for you!
Need help tracking down your historical data? Let SellerMobile help you. Call us today.
