[FR] 6 keys to preparing for Black Friday in e-commerce

Black Friday, an event straight from the United States, has become a must for French e-tailers.

Taking place on the last Friday of the month, just after Thanksgiving (24 November this year), Black Friday is now the key moment when shops and e-commerce sites start to launch their tempting end-of-year promotions.

And the French come out in force every year, with 62% of them making purchases during this event!

However, on the e-commerce side, Black Friday requires some real orchestration: between the marketing plan to be deployed to publicise promotional offers, and the logistics to be deployed for the start of peak season, the challenges are numerous.

To help you make the most of it, we’ve put together 6 logistics tips to help you prepare for your e-commerce Black Friday.

Prepare your e-commerce stock for the order peak

As you know, Black Friday marks the start of the peak season when your stocks will be in a state of flux – at least, that’s what we want you to do!

So this period calls for meticulous organisation in advance, to ensure that you limit both overstocking and stock shortages, and also to ensure that picking in your warehouse runs smoothly.

To do this, make sure your warehouse is properly labelled. Put in place clear signage indicating where order pickers can find particular items in your storage area. Affix labels to shelves and racks to help them find their way around.

Make your order-picking process faster

With more orders comes the need to speed up the rate at which parcels are prepared in the warehouse. Hence the need toequip your operators so that they can prepare your orders faster.

To do this:

• Get the right handling equipment. Picking trolleys are necessary to ensure that they can move smoothly around the warehouse. Constant-level trolleys improve ergonomics during picking, while basket trolleys help them to transport small bulk products.
• Choose time-saving packaging. Packs that can be erected instantly by simply pressing on the sides help your operators to pick faster. If possible, also consider packaging with built-in cushioning, to limit the time spent on including cushioning in the packaging.
• Mechanise or automate your order-picking process. For example, paper or air cushioning machines can save precious minutes on each parcel, and strapping machines can close parcels quickly and securely.

Promote your Black Friday offers in advance

Are you preparing incredible discounts and bargains for your customers? They need to know about it to make the most of these discounts! To do this, you need to prepare an appropriate marketing plan, which you can launch well in advance.

First of all, prepare your e-commerce website for Black Friday. Make sure that your online ordering process is optimised and that your pages load quickly.

Also invest in online advertising, on search engines and social networks, to promote these offers ahead of the famous Black Friday. You can also communicate with your existing customers by email, or create VIP customer lists for “flash sales” where subscribers are given priority access to your Black Friday offers.

But the key to success in preparing for Black Friday is social networking. Communicate on them, with posts that stand out from the crowd. Countdowns, “gift guides” to help your target customers prepare for Christmas shopping, and competitions to attract more customers are all good ways of doing this.

You should also highlight the key products in your stock that are going to be on promotion in a real-life context, to make them more enticing.Unboxing videosof your products (i.e. videos showing them being unwrapped in attractive packaging) will help your audiences to think about their purchases.

Review your delivery strategy in preparation for Black Friday

Product delivery has become a real selling point for your customers, who pay very close attention to the efficiency and simplicity of the e-commerce deliveries they experience.

So preparing for Black Friday also means reviewing your order delivery strategy.

In particular, you can :

• Consider offering free delivery above a certain order value, to encourage your customers to increase the size of their basket.
• Introduce24-hour or 48-hour delivery, if this is possible with your transport provider.
• Offer several possible delivery methods (at different prices): home delivery, point-relais, automatic left-luggage office, click-and-collect, etc.
• Highlightyour eco-responsible delivery methods. This is an interesting selling point for your customers, for whom ecology is increasingly a concern when they shop. Check out our top 5 eco-friendly e-commerce delivery solutions for inspiration.

Then highlight these advantages on your website, in the form of banners on all your pages, and clearly visible on the product pages and on the e-commerce order page.

Also check that your carriers are prepared for your e-commerce Black Friday. Do they have a parcel tracking system? Do they respect the delivery times announced, even in peak season? These are all factors that will make a difference to your customers on the big day.

Think about your returns strategy

Black Friday can be a good opportunity to review your e-commerce returns policy. Many of your customers, attracted by the promotions on your e-commerce site on the day, will return their orders afterwards.
Of course, free returns can encourage them to buy on Black Friday. But they will need to be clear about the conditions for returning their products, before they buy: how quickly must they return them? Under what conditions? At what cost?

You should also consider usingreturn packaging, which will make customer returns easier for consumers and protect your goods when they are sent back.

To find out more about this crucial subject, take a look at our complete guide to successful customer returns.

Building customer loyalty after Black Friday on your e-commerce site

Making Black Friday sales on your e-commerce site is all well and good – but keeping your customers loyal after the event is even better!

To do this, you can deploy various typical loyalty marketing strategies: subsequent promotions via your newsletter, setting up a loyalty or referral programme, deploying retargetingadvertising, etc.

But don’t forget packaging, which is an ideal loyalty lever in its own right. When they receive their Black Friday orders in packaging that enhances the customer experience, your customers will remember their order for a long time to come.

So don’t forget to opt for personalised e-commerce packaging in your brand’s colours. This can include a print or embossing of your logo, and why not an additional offer included on it – like a QR code offering an extra promotion if the person shares their purchase on social networks, for example.

In short, to prepare your e-commerce for Black Friday, think about differentiating yourself, both in terms of marketing and logistics – and you’ll be ready to welcome sales, and build loyalty among your new customers as you should be!

* Source: BVA-Orange survey 2019