Summer is on the horizon and Christmas is around the corner, but for shoppers, it also means that the 2019 online sales season is fast approaching!
The question is… “Are you ready for the year’s massive sales?”.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday seem to have come out of nowhere and it is now considered to be one of the biggest online shopping calendar weekends for both retailers and shoppers alike, from savvy shoppers looking to buy early Christmas presents, to people wanting to get the best online deal.
Despite having its origins in the USA, Australian consumers have taken to The Black Friday sales like fish to water, never being ones to miss out on a great deal!
Retailers that have embraced this sales weekend have been reaping the benefits, with the November 2018 sales recording the highest online retail turnover to date, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The ABS reports that overall Australian retail turnover rose 3.6% during Black Friday, 2018, compared to the previous year.
When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday in Australia, 2019?
Black Friday is on the 29th of November and Cyber Monday is on the 2nd of December of this year. Although both Black Friday and Cyber Monday are specifically individual sales, most retailers tend to be opting to extend the bargains and savings across the whole weekend.
What is Black Friday and Cyber Monday anyway?
In the USA, the Black Friday sales are immediately after the Thanksgiving holiday and traditionally, has had shoppers literally lining the streets waiting for the biggest deal! Alternatively, Cyber Monday as the name suggests is scheduled a few days later in order to boost e-commerce sales.
In Australia, it tends to mostly be the offering of special online deals, with retailers especially trying to target the savvy online customer.
Why should you care?
The reality is Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales have changed the way we shop in the lead up to Christmas. The retailer’s primary chance to influence its consumers, boost sales and demand and change the way online purchasing occurs, happens in this period.
It was estimated that only 21% of Australians took part in last year’s sales, mainly due to the unfortunate fact that an estimated 25% of Australians were aware that these sales were taking place.
Probably like myself, I missed out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday due to thinking that the deals and savings were not as big as they were and to wait for the next sale. Post-sale I then discovered that everyone I knew had gotten anywhere from 15% to 45% off RRP on most of the products I would have been shopping for at Christmas time.
If you are not already aware, the lead up to the Black Friday Sales is huge, with many 3rd Party websites being used to find the best deals for consumers and make predictions about which product lines will be discounted.
So, Are You Ready?
Black Friday / Cyber Monday run smoothly if you have a few things covered. Here are 3 things worth reviewing before the sales arrive.
Marketing – The easy one is marketing, make sure you ramp up your Ads and cover your socials in all the advertising leading up to the weekend.
Website Hosting / Server – Most people don’t consider the amount of potential traffic that can happen with these types of sale. Always check with your provider that you are on the right server hosting plan if you are expecting a lot of traffic. You don’t want your website crashing due to excess load.
Ecommerce platform – Make sure your ecom platform is running on the latest version. Again, the added load can cause older platforms to not cope as well as the newer version. If you are running WooCommerce also check that is up to date.
If you are an online retailer and were not already ramping up for offerings for the Black Friday weekend sales, then maybe it’s time to get amongst it and get some of that sweet sales frenzy fever!
