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Last week, we hosted an Ecommerce Leaders brunch in partnership with Reload Digital. The focus of our event was to help brands fine-tune their plans for peak season.
We started with a little emphasis on how important the upcoming promotional period is. BFCM can contribute to above 60% of a brand’s annual revenue 🤯 In 2022, peak sales volume was up 12% from the previous year.
At brunch, we broke down our recommendations month by month, providing a timeline to guide retailers on what areas of their marketing strategy to focus on, and when.
The goal over these months is to be increasing prospects by building your database and audience.
Don’t be worried about your figures during August and September, a look at historical revenues would suggest it’s normal to see a drop in sales. Consumers aren’t stupid, they know what’s coming!
During these months (so, right now) your priorities should be on email list growth and segmentation. Optimise all site pop ups to encourage the collection of emails and test specific BCFM signs against your standard messaging. It also helps to run competitions, incentivising your audience to hand over those details.
Do not overlook SMS list growth! This is an untapped channel in the UK with a 98% open rate, our top tip here is to offer a deeper discount for shoppers that provide a phone number.
We also discussed Whatsapp as a 1-1 communications channel and marketing tool. If anyone wants to dig in deeper here, we’ve done some work around set up and best practice — get in touch at hello@superco.io.
Keep engagement top of mind, prospects should experience 5-10 touch points depending on your category.
We recommend scaling your prospecting and lead generation budgets by up to 30% for the 4-6 weeks prior to BFCM — the data shows big returns!
Pre-launch engagement is also crucial, you can use email and SMS to tease promotions with specific deals, early access, and/or limited edition drops. On site, make use of banners, countdowns, or consider building anticipation with a pre-sale lockdown.
Last year, our client Represent offered deep discounts on archive collections, with a full-price, limited-edition collection launched for BFCM. The result was a huge success with a hyped audience, clearance of dying stock, and an increase in AOV.
Time for pure sales activation. Get ready to place your product and incentive front and centre.
It’s also important to know who you’re talking to. In general, we can break BFCM shoppers down into three categories:
74% of consumers will shop around for the lowest price, this is a big jump from 2021.
68% of people are holding out to make a certain purchase during the sales weekend.
65% of consumers will prioritise shopping with brands they know and trust.
Our recommendation is that you consider starting early with big ticket items and have a plan in place to offer a different discount each day. From Friday to Sunday you could prioritise specific products, with a sitewide sale on Monday.
Remember, you miss all the shots you don’t take, hit the channels hard, your competitors will be!
As you roll into the final months of peak, attention should be directed towards closing the gap between the 1st and 2nd purchase. This is key to driving customer loyalty.
December may surprise you, there’s still plenty of people that leave Christmas gifts until the last minute, meaning there’s plenty of opportunity!
It’s a good idea to have immediate sales running up until early Jan. If you offered festive discount codes as part of your BFCM incentives, there’s a good chance you’ll see returning shoppers.
This is also the time for long-term brand building, popular strategies include Gift With Purchase, and Gifting Tuesday. You should be sending value-led content in your post-purchase email flows, sharing plenty of information to nurture your audience and encourage community.
Our team specialises in designing and building ecommerce stores to enhance your customer experience. If you’re looking for help with your Shopify store, get in touch for a chat!
