When was the last Thanksgiving that you didn’t wake up at 12:00 a.m. after falling into a turkey coma just to go shopping? Millions of people crowd the outside of malls and stores every year for Black Friday to get unreal deals.
A Covid Black Friday
This year, due to COVID-19, families will be able to enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday and trade in their masks for robes while they enjoy Black Friday ecommerce deals straight from their couches! E-commerce is safe, provides families to spend more time together, reduces the spread of the CoronaVirus, and brings consumer traffic to both big-box retailers and smaller vendors.
What’s Different: Turkey, Couch, Computer, Repeat?
So, do we call Black Friday Cyber Friday now—not quite. While there is no name difference, compared to the last holiday season, we can expect to see some of these differences:
- The length of holiday deals and when they will start
- A much vaster, more diverse selection for shoppers
- An increase in Black Friday ecommerce traffic
- More online competition
- An increase in mail carrier and shipping traffic
While these may seem like typical (and yes, predictable) differences, the effects we will see from these differences could be game-changing. The big question everyone is asking is: will this Black Friday affect the way we conduct the ones to come?
Tips for Getting & Driving Holiday Traffic
Big-box retailers and smaller vendors can both follow a few simple tips and pieces of advice to be successful with Black Friday ecommerce this holiday season:
- Plan Ahead: Hire enough employees to sustain your sales and traffic.
- Create a Marketing Strategy: Design and execute a marketing strategy. Plan out discounts and be smart with marketing campaigns.
- Embrace Social Media: Post upcoming sales and holiday announcements on all forms of social media.
Prepare! Prepare! Prepare!: Have enough inventory to meet the demands of online shoppers. Have a back-up plan for what you can do should there be an overflow of inventory after the holiday season.
