This Black Friday shoppers went online, rather than storming the stores. Black Friday saw internet sales pass the £1billion-a-day mark for the first time and sales across our network rose by 50% compared to last year. We also saw smartphones playing an increasingly important role in the purchase journey, with retailers increasing their online presence across devices to achieve success during these peak times.
However, in the lead up to Black Friday, research from LCP Consulting revealed that 31% of retailers see Black Friday as an ‘unprofitable and unsustainable promotion’. Retailers including Asda, John Lewis and Argos ducked out of the event this year, choosing instead to offer sustained promotions over the whole of the Cyber Weekend so that they were not faced with an unmanageable peak in demand. In addition, the industry is now predicting that the Black Friday sales period will continue all the way to 25th December, as retailers look to shift stock before Christmas.
In 2014 Black Friday queues in some stores were out of control (we all remember the pictures) so brands have responded this year by driving their customers online, for example by offering the same promotions as in store and promoting a bigger range of products. This Black Friday, retailers had to show that they could provide the quality customer experience shoppers expect, and online was key to this. Ultimately, a frustrating customer experience is harmful to customer loyalty in the long term and after last year’s queues, retailers could not afford to have their reputations damaged as a result of a bad offline experience.
Are peak shopping days positive for retailers?
The fact that Black Friday saw such a sales boom shows that discount days can be hugely effective for retailers and customers alike. It’s clear that omnichannel strategies were at the heart of that success and retailers should take this learning for future peak sales days. The LCP Consulting report argues that an omnichannel approach (where a consistent and seamless customer experience is served across devices) is the only way to meet customer demand on busy shopping days. In doing so, retailers can drive long term brand loyalty, as well as immediate sales, driven by omnichannel’s ability to engage customers on the touchpoints that suit them and with personalised content that is relevant to their relationship with the retailer.
But are retailers ready to deliver omnichannel experiences?
We recently surveyed senior marketing professionals worldwide and found that 55% of them don’t have an omnichannel strategy. Just 11% said that they have a sophisticated implementation, with integration across channels and online to offline.
During the Christmas sales, consumers want to grab a deal quickly. They are likely to become discouraged from shopping with a retailer again if an item they have researched on mobile then can’t be found in store, or isn’t available on their laptop. Since consumers are moving between devices, CMOs will struggle to meet consumer expectations if they do not take an omnichannel approach.
Brands must look to data to unlock omnichannel opportunities
The fact that consumers are switching between devices means it can be harder to understand the path to purchase. However, attribution technology is now providing marketers with the ability to understand their customers better and adapt strategies based on the insights they gather.
When information on customer behaviour is collated across all channels, marketers can create a uniform brand experience online and offline, and ensure that customers are targeted based on their position in the complete journey to purchase. For example, retailers can remind shoppers of an item they expressed interest in on a separate occasion or device by letting them know that it is included in a sale. By retargeting the customer with an incentive, and with content that is tailored, the brand serves a customer experience which is valuable, evoking brand loyalty and encouraging a purchase.
The power of an omnichannel customer experience cannot be underestimated on peak shopping days in the lead up to Christmas. The only way to engage consumers today is across devices; for a brand to stay front of mind in a competitive marketplace, marketers must reach customers wherever they are, with the content which is right for them at that given time. Knowing how customers move from channel to channel, is the only way to serve the tailored experience that will keep shoppers coming back.
By Nick Fletcher, director of service strategy at Rakuten Marketing Europe
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