The Finch Blog — eCommerce Growth at Scale

Black Friday Strategies for Retailers 2020 — Infographic | Finch

Written by Kelly McNulty | Oct 1, 2020 10:00:37 AM

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Cyber 5, Black Week, Cyber Week, whatever you call it, it’s coming — and quick. It’s also your opportunity to increase eCommerce sales and revenue. And with COVID-19, eCommerce holiday opportunities are greater than ever.

More shoppers are going online. More and more retailers are announcing they won’t open brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday. That means more online sales.

To help you get ready, we’ve compiled The eTailer’s Get-Ready Guide for Black Friday 2020. We culled the content from industry resources, the Navigating the eComm Holiday Season During COVID-19 Virtual Conference with Finch and Google, and by talking with Finch’s own expert paid media strategists.

The guide includes:

  • Key Black Friday dates for 2020
  • The Black Friday outlook for eCommerce in 2020
  • How to avoid being caught unprepared
  • How to prepare Black Friday strategies
  • Tips on how to set up, run, and retire your paid search, shopping, and display campaigns for Black Friday

Included here are a few key dates, data points, and preparation tips that eTailers need to know. For more information and a lot more tips, download your PDF copy of The eTailer’s Get-Ready Guide for Black Friday 2020.

Then get ready to take advantage of the opportunities available to your eCommerce company this holiday season.

The 2020 Online Shopping Holiday Forecast

The online shopping forecast for Black Friday 2020 is bright and sunny. Many brick-and-mortar stores won’t open. That means more and more shoppers will buy online. As early as May 2020, shoppers in Germany, the UK, and the US were already buying more online!1

30%

of global retail sales will be done online2

41%

of consumers who usually shop in stores on Black Friday won’t3

72%

of shoppers plan to shop more online4

$50 billion

in potential global eCommerce revenue5,6

Are You Ready for More Shoppers?

Have your logistics in order, including inventory, shipping, and your website.

90%

of online shoppers won’t wait for a slow web page to load6
Plan your strategy, including what you want to accomplish, what competitors are doing, and what platforms and channels you’ll use.

90%

increase in the likelihood of a shopper visiting a website after seeing both shopping and search ads7
Determine your budget, max it out if possible, set higher ROAS and ACoS targets, and save some for later.

37%

increase in revenue for Black Friday 2019 compared to 20188

Prep, Run, and Reap the Rewards of Your Black Friday Campaigns for 2020

If you can benefit from help in scaling your business and growing online for Black Friday and beyond, Finch helps eCommerce companies worldwide master metrics, grow revenues, and increase awareness. Contact us any time.

Before Black Friday

  • Create your audiences
  • Use “Black Friday promotion” or similar language in your ad headlines (except in Germany where Black Friday is a trademark)
  • Create urgency. For example, use countdown ads.

On Black Friday

  • Regularly check your KPIs and make adjustments throughout the day(s)
  • Check your budget so you don’t max it out and adjust as needed

After Black Friday

  • Adjust your bids back
  • Pause Black Friday ads and extensions and re-enable previous ads
  • Collect and label audience data
  • Analyze what creative worked and what didn’t
  • Consider a post-event campaign

Know Your Dates and Start Planning Now

Nov. 27

Black Friday 2020

Nov. 30

Cyber Monday 2020

Cyber Five

or Black Week or Cyber Week — November 26 through November 30, 2020

Find more, including channel-specific recommendations for prepping, running, and retiring your Black Friday campaigns in The eTailer’s Get-Ready Guide for Black Friday 2020.

 

1 Have you deliberately purchased any of these products or services online instead of offline because of the COVID-19 / coronavirus pandemic? (as of May 31, 2020), Statista, May 31, 2020, www.statista.com/statistics/1107859/shifting-to-online-purchases-because-of-the-covid-19-pandemic-by-category/

2 How COVID-19 Will Shape the 2020 Holiday Season: 5 Predictions on the Future of Retail, Salesforce, July 30, 2020, www.salesforce.com/blog/2020/07/covid19-holiday-readiness-retail-commerce.html

3 Google-commissioned Ipsos COVID-19 tracker, US, ~n=745 18+ online consumers who plan to shop for the holidays, June 25, 2020–June 28, 2020

4 Black Friday Results: U.S. Digital Revenue Hits Record High of $7.2B and Big Discounts Reign, Salesforce Blog, Nov. 30, 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2019/11/30/record-black-friday-sales-14-growth-to-72b-in-digital-revenue/#544116a46aff

5 Cyber Monday Results: Still the Top U.S. Digital Shopping Day With the Best Deals as Global Revenue Grows to $8B, Salesforce Blog, Dec. 3, 2019, www.salesforce.com/blog/2019/12/cyber-monday-results.html

6 Retail Systems Research eCommerce Report Warns Brands Must Optimize Digital or Face “Serious Consequences,” MarTech Series, August 12, 2020, https://martechseries.com/mobile/mobile-marketing/e-commerce-and-mobile-commerce/retail-systems-research-ecommerce-report-warns-brands-must-optimize-digital/

7 Google Pushing Holiday Retailers to Use Both Text Ads & PLAs, Wordstream, Apri 3, 2015, www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2013/11/20/google-plas-plus-text-ads

8 Based on internal data from Finch clients for the 2019 Black Friday season (November 23 thru November 29). Data is an aggregate taken from a set of clients in the German market.

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