Black Friday 2021 is scheduled for November 26th, followed by Cyber Monday on Monday November 29th. What began as an American shopping frenzy with brazen discounts on Christmas gifts - especially toys and electronics - is now an international e-commerce event.
Find out how you can best prepare your e-commerce store for this important day for digital trade and how you can optimally and profitably align your marketing strategy with Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday.
With the introduction of Cyber Monday and Small Business Saturday, the Black Friday sale is getting longer and leading us straight into the holiday season. The lockdown-related boost in the online shopping trend is also still unbroken. And so now is the perfect time to turn your Black Friday marketing ideas into a fully-fledged strategy.
The pandemic has not only had a major impact on online trends and consumer preferences, but also its impact on your Black Friday marketing strategy this year. According to McKinsey & Company's report on Christmas shopping and consumer trends in 2021, here are five trends to watch out for:
Omnichannel commerce is a major contributor to the busiest online shopping time of the year. To stay ahead of the competition, you need accurate data on seasonal traffic trends and market analysis, and you need to optimize all your marketing channels accordingly:
Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday only take place over two days, but you can reap the benefits of these sales throughout the year. That's why you should balance your organic and paid search plans to give your audience the best omnichannel experience.
We've put together a few tips you can apply to your own Black Friday PPC campaign:
We all know that SEO is not a quick fix. Rather, it is a long-term strategy. So the sooner you start planning and optimizing your Black Friday promotions, the better:
To rank for these seasonal keywords, you need landing pages where searchers can find your Black Friday 2021 deals. Consumers often search for keywords such as "sale", "deal", "discounts", "specials" and "promos" in conjunction with specific product or brand names. Take a closer look at Google Trends to find out which keywords work best for your industry.
Create your sale pages in advance and temporarily redirect them so they are not visible until your sale is live. Be sure to add these new landing pages to your sitemap so crawlers can properly index them (and returning customers can find them).
Make them live when you're ready to start your sale and track and optimize your progress as the holiday season approaches. The best way to plan a marketing strategy is to think from the top of the funnel to the bottom.
Start with organic search, then use social media to increase brand and product awareness. Remember to carefully measure your efforts to understand which channels are performing best and optimize your strategy accordingly.
Black Friday heralds the start of the Christmas business. And even in August of this year, searches for "Christmas gift ideas" have already surpassed 2020 levels.
We've rounded up four points here to help maximize your success during the most important shopping season of the year.
Fast shipping and easy returns are high on customers' priority lists this year. 78% of consumers say they choose online stores that offer free shipping when shopping.
Google even added this in their new shipping and returns instructions in search and shopping results for both free and paid offers. Online shoppers can now see when their orders will arrive. The following shipping instructions are available, for example:
Every day, hundreds of millions of people use Google to shop and discover products. Showcase your items in free Google listings: If you use Shopify, WooCommerce or GoDaddy, you can now get started right from their respective platforms. Seamlessly sync your products and increase their reach with smart shopping campaigns powered by machine learning.
You can also turn your YouTube videos into a virtual storefront and present your most popular items there: combine your product feed with video advertising campaigns that drive customers to your website. In the coming weeks, we'll be rolling out the option to associate a product feed with Discovery ads to show customers relevant products at the exact moment they search for them on Google.
Google is rolling out additional tools and reports to help focus on your profitability. With the Bestseller Report you will receive information on the most popular brands and products in your online shop. This can help you decide which new brands and products to stock up for the holidays.
In addition, Google is introducing a feature that will allow you to view your promotional deals through real-time reports in the Merchant Center. This is particularly useful when running promotions to shift your inventory - for example in preparation for Black Friday 2021 and Cyber Monday Sale.
Tools like the Insights Page and the Performance Planner also help identify trends and plan budgets so you can better meet customer demand. And if your company offers an app, you can use two new tools – the Deep link validator and the Impact Calculator - check if your customers are directed to the right places in your app.
The holiday season this year is driven by consumers' desire to reflect timeless human needs in modern shopping experiences. They want to feel connected, entertained, and inspired. Knowing how your prospects shop can help you meet each of those needs and create personalized shopping experiences.
The new Facebook Discovery Commerce System helps online providers to put the interests of customers more and more in the foreground:
Would you like to find out more? Then contact us for a free analysis of your advertising accounts and let us show you the potential of your online shop.