Black Friday/Cyber Monday Follow-Up
Black Friday and Cyber Monday proved to signal a shift in consumer shopping behavior with sales dropping, compared to 2020, by 1.3% on Black Friday for a total of $8.9 billion and 1.4% on Cyber Monday for a total of $10.7 billion respectively. This drop indicates the growing shift in consumers shopping earlier this year than compared to years past, with more retailers putting out promotions and deals starting in October. There were some challenges facing the shopping holidays this year, from the national labor shortage and supply chain constraints to the emergence of a new COVID-variant.
Some key takeaways from the holidays are as follows:
- Physical store traffic rose significantly on Black Friday compared to 2020, however, we have yet to see it return to pre-pandemic levels.
- BNPL (buy-now-pay-later) usage grew immensely this year, with more and more retailers offering services such as Afterpay or Klarna into point of sales both in-person and online. In fact, BNPL spending was up a whopping 438% when compared to 2019 levels.
- Smartphone browsing continues to be on the rise, with mobile sales making up 44% of online sales on Black Friday, a 10.6% increase when compared to 2020. Smartphone sales on Cyber Monday were also up 8.4% this year.
For more information and to learn how Highlands can help you prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022, contact us.
E-commerce Trends for 2022
The new year is upon us and there has never been a better time to implement some new e-commerce strategies into your business. Here are just some of the newest trends expected to take over in 2022:
Voice Search
From your remote control to your phone, people have grown accustomed to having voice search as a feature in their daily life, and they expect e-commerce stores to follow suit. e-tailers should make a point to optimize their site for voice search, specifically on mobile.
Additional Payment Options
Just like the rise we saw of BNPL (buy-now-pay-later) options on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, e-tailers should expect the new payment option to stick around. Implementing another form of payment gives consumers the flexibility and freedom to make a purchase and pay for it over time, an offer that could make or break a sale.
More Personalized Experiences
Customers have grown to expect a more seamless shopping experience, and a big part of that is personalization. With advancements in machine learning, smart websites features, and online tracking, e-tailers now have the capability to offer a custom experience for each shopper who visits their site.
Competition in Online Advertising
With the continued growth of e-commerce, more and more brands have started to advertise their online stores. Brands should expect a rise in keyword search terms and advertising inventory prices throughout 2022 and beyond, and plan accordingly.
To learn more about these e-commerce trends and how Highlands can help, contact us.
Omnichannel Marketing: Strategies for Boosting E-commerce Sales
Online shoppers have grown to expect brands to deliver seamless shopping experiences. Whether they’re browsing through products on social channels or exploring e-commerce websites, customers expect consistency and stellar customer service. For this reason, it’s vital that e-tailers implement a strong omnichannel marketing strategy. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind:
Use Social Media to your Advantage
Social media networks can be a powerful tool for boosting brand awareness and visibility. Furthermore, it gives businesses the opportunity to engage with their current and potential customers about the brand, its products, and receive feedback that can help them to improve.
From setting up a Facebook marketplace to making your Instagram posts shoppable and conducting live shopping events on Tik Tok, social media platforms have now made it relatively easy to turn your brand’s social media posts into shoppable content directly within the network. This makes it tremendously easy for consumers to complete the entire sales process, from product discovery to checkout.
Track, Analyze, and Optimize
When a shopper engages with your brand, purchasing, and browsing behaviors can be tracked to create a unique digital fingerprint representing that specific customer. Understanding how to track, analyze, and optimize the shopping experience once a customer makes a purchase can help e-tailers to create an enhanced, customized experience the next time that customer visits your site. Once that initial data is collected, e-tailers then have the opportunity to get a sense of what the customer likes, helping them to cross-sell products in the future by suggesting related or complementary items that can help increase the value of the sale.
It’s important to use metrics and KPIs to evaluate the impact of your omnichannel marketing campaigns. In doing so, you’ll be able to analyze the existing data and better align your e-commerce strategies with your business goals.
Always Be Improving
Your omnichannel strategy is limited by how smooth your purchase experience is. Make a point to ensure that all content and listings include high-quality images, accurate and detailed descriptions and that the same purchase experience is present across devices. This will give customers a reliable, seamless shopping experience that they can count on.
For help with your omnichannel marketing strategy, contact us.
