Black Friday is almost upon us and, if you ecommerce sellers have taken our advice, you’ve already been preparing. If you haven’t, don’t worry. There’s still 4 weeks until the big day. With this in mind, we thought now was a good time to give you some last minute tips on things that you should definitely be considering before Black Friday. Here’s our top 5 things for ecommerce sellers to consider before Black Friday.
1）Prepare Your Black Friday Sales
This one seems painfully obvious, but you would be surprised how many sellers think that putting a 10% sale on all of their products is enough to ensure they maximize their profits on Black Friday. The sellers who will benefit the most are those who hand pick which products they wish to offer a deal on and use more creative sale techniques, such as offering 2 for 1 on items that might be bought as a gift.
In addition, sellers should consider how they are communicating these sales to their potential customers. If you have a mailing list of previous customers, it might be an idea to send out an email detailing which products are up for sale. Ebay sellers could also take advantage of the coded coupon feature. For more information on this, checkout our article on Ebay coded coupons.
2）Ensure You Meet Your Customers Delivery Expectations
If you are in the ecommerce industry you are no doubt aware of the issues that supply chains all over the world are facing. Research has shown that 57% of consumers are open to buying products from across borders this Black Friday, but almost all of them are concerned about receiving their purchases on time.
Due to the issues surrounding deliveries that all ecommerce sellers are facing, it is vital that you make sure you are planning ahead and are ensuring that all your supply chains are as robust as they can possibly be. As for Amazon sellers, you need to make sure that you are aware of all the upcoming changes to FBA. If you haven’t already, you should definitely read our article on the upcoming Amazon FBA changes that are coming into effect before Black Friday.
3）Use Product Recommendations
Another area that is sometimes neglected by ecommerce sellers is upselling. If a customer is buying a product from you, chances are they might be interested in something else you sell. Recommending more products for customers to buy from you is a great way to sell more, and it also reduces the chances of delays as you can put all the purchases in one package.
On top of this, you should consider offering package deals for your customers. Rather than selling each item individually, maybe if they bought a hamper of products you could offer a discount price? If you are going to go down this route, just ensure that all the items in the hamper are related.
4）Start Your Black Friday Sales As Soon As Possible
I know you’re probably bored of hearing this from us by now so we won’t dwell on it, but it really is worth mentioning. Major retailers such as Walmart have already confirmed that they’ll be starting their sales from Monday. Ecommerce sellers should consider doing the same in order to keep up with the big retailers.
5）Make Sure To Offer Diverse Payment Options
This is yet another issue that many ecommerce sellers fail to address. Almost 15% of consumers say that they have backed out of a purchase recently at the last step because the seller doesn’t offer their preferred payment option. As we’ve stated before, PayPal is a must, and ecommerce sellers need to recognize that buy-now-pay-later options are becoming more and more popular.
Another thing to consider with this point is the fact that consumers from different places have different payment preferences. UK consumers and those from the Netherlands tend to favor PayPal, whereas French consumers seem to like mobile payments and buy-now-pay-later options. Sellers should ensure that they are fully aware of their consumers’ preferences and offer them accordingly. It could be the difference between making a sale and losing a customer.
So How Can We Help You This Black Friday?
Whether it is expanding your business to another country or you just need supply chain support, we at J&P Accountants have been supporting ecommerce sellers for years and can offer you a range of services.
If you are a business who participates in cross border ecommerce, we would be more than happy to help you register for VAT, file your VAT returns, and help you comply with VAT in case your account faces any issues. At J&P, helping your business is our passion, and we understand that companies across the UK are at risk now more than ever. We are here to support you through the Coronavirus crisis and the busy festive period, so please do not hesitate to give us a call on 0161 637 1080 or send an e-mail to enquiries@jpaccountant.com.
