How to prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM): Guide for businesses

Laura Tien November 12, 2024

Article E-Commerce

To get ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) in 2024, there are a few areas that businesses need to look into. Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar retail business or an e-commerce business, you’ll benefit from planning ahead. This can help with increasing sales, streamlining processes for your team and retaining customers post-BFCM.

In this article, we’ll delve into consumer behavior, trends and case studies to provide the best possible overview. See the key steps you need to take to prepare your inventory, marketing, operations, accounting and retention.

Understand Black Friday and Cyber Monday consumer behavior

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have evolved into major shopping events for consumers all over the world, not just the United States. Shoppers are on the hunt for the best deals and a streamlined shopping experience. To effectively prepare for BFCM, businesses should get an understanding of their own historical data as well as general market trends.

To start, look into your past BFCM sales data to identify trends in products, shopping times and other preferences. Then, look into ways you can segment your customers based on purchase behavior, demographics and browsing habits. These metrics will all help you with the next steps in planning.

Separately, it’s useful to have a grasp on general consumer behavior statistics. For example, research from SAP Emarsys found that 35% of consumers will buy from an online store that they’ve never bought from before during BFCM. On the flip side, a Shopify and Gallup survey saw that 34% of consumers will use this period to stock up on everyday items. Hence, there’s a tonne of opportunity from different target markets.

Inventory management and supply chain preparation

Black Friday and Cyber Monday can bring challenges for businesses such as managing inventory, maintaining supplier relationships, optimizing warehousing, and handling higher return rates. In each of these areas, there are some key steps to take to ensure you’re not hit with stockouts, delays or dissatisfied customers.

Stock up strategically

1. Start by reviewing historical sales data and market trends to forecast demand for each product.
2. Consider offering deals for products at various price points to appeal to more customers.
3. Order extra of high-demand product items well ahead of time in case of delays and to prevent stockouts.

Supplier relationships

1. Inform suppliers of your needs well ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday season and stay in close communication.
2. Prepare contingency plans for supply chain disruptions. For example, can you be flexible with the deals you offer?
3. Negotiate better pricing or flexible payment terms for bulk orders.

Warehouse management

1. See if your warehouse space can be better optimized for a busy period.
2. Ensure all the software and hardware you’re using is working and can handle an increase in sales.
3. Consider hiring temporary staff or working with a 3PL depending on your capacity.

Handling increased returns

1. Implement a system that allows customers to initiate returns online without having to get in contact with your team.
2. Encourage exchanges or store credit to reduce returns volumes.
3. To avoid complaints or other issues, review your return policy and ensure that it’s easy to understand.

How to create a BFCM marketing and promotion plan

Your discounts will act as the foundation for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing plan. To stand out in the market at a time when almost every business is running a promotion, your deals need to be compelling and strategic. Here are some discount types that you can consider including:

• Tiered discounts based on spending thresholds.
• Limited-time offers and flash sales.
• Product bundling, where complementary items are sold together at a discounted rate.
• Provide extra discounts or bonus points to loyalty program members.
• Give customers a free gift when they spend a certain amount.
• Use a gamified approach by allowing customers to spin a virtual wheel for a chance to win different levels of discounts, free shipping, or small gifts.

After your discount strategy has been decided, you can support it with targeted campaigns across multiple channels. To start, organic strategies such as email marketing and social media can help you reach customers that are already familiar with your business. Then, use paid advertising to reach consumers who’ve never made a purchase at your store.

Organic marketing

For your email campaigns, segment your different customer groups to offer more personalized deals. It could be helpful to create an automated journey based on how each customer engages with your emails. For example, if a customer clicks on a certain product link, you can send them a follow-up email with more information, reviews and related items.

In terms of social media, BFCM is the time to use interactive content to amplify your presence. Create content such as polls, user-generated posts, and live streams. This can help with giving your audience more variety rather than solely making static posts about discounts.

For example, a few weeks before Black Friday, you can ask your audience about what products they’re most excited about or what limited edition collections they want you to bring back. This can help you get an understanding of what products you should have discounts for and will get your customers excited.

Paid marketing

Next, paid advertising will be crucial for driving traffic, particularly from consumers who’ve never purchased from your business. Consider how you can maximize your PPC campaigns during this peak shopping time. Now that you have discounts in place, creating retargeting campaigns that target potential customers who have visited your site but haven’t completed a purchase can be more effective.

Create a checklist for your operations and staffing

It’s now time to put together a checklist of all the operations and staffing processes that you need to make sure are in order while you prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This will help you deliver a seamless shopping experience for customers. We’ve put together a quick checklist that you can use as a starting point.

1. Check your website’s loading times, mobile optimization, and ability to handle higher traffic.
2. Make sure your navigation menus, CTAs, and checkout process are intuitive with as little steps as possible. It’s always helpful to get outsider feedback on this.
3. Test your backup and recovery plans to ensure data is backed up in the case of a technical failure.
4. Train existing and new staff on how to handle high-volume periods. This involves a rundown of what to do if stock shortages, payment issues or any other challenges arise.
5. Inform your support team of the expected increase in issues. Consider extending your support hours or options.

Prepare your finances and accounting for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

A successful Black Friday and Cyber Monday period ultimately comes down to the bottom line. It’s important to set a clear budget, a profitable pricing strategy, and use the right finance and accounting tools.

Budgeting for marketing and inventory

First of all, it’s easy for your marketing spend and inventory spend to get out of hand if you don’t have a budget. Allocate funds across strategically while ensuring you have a buffer for any unexpected costs. It can be beneficial to have separate budgets purely for emergency inventory replenishment and additional marketing pushes during BFCM.

Build a profitable pricing strategy

Your pricing strategy involves balancing discounts and profitability. The nature of your discounts relies heavily on your marketing plan. However, you need to consider the financial side as well. Make sure you understand the profitability of each item so that you can offer competitive deals while protecting your bottom line.

Automate your accounting and bookkeeping

During this busy period, automating manual tasks is more crucial than ever. Amaka’s accounting integrations automatically sync transactions from your e-commerce platform or POS to your accounting software can save your hours on data entry. On top of that, transactions are automatically matched to the bank feed for lightning-fast reconciliation.

To get a walkthrough of an integration or to get help setting one up, you can schedule a free 30-minute Zoom call with one of our Integration Specialists below.

How to create a post-BFCM customer retention plan

Last but definitely not least, you should consider what your post-BFCM customer retention plan is ahead of time to maximize new relationships. Consider what tailored emails you can send post-purchase. For example, you can provide tips on how to use a product they’ve purchased or recommend related products.

Next, one of the best ways to encourage repeat business is through a loyalty program that offers unique rewards and incentives. These can include earning points, receiving regular exclusive discounts, getting early access to sales, etc.

Finally, gather feedback and analyze the data you collect during the BFCM season. Get an understanding of how you can improve customer satisfaction levels and what strategies worked. This will help you to refine your plans moving forward and for next year’s BFCM.

Key takeaways on how to prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024

In conclusion, following these steps can help your business successfully prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2024. It comes down to accurate inventory planning, creating a marketing calendar, streamlining your operations, automating your accounting, and prioritizing customer retention. The earlier you start, the more return you can make on this busy holiday shopping period!