Marketing
What to watch for during Black Friday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday can provide brands with significant opportunities to boost sales, gain new customers, and raise brand awareness.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday can provide brands with significant opportunities to boost sales, gain new customers, and raise brand awareness. However, it can also create a number of risks and challenges brands should watch for.
Competition & Price Pressure: Brands often feel compelled to offer significant discounts to beat their competitors. This can impact profit margins and erode the perceived value of their products.
High Marketing Costs: Brands often spend significant amounts on paid marketing to promote their Black Friday deals. This can strain their budgets, especially for smaller businesses that might not have the resources to compete with larger players.
Negative Customer Experience: While Black Friday can attract new customers and boost sales, it can also negatively impact the customer experience. Slow deliveries, long wait times for customer service and difficulties in accessing deals can frustrate shoppers.
Brand Dilution: Offering steep discounts can sometimes devalue a brand in the eyes of consumers. Maintaining brand integrity while participating in a discount-heavy event like Black Friday can be a delicate balance. Sending too many emails or SMS communications can also lead to further brand dilution.
Post Black Friday Slump: After the intense sales period of Black Friday, most brands experience a slump in sales. Consumers may have exhausted their holiday shopping budgets or already made the purchases they needed, leading to decreased demand in the weeks prior to the holidays.
Erosion of Brand Loyalty: Black Friday's focus on discounts and deals can shift consumer loyalty from the brand itself to the best deal available. Customers might be less likely to remain loyal to a particular brand if they can consistently find better prices elsewhere.
Other challenges include inventory management, shipping delays and customer service. From our perspective, the biggest risk that is often unaccounted for is the significant time investment from the entire company. Winning during Black Friday is a far stretch from winning as a business overall.
Successfully executing a Black Friday campaign requires careful planning well in advance. Ultimately, it’s about balancing short-term financial gains with long-term business and brand objectives.
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