June 23, 2023

What is BFCM? How You Can Maximize Sales

Unlock the secrets of BFCM and boost your sales! Discover what BFCM is and learn effective strategies to maximize your revenue. Don't miss out on this opportunity!
What is BFCM? How You Can Maximize Sales
What is BFCM? How You Can Maximize Sales

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) are the biggest and most anticipated holidays among retailers all over the world. 

For many ecommerce businesses, BFCM is an opportunity to expand their customer engagement and increase profit. 

With massive opportunities to boost sales, it is important to prepare your ecommerce store adequately to maximize sales and profits. 

Don’t know where to start? Read on as we look at tips and best practices to get your store ready and maximize sales during BFCM. 

What is Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM)?

BFCM or Black Friday and Cyber Monday is an event observed every year from the Friday after the Thanksgiving holiday till the following Monday.

This popular event started in the United States for decades before spreading to other countries. 

Black Friday became famous as far back as the 1980s. However, Cyber Monday was only introduced in 2005 as ecommerce and online shopping became popular. 

Today, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become bigger than ever with millions of consumers shopping for their favorite items at discounted prices and amazing deals from the comfort of their home. 

According to the National Retail Federation, 87.2 million consumers shopped online during Black Friday and 77 million consumers during Cyber Monday in 2022. 

In 2023, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are set to kick off from the 25th to 28th of November 2023

Why is BFCM important for business owners? 

During Black Friday through to Cyber Monday, consumers are searching for the best deals, and for businesses, this is the perfect opportunity to increase sales exponentially. 

Businesses can offer discounts, and other amazing deals on their products and take advantage of the large influx of shoppers.

Businesses can also use BFCM to build brand awareness through social media, email campaigns, and much more. 

If you’re a business owner looking to maximize profits, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are key events to take advantage of. 

How to get your store ready for the Black Friday Cyber Monday season 

Now you know that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the biggest retail events of the year. How do you get your store ready? The sooner you start preparing for BFCM, the better. Let’s consider some of these tips: 

  1. Get your store ready for traffic surges
  2. Prepare your inventory early
  3. Focus on top sales channels 
  4. Create your BFCM offers
  5. Create an effective order fulfillment plan 
  6. Create a backup plan 
  7. Optimize for mobile shopping 
  8. Retarget past customers

Get your store ready for traffic surges

BFCM is the busiest sales weekend and you want to make sure your ecommerce store is ready for the traffic surges. Test your server’s load before the sales event to ensure it can handle the huge spikes. 

One of your biggest enemies during BFCM is a slow website, as this can reduce your conversion rate drastically. Ensure your website load speed and server is at their best performance. 

Prepare your inventory early

For your BFCM sales, you want to be certain you have enough inventory. Running out of stock can negatively affect customer experience, sales, and brand reputation. Start picking and ordering products you want to promote during BFCM as early as possible to give your suppliers enough time to get your products ready. To identify top-selling BFCM products and how much inventory you need, you can analyze your sales performance from the previous year(s). Ensure your inventory is available weeks before the BFCM sales begin. 

Focus on top sales channels

You can enhance your profits by focusing on the most profitable channels. By doing this, you can capture quality leads, drive more traffic to your store and increase sales. For example, if your most profitable sales channels are Facebook and Google, sync your products across these platforms and create ads specific to each of them. 

Create an effective order fulfillment plan 

With a high volume of sales coming in a short time, order fulfillment may get quite complicated. However, with adequate preparation, it doesn’t have to be. 

Ensure your fulfillment center or warehouse is well-stocked with supplies that are ready for picking and packing. You also want to prioritize and organize your orders for easy processing. Communicate with your suppliers, staff, and customers to avoid errors and save time. You can invest in an inventory management system to streamline the process and gain insights that will help you manage the process effectively. 

Create a backup plan 

It is important to prepare for unexpected situations. What will happen if inventory arrival is delayed? What happens if your shipping company doesn’t deliver as expected? Ask yourself the tough questions and create backup plans to handle them. This makes it easier to handle problems that may arise instead of trying to troubleshoot during the BFCM sales. 

Optimize for mobile shopping 

Mobile shopping has become increasingly popular over the years. According to data, mobile devices accounted for 48% of all Black Friday online orders in 2022. We should expect to see this trend continue in the following years. 

As a business owner, you want to ensure your ecommerce store is mobile-friendly. Optimize your site’s responsiveness, themes, product pages, and overall user experience for mobile. 

Retarget past customers

You can boost revenue without spending on acquiring new customers by retargeting past customers. You can make use of retargeting ads to reach out to visitors who stopped by your store or abandoned their shopping cart in the past. 

9 best practices for maximizing BFCM ecommerce sales 

Here are some best practices you want to implement to help you maximize BFCM sales: 

  1. Optimize your product listing 
  2. Create an irresistible BFCM offer
  3. Use personalized messaging in your marketing 
  4. Use upselling and cross-selling tactics
  5. Give customers real-time order tracking updates 
  6. Offer multiple payment options 
  7. Provide 24/7 customer support 
  8. Drive traffic using the power of social media
  9. Encourage repeat purchases 

Optimize your product listing 

Your product listing should be well-optimized during the BFCM sales. You are likely to get a large influx of new and existing shoppers, so you want to ensure your store has everything they are looking for. Starting from your headline, product images, product description, call to action, and pretty much everything. Your listing should be well-optimized with relevant keywords relating to BFCM. Your product images should be captivating and high-quality, showing your products from various angles. 

To avoid high returns, ensure your product descriptions have the correct information alongside any relevant additional information shoppers should know about.

Use personalized messaging in your marketing 

With the fierce competition during the BFCM sales season, standing out of the crowd is crucial. One way to grab the attention of your customers and connect with them is through personalized messaging. 

You can personalize your marketing by sending behavior-triggered emails and text messages, using user-based landing pages, personalized product recommendations, and so on. 

Use upselling and cross-selling tactics

You can increase your average order value by employing upselling and cross-selling tactics on your return portal page. You can include featured products, wishlist items, limited-time offers, and attractive bundles on your returns page to grab the attention of your customer and increase your conversion rate. 

Give customers real-time order tracking updates 

During festive seasons, shoppers are more time-conscious and want to know precisely when they will get their orders. You can improve your customer’s shopping experience by sending live order tracking updates to keep your customers in the loop. You can send personalized order status notifications via email or SMS. 

Offer multiple payment options 

One of the reasons customers abandon their shopping carts is because they can’t find their preferred payment option. You can easily avoid this during BFCM sales by offering as many payment options as you can. Include credit cards, debit cards, digital wallets, bank transfers, and other payment methods. 

Provide 24/7 customer support 

BFCM sales come with a new influx of customers. You want to provide the best customer service to improve their shopping experience and perhaps turn them into loyal customers. 

You can integrate a 24/7 live chat option for customers who want their issues resolved immediately. You can also include an FAQ section on your site to address common questions about your product, shipping, and payments. This will help reduce customer queries and returns. 

Drive traffic using the power of social media

With more than half of the world on social media, there’s no doubt that social media can be a powerful tool to pull the crowds to your store. Create engaging content and interact with your followers. You can promote juicy BFCM offers and include links that drive your flowers right to your store. You may also want to harness the power of influencer marketing to get more eyes on your store. 

Encourage repeat purchases 

You can encourage repeat purchases during the Black Friday Cyber Monday sales by constantly creating value for your customers. You can do this by creating a loyalty program to reward your customers for their purchases. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. You can start with promos, discount codes, and member-exclusive deals. 

Wrapping up 

Now it’s your turn to pull in the profits from the BFCM sales. Don’t forget that the earlier you start to prepare for this sales event, the better. We hope our guide helps you chart your way to BFCM success. 

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