An E-Commerce Guide for Black Friday 2016
There is the challenge of competing against the larger companies for SMBs when it comes to e-commerce especially during the Black Friday Weekend sales holiday. The larger companies are able to sell competitively because they are able sustain the price cuts and deals while the SMBs are not able to. SMBs are still able to participate in the Black Friday Weekend even with the present challenges. You just have to be innovative using creative strategies that make sure you stand out from the crowd. Here we will help you with some of those strategies to ensure that you are successful during this weekend.
The first thing you need to do is optimize the email strategy. At the moment, email marketing is the surest way for lead generation and one of the most effective marketing tools. The customers will be able to count down to the weekend if you send out emails in advance before the sales begin. Email marketing requires that you personalize the emails to each of the customers. One of the tools you can use to make sure that you personalize the emails is by implementing targeted email marketing. For you to get useful information that you are going to use to personalize the emails, you must observe the purchase history of the customers as well as their behavior.
Spreading the sales over a long period of time is another beneficial strategy you could use. This is because you will be creating excitement and customer awareness at the same time and this will benefit the SMB at the end of the day. If the sales are not spread, the SMB will likely be overwhelmed with sudden orders. Selling through online marketplaces is another strategy that you could implement this Black Friday Weekend. These online marketplaces own a huge percentage of the retail market and they experience high levels of sales as well as traffic. Once you start selling on these platforms, you will earn more trust and credibility from your customers especially if you are a less known SMB.
There is no need of being worked up over the size of the SMB as it grows. Larger companies offer mass production and most of the customers are shying away from this. Customers are now currently into exclusive products and niche items and that is one of the strengths of the SMB. The site you have for the SMB should be responsive to all types of devices. The customer is not only buying on their mobile devices but also researching the product before buying it. Ensure that the site is fully responsive from the product images to the checkout. M-commerce is taking the center stage this Black Friday and if you are to stay competitive against the larger players, you must follow this lead.
