Preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Once the calendar flips to November, there’s no time to waste in preparing for the busiest shopping time of the year and the two most famous days associated with it: Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM).

No matter the time of year, Pride® Mobility is here to provide you with superior customer service, dynamic marketing materials to help your business drive sales, and the most technologically advanced mobility products such as electric wheelchairs, mobility scooters, and power lift recliners. But this time of year is especially important when it comes to attracting new customers and retaining existing ones by offering unique deals that help you stand out in the crowd.

Here are just a few tips that we hope you find helpful as you begin to navigate the holiday shopping season, courtesy of expert insight in the retail field.

Focus on digital marketing and social media.

This is a time of year when shoppers are actively seeking significant discounts because they know many businesses will be offering them. For your existing customers, this means setting up an email marketing campaign so that they become aware of the deals you’ll be promoting.

If you’re able, take advantage of segmented email marketing. This means breaking down your email recipients into smaller, more focused groups so that the emails they’ll be receiving from you will be specifically targeted to their past preferences.

If your targeted audience is older, then Facebook is a great resource to help push your message. According to a study from McKinsey & Company, 66% of Baby Boomers polled said they expect Facebook to have some influence on their holiday-purchase decisions in 2021. Be sure to remind your customers through Facebook of the unique deals you’ll be offering at this time of year.

Let’s say you want to invest in an ad on Facebook as opposed to simply a series of posts on your profile page. To maximize your return on investment, you should narrow your audience so that only users within a certain distance from your physical location will see the ad. This practice is called geotargeting and increases the likelihood of those receiving the ad to visit the store and make a purchase.

Identify best sellers and the latest trends.

When determining which products should be discounted, consider what your best sellers have been over the past year. You should continue to promote those products and offer further deals. At the same time, you also need to consider recent trends.

Pride and Baja® Mobility have launched several new products in the last calendar year. Perhaps you’ve seen success with our Baja Bandit, Pride PX4, or Pursuit 2 in recent months. While you may be promoting traditional, long-term best sellers, also consider offering deals for these newer products to continue the momentum you saw from the summer and fall months.

Shopify recommends an ABC analysis to determine which products are performing best. A-grade products represent 80% of your revenue, B-grade is the middle and represents 15% of revenue, and C-grade make up only 5% of revenue. According to Shopify, “BFCM is an opportunity to drive revenue by featuring A-grade products in your Black Friday campaign with modest discounts, as well as deep discounts on [C-grade products].”

Think about messaging.

It’s easy to slap a SALE sign on a product, but it takes a little more work to craft a compelling message about why a particular product is on sale that connects with potential customers.

Lightspeed compares the idea of data-driven campaigns with insight-driven campaigns. According to an expert with whom Lightspeed spoke, insights indicate that consumers have been spending all year, which means there may not be as many inclined to make large purchases during BFCM as in years past.

In your messaging, go beyond just stating that there are deals to be had on electric wheelchairs, mobility scooters, and power lift recliners. Connect with your potential customers on why such deals are being offered, that you strive to improve their lives through these products and want to make them as affordable as possible. This will help create a sense of community and should earn the trust of those seeking a reliable mobility provider.