Back in Black - Where does the future of Black Friday Lie?

2015 may be a defining year for the future of one of the world’s largest shopping days – Black Friday. To the (very few by now I would guess) uninitiated, Black Friday is the name given to the Friday that falls immediately after Thanksgiving. Traditionally Black Friday has been a retailers Mecca, through ingenious marketing campaigns and heavy discounting, crowds have been lining up outside retail stores from early dawn each and every Black Friday to splash the cash and grab a bargain.

The Black Friday annual shopping day has become so huge, that some large retailers in recent years have even begun opening their doors on the Thursday of Thanksgiving. However, this has not gone down well in all quarters, with many protests outside the shop doors lamenting retailers putting profit before the quality of family life for their employees. These lamentations have gained ground, and for the first year ever, some retail giants such as REI have bucked the trend and have stated that none of their stores will open on either Thanksgiving or Black Friday 2015 – a kind of a give back and thanks to their employees (not to mention tonnes of wonderful publicity headlines).

But it’s not just the feel good factor that may come into play for the future of Black Friday, according to BlackFriday.com the number of people who shopped both instore and online fell from 46% to 41% between 2013 and 2014. BlackFriday.com also states that the average spend per head by the Black Friday shopper has fallen steadily from $423 to $381 between 2012-2014.

With the comfort of online shopping, no queuing or waiting, new pretenders to the throne such as Cyber Monday and Singles’ Day in China, what does the future for Black Friday hold? My guess is that it is not a tradition that is going away, but rather like the omni-channel has changed the future of retail, it is a tradition that will have to be re-invented and upgraded. In this regard, I believe that the whole weekend comprising of Thanksgiving, Black Friday to Cyber Monday will become one huge festive splurge, be it instore, online or a combination of both. The retailers that will win will be the ones that combine both instore and online (e.g. purchase online and collect instore), give the same pricing and discounts trough coupons and other incentives and can work out how to give free shipping.

Are you prepared for Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is a marketing term for the Monday after Black Friday, the Friday following Thanksgiving and one of the busiest shopping days in the United States. This year Cyber Monday falls on December 2, 2013. The term "Cyber Monday" was created by marketing companies and made its debut on November 28, 2005 in a Shop.org press release entitled "'Cyber Monday Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year". According to the Shop.org/BizRate Research 2005 eHoliday Mood Study, "77 percent of online retailers said that their sales increased substantially on the Monday after Thanksgiving, a trend that is driving serious online discounts and promotions on Cyber Monday this year (2005)".

 
Last year the Adobe Digital Index called for Cyber Monday to pass the $2 billion sales mark. The actual tally was $1.98 billion, just short. But the 2013 Online Shopping Forecast that Adobe recently released promises that the threshold will be crossed and then some this year, calling for an e-commerce tally of approximately $2.27 billion.
 
Adobe forecasts that only 2% of holiday purchases will be made via social media sites, but says that sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest don't get credit for the role they play in purchase decisions.
 
Online retailers promote Cyber Monday using a variety of Internet marketing strategies, including smart phone advertisements. Comparison shoppers with smart phones connected to the Internet can easily find the hottest deals with the press of a button. Many online retailers have apps that allow smart phone users to look up products in their store. As a result, the buyer has an opportunity to explore other online stores for steeper bargains. In addition, this breeds fierce competition that grants online shoppers discounts not found in brick-and-mortar stores on Black Friday.
 
Many eCommerce stores use EDI technology to gain efficiencies in their overall supply chain operations, such as using the EDI 940/945 transaction sets to communicate electronically and efficiently with their 3^rd party warehouses or the EDI 846 transaction set to get regular updates on inventory levels from their suppliers.
 
If you would like to learn more about how B2BGateway’s EDI solutions can help improve your eCommerce supply chain efficiencies please call (401) 491 9595 or email Sales @B2BGateway.Net