Over the last 5 years customers have became more aware about the potential savings Black Friday deals provide. But does it really work and for who?
From our e-commerce connections we can safely say shoppers aware of black Friday actually put off buying items for the first 3 weeks of November; hardly anything sells except for essential buys.
There’s another angle to consider. Distributors start pushing out deals early, towards the end of October for Black Friday (the last Friday of November).
Retailers have to buy and sell Black Friday discount deals as soon as they become available. That’s how internet shopping has changed. Everything has a limited timeframe to sell or become a liability. People spend longer online than ever before and when it comes to making purchases over £20 potential customer’s are likely to click on more than 10 Google Adverts, try at least two different types of keyword searches, visit eBay and Amazon, check for voucher codes, search on multiple devices and wait a while before committing.
By time Black Friday arrives customers are still window shopping and not buying because the item is the same price as it was 2 weeks ago.
On Cyber Monday distributors start flooding the market with cheaper and cheaper stock to offload as much and as quickly as possible. Retailers are forced to keep buying cheaper deal stock, otherwise they only have stock that’s overpriced compared to other sellers.
The smart brands – Nike, Apple, Nintendo who sell directly to customers can tightly manage distribution to avoid having to discount at all. Evergreen key products do not get Black Friday weekend discounts at all.
After the November Black Friday weekend, Royal Mail get the equivalent of 1-month’s worth of parcels arrive over 1-weekend to delivery them all in 1-2 days. We know they can’t deliver those in time; however Royal Mail deliveries state deliveries can take up to 14 days.
When the weekend shopping frenzy ends, World news report “Record Black Friday Sales Online”. Following this news Amazon.com share price soars.
Is this type of information really quality news or more marketing disguised as news? The two are so tightly embroiled now, most people can’t tell the difference. The days of newspapers telling news has gone – killed off by the internet. For newspaper’s to reach an audience today the TV and Radio has to tell the general public what is on the newspaper’s front cover. Sponsored content has shape shifted once again. Those with the biggest budget win.
Why is Amazon profitable at a time when so many retailers are closing down? Amazon is more profitable because they have a marketplace with sellers world wide eager to sell. Amazon Marketplace sales give 20% in digital advertising fees to Amazon – which is way higher than retailers can expect to earn. But who are these Amazon power sellers? Most of the power sellers are incognito accounts for EU importers and mainline distributors.
Amazon’s other secret weapon is Alexa. Switching lights on / off works well as a gimmick TV advert, but actually it is prime in Amazon’s way of staying connected to future customers and by passing Google adverting costs by using their own technology linked to Amazon’s shopping website.
Would retailers in the UK be better off without Black Friday Marketing being forced at us through TV news?
Post below. Or contact us.
By Gi_Joe, 19-11-17