05 Nov 4 Quick Steps To Get Ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, upcoming holiday season or any other special occasion, if you’re an Amazon FBA Seller, there’s one thing you need to be. BE READY, man.
You need to be prepared and able to deliver in time for US Black Friday (November 24th) and Cyber Monday (November 27th). After all, these two days are only two of the biggest sales days in U.S. e-commerce, with an estimated US$ 3.34 billion in online sales in 2016, with an estimated US$ 3.52 billion in online sales in 2017 that you don’t want to miss out on. It is due to these figures, and also to the fact that even non-American retailers are participating in this sale, that these two days are the biggest in the year that no seller can skip. But if you are a FBA seller located outside the USA, you should know how stressful it might be to get ready for these two days.
You need to consider taking inventory out of your warehouse / factory, find the right service provider, and choose the most cost-effective mode of transport to get your products back to the USA in time.
You can resolve this by following four simple steps given below: Prepare Assess & Understand Optimize Manage Prepare A lot of planning needs to be done if you plan to sell on special days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. As most purchases are made online, you need to schedule your marketing in advance, including how your PPC strategies and promotions will operate, how you’re driving traffic to your online sales page, how to manage your order fulfilment and FBA stock so that you don’t run out of stock in the crucial period, and how you’re going to follow best practises through all of this Once you have a business plan, it’s time to do that. Contrary to popular belief, email marketing is still one of the most effective ways to reach out to shoppers. Bloggers, influencers, and various social media outlets are also a good way to spread the message.
A lot of companies are preparing well in advance for these days. Some of them, as early as the back-to-school season is over. And they’re doing that for a reason. Shoppers start thinking about these two days and searching for offers months before the actual day.
True to the adage, “The early bird gets the worm,” the companies that do well over these two days are the ones that start early. But of course, because Black Fridays and Cyber Mondays occur every year, even if you take this year to plan and evaluate the market, you could also be better prepared for the following year.
ASSESS AND Consider Assess and consider the competition, their pricing strategy and advertising strategies. Although prices remain stable throughout the year, prices tend to fluctuate very significantly over the last quarter of the year. To make things more competitive, you need to ensure that you set the right prices based on the products that move and those that stagnate.
If you’re someone from outside the U.S., you need to make sure that your products reach the U.S. especially for these two days, because this is where the action is and will prove most lucrative to you.
Selling to an American target group has a lot of upsides. The market is very dense. About 50 percent of US Internet users stay in an Amazon Prime household.
Amazon.com (US) is the most known retail giant market with the highest number of current revenues. Once you’ve decided to sell in the US, it’s often just the logistical layer of sending goods from Europe to US fulfilment centres that can hold you back or seem daunting. However, there are service providers who can also provide you with integrated solutions for this.
Maximize These two days are one of the best times to maximise the stocks, move goods that haven’t been delivered for the rest of the year, add more stock and reduce storage costs. Tools such as Amazon’s Seller Central can be used to maximise orders, reduce storage space and reduce costs of delivery.
Handle Ultimately, you need to put all of the above together and handle the entire process effectively and in time to ensure that you are prepared for these two most important days in the US e-commerce industry.
Media IQ reported that purchases made by American consumers on Black Friday were six times more than any ordinary Friday. So, don’t want to miss out, get ready, be steady and get ready for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.