The moment of truth for Amazon sellers comes at the end of November. Turkey 5 is forecasted to be the biggest sales event in history. Here’s how to get ready for Black Friday on Amazon in 2018.
November 23 is just around the corner. Just ask Alexa. That’s right, there’s a Black Friday Countdown skill now. And if Alexa is counting down the days, you can bet buyers are gearing up for bargains already.
Amazon’s clearly prepping for Turkey 5 as well. New countdown pages have been added to the Amazon.com website as subcategories. The Baby Countdown to Black Friday page is an example. But Amazon UK took it one step further this year and built its very own Countdown to Black Friday category.
So, how do you stay competitive this Black Friday and Cyber Monday on the Amazon marketplace? We could think of at least 7 ways to go for gold on Turkey 5 this year. Here’s how:
Think Timing
Amazon’s Black Friday deals will be launching on November 1 this year. This essentially turns Black Friday into Black November. Get on board with 4-week lead time if you plan to capitalize on Amazon’s marketing efforts. Stock up before then.
November is the time to list popular products, not test emerging brands and new tech. But if the weather turns sour and people can’t travel to try before they buy, some may opt for online instead of in-store. If you have decent return policies and your product descriptions are detailed and accurate, your products may catch their eye.
Expect Impulse Buys
Many Black Friday and Cyber Monday shoppers end up buying on a whim because of the hype. Impulse buys are sensitive to things buyers perceive as negative. Being charged for shipping or not having enough shipping options can put them off.
Covering shipping costs will bring your sales projections up and your margins down. Consider slashing shipping costs for all your best deals. You can then use an real-time algorithmic repricer like Sellery to recoup those losses by hiking up other prices.
Stock Smart
An uptick in sales makes stock levels fluctuate naturally. But some professional sellers resort to underhanded tactics to trigger the buying impulse. Selling counterfeit items, resorting to non-compliant drop-shipping techniques, or claiming they’re low on stock when they’re not are just a few examples.
However, a fraction of buyers put off ordering for a few days, monitoring prices, stock level changes, and reviews before they commit to buying. So, techniques like that can end up sending a few of them your way. Monitor your competitor’s prices and stock levels to make sure you’re ready if it happens.
Bundle Up
The easiest way to win the Buy Box is to create a new UPC. So, bundling may be the only way to sell a very popular item. All you need to do is throw in a few unpopular and low-cost complementary items. Then update your listing with an alluring description and clever keywords. Product bundles are a great way to clear up storage space and cut your losses before Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Stay Sharp
Look out for dodgy practices, like sellers buying all their competitors’ stock so they can then hike up prices. Or sellers who misleadingly bring prices up rather than down, which has a negative effect on complementary items. Suspicious behaviour can and should be reported to the Performance Team.
Take Advantage of the Amazon App
Millions of people across the world have downloaded the Amazon app. Some did it specifically for Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Activating Amazon app notifications and watchlists gives them instant notifications about Lightning Deals, Watch and Waitlisted deals. Prime members also get a 30-minute head-start.
How can you use this to your advantage? Monitor page traffic using your Business Reports and focus on products with lots of views but low unit session percentage. Figure out which products to offer at a discount. Then time those deals to sync with mobile shopping peak times. Business of Apps claims you should focus on those precious few hours when people commute or after they’ve had dinner.
Go For the Amazon Add-On Assistant
The same source claims desktop conversions peak at 10am to 11am. For those buyers who use the Amazon Assistant browser extension, deal notifications are also instant. So, if you have products likely to appeal to people who use desktops at 10am, time the launch of your deals right. Make sure they’re advertised so that customers can click on them at those peak times on Turkey 5.
Resort to Repricing Tools
Slashing prices won’t do you any good if you can’t tweak them in real time to avoid losing money or underselling. That’s what algorithmic repricing is for, and Sellery is a fine example of that. But that’s not all. Sellery can also help maximize your chances of selling at the right time.
Even if you can’t schedule your ads for peak shopping times, you can still reprice your products to make the most of those precious few hours. That way you can appeal to customers who are lured onto Amazon but want to compare prices before they buy. Read our Scheduled Repricing with Sellery post to see how to optimize repricing strategies for peak mobile and desktop shopping times.
Campaign on Social Media
Your Black Friday & Cyber Monday performance on Amazon can boost your visibility on social platforms and vice-versa. In the days leading up to Black Friday, post gift guides and buying tips featuring your products and targeted at your customer base.
Then, before you deck your posts with the #BFCM hashtag, make sure the information on your social media accounts is consistent. Banners, pictures, descriptions, and even logo placement should be similar.
When you’re ready to launch your BFCM campaign, make sure promotions, giveaways, and social causes are clearly visible at the top of your timeline. Your announcements should include call-to-action buttons and links that display trigger words like ‘hurry’, ‘only’, and save’. Finally, look up social media scheduling tools if you’re too busy to create and schedule your posts.
Join In
You’d be amazed how many Amazon sellers scout for products on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s also good to keep in mind that many of these products will still be sold in-store and online for months or even years to come. So, if you can store them cheaply, why not flip them? Try using an app like Profit Bandit to scout for Walmart Black Friday deals on products that don’t take too much space.
That’s it from us for now, but please follow this space to make the most of Black Friday & Cyber Monday on Amazon this year. We’ll be focusing on advertising techniques next time. So, make sure you keep up with your competition and stay ahead of the trend with SellerEngine.
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed.