Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the perfect occasions to increase your sales. How should you best prepare for it? And why these two dates are so important for customers and thus for your online business? Read on to get the answer!

Black Friday and Cyber Monday – what’s the difference?

Black Friday is the day of massive pre-Christmas sales in brick-and-mortar stores, attracting millions of customers worldwide. Marketers and store owners deem it to be the most profitable day of the year. In 2014, customers spent 50.9 billion dollars during Black Friday. The most popular products purchased in this period are laptops, gaming consoles, tablets, smartphones, and video games.

In contrast to Black Friday, Cyber Monday is the first Monday after Thanksgiving with special sales discounts being restricted to online stores. This day, customers prefer to buy clothing, footwear and digital products like video games. It’s also an excellent opportunity for smaller brands that compete with large and well-known brands. Cyber Monday profits are growing steadily every year, having reached 2.68 billion dollars in 2014. Both events are a good opportunity for customers to shop for discounted products ahead of Christmas.

Black Friday and Cyber Monday vs. your business

During Black Friday and Cyber Monday customers join the shopping frenzy, ignoring stores that don’t offer bargains. For this reason, you should be much concerned with your product offering. An impressive product range and abundant stock urge customers to leave their money in your store.

How to prepare for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

A strategic plan for Black Friday and Cyber Monday is what you need to make an impressive sale during these days. First, you should have a decent number of products in stock. Second, make a discount profitable for you and appealing to your customers. You can use the following ideas:
– product bundling (eg. the basic version of the game plus the expansion pack)
– freebies for big orders (eg. extra video games for orders above a certain price);
– vouchers for future purchases.
It’s also a good idea to combine discounts with vouchers. This way, you’ll urge buyers to spend big and perhaps buy with you in the future. And last, but not least, remember to tell your customers about the planned sales at least one day ahead of Black Friday or Cyber Monday.