2019 Tambo Seasonal Sales review

Black Friday is over and Cyber Monday begins. The colour of the site changes from orange to green but the deals continue into another week. The Amazon sale season has been longer this year and shoppers have been confused as to when it starts and finishes. Many people we spoke to thought Black Friday was on Friday 23rd of November as this was last year's date and Amazon launched their 'Black Friday Deals Week'. A clever ploy by Amazon.

Black Friday is more competitive this year. Amazon's rivals, especially Argos, have been more prepared and more aggressive. Barely an hour went by without receiving a 'Black Friday Deals' email from a retailer. Furthermore, brands are now carefully orchestrating choosing which days to support retailers, giving exclusivity to their direct sales and reacting quickly to market behaviour.

The most sophisticated brands have developed 'Black Friday War Rooms' where teams huddle every day to audit, analyse and adapt sales strategies.

A survey by Which Magazine stated that most of the Black Friday deals were no better than during the rest of the year. This may be true for the market in general, but for Amazon, the headline deals are unquestionably better. From the experience we've had negotiating Black Friday deals for our clients, Amazon won't accept a promotion that is not better than anything available in 2019 and at least 20% off the RRP.

Early signs are that (for our clients certainly) Black Friday week has again surpassed expectations. In a few cases, we have decided to pull back advertising spend to manage demand and maximise margin. These are early results, we won't know the true impact of the elongated sales period until the holiday season is over in January 2020.

Next year's sales period might be very different again. There is a new threat to Black Friday's Deals Week on the horizon. Singles Day, the Chinese big brother of Black Friday is making a bid to join the global shopping calendar. I'm sure I was not the only person who was surprised to see 'Singles Day' offers hitting our inbox on 11th November. By next year, retailers could be on sale throughout November from Singles Day to Cyber Monday, weakening the effect of any single promotion and making it very difficult for retailers to maintain margin.