Black Friday vs. Personalization

Black Friday is one of the shopping events that strongly drives sales. We are used to reading information about subsequent sales records. Analyzes of customers served on this most famous November weekend have no end, and the portals, as every year, announce the success of all sellers in the world. However, we forget that black has different shades. I want to remind you of its darker tones.

High advertising costs and lack of advertising slots

Competition between companies is constantly driving up advertising prices. Auction models, regardless of the method of settlement (CPM or CPA) with the business, always choose the highest bid. The culmination of this pumping of prices is the period leading up to Black Friday, which will last until Christmas. On the other hand, static placements are booked in bulk well in advance by Media Houses, which in practice are not available to most medium and smaller advertisers.

Lower ad efficiency

Users are bombarded with a huge amount of offers. Sellers compete in the number of discounts and other incentives that allow them to attract attention by not always offering the most interesting product at a discounted price. The number of impressions, but also clicks, due to the constant comparison of prices, increases without translating into real sales.

Logistics troubles and costs of maintaining the quality of deliveries at the appropriate level

Accumulation of orders in such a short period affects the quality and speed of their service. Although logistics services are generally scalable, the simultaneous increase in the movement of goods from many (if not all) e-commerce affects the functioning of deliveries, especially on the last mile.?

Returns

Shopping madness usually means that a large part (much larger than usual) of products will be returned after a moment's thought as more expensive, missed or sometimes used once. In addition to the cost of handling returns, often in the case of popular products, shortages may appear due to click & collect bookings that will not result in a sale.

Depreciating a product or brand

Cheap, cheaper, the cheapest… If we discount so much, maybe the product is worth much less than its regular price. Selling only at discounts is one of the worst scenarios that we can treat ourselves. Customers will quickly discover when to postpone shopping to wait for the next discount.

Ecology (sustainable economy)

Minimization of unnecessary consumption, reusability of products, and closed circulation reduce demand. Making, purchasing needs result from the actual shortage rather than a whim or the will to possess. This means that customers buy not only what they need, but also when they really use it.

So, is there an alternative? What in exchange?

The solution seems to be very simple, just at your fingertips. It is enough for every (not only Black Friday) sales peak to be flattened or stretched. Offer your customers lots of Yellow Tuesdays, Blue Thursdays and Orange Fridays (because Orange is a new Black ??). Moreover, each customer should celebrate their shopping holiday individually because each of them is unique and the needs of each of them are different.

Personalization 365 days a year

A personalization that will build a shopping celebration for each customer whenever they need it. Having the knowledge about the customer gathered in CDP, we can create a separate individual experience path for each of them, using CDP, leading him from purchase to purchase at a pace that determines his needs and business expectations expressed, for example, through CLTV. This experience will be built by...?

Prediction of pre-purchase behavior and propensity to buy

Recognition of the stage at which the user is present is a key element of the entire process. Each subsequent step, point of contact with e-commerce should push it towards transactions, building a positive network of experiences.

Personalized communication

Channel, delivery time and content, all these elements individually selected for each user, should facilitate the transfer of information about the product so that the consumption of information is effective.

Personalized offer (recommendations)

The presentation of the product, the one best suited to individual customer expectations, is a key element. With additional features that allow you to modify the ranking of products by marketer assumptions, take personalization to the next higher level.

Personalized promotions

For selected products and only when they have a chance to accelerate sales.

How to turn theory into practice and build a personalized world for each client, 365 days a year? It is best to use working and bringing tangible benefits use cases that I have placed above. This is for beginners. More examples that address over 200 unique business needs can be found here. How next year's November will look depends only on you ??

Dominik Krolikowski , Business Value Services Director