How to promote your products during BFCM 2021?

Is your mobile app ready?

Have you optimized the landing page?

What about your hosting provider?

When was the last time you checked your inventory?

How much are you relying on social media?

You need to ask yourself these questions now.

After all, it is that time of the year again; the biggest shopping weekend on the planet is just a stone's throw away. And, if you haven't yet started the prep works for the most important days of the e-commerce world, stop what you are doing now and start planning for it, unless you want to play catch up to your competitors.

The holiday season represents a goldmine of opportunities for e-commerce businesses. Then again, it is also dictated by intense competition. Black Friday and Cyber Monday, collectively known as BFCM, is the weekend sale event that promises maximum returns for online sellers.

But last year sparked a sudden change in customer behavior. In a pandemic-stricken market, a huge chunk of the customers decided to take their holiday shopping online. This led to more players emerging, elevating the competition even further.

This year will be no different; with the threat of the COVID-19 pandemic refusing to go away and with the majority of the world population yet to be fully vaccinated, BFCM will be no less than sales madness for both the customers and e-commerce businesses. So as a seller, how can you cope with this tremendous pressure and promote your products during BFCM? Let's find out.

Product bundling

Product bundling is one of the most effective strategies to promote your products. By curating a collection of complementary products, you can catch the attention of your customers easily. On top of that, it creates upselling and cross-selling opportunities, which are priceless during BFCM.

Also, product bundling increases your online store's average order value and boosts sales while helping you manage the surplus stock present in your inventory. There are mainly two types of product bundles:

Pure bundle: It features products that are sold exclusively coming in one package. It allows the customer to purchase the bundle at a lower price while purchasing them individually would have costed more

Mixed bundle: Extremely flexible, mixed bundles can include a wide variety of items that are otherwise sold separately. It offers an additional perceived value to the customers, thereby helping you control your inventory conveniently.

Use the power of social media

Social media is an immensely powerful marketing tool. Be it Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or any other form of social media, average consumption has spiked up ever since the pandemic outbreak. It is only going to increase even more during the holiday season and especially during the BFCM weekend.

You must use various social media channels to communicate with your customers about your BFCM campaign. By creating and uploading posts on new arrivals, the latest trends, exclusive deals, or limited-time discounts, you can draw the attention of your customers and take them to your mobile app or website. Facebook ads are a good option for sellers looking to advertise their products during the BFCM as their robust features will help you reach a more significant number of targeted users.

Offer Hourly deals

Hourly deals are an essential part of any holiday sale. It will increase the online traffic for your e-commerce store by creating a sense of urgency in your customers' minds. These special deals will pique the customers' curiosity as they will feel it will be lost forever if they miss out on it. You should also find the right time to offer these deals. Quite often, it is ideal to offer the best deals at a time when your online traffic is low.  

However, for hourly deals to positively impact your BFCM sale, you need to get your customers engaged. You must communicate with them about the hourly deals through banners, email reminders, and social media so that they are prepared to cash in when the time comes.

Free gift

Who doesn't love a gift? Holidays are a time of goodwill and expressing appreciation. You can show your appreciation by offering a small gift to your customers at checkout during the BFCM sale. The gift item can be something useful or complementary to the customer's purchased product or something that you are trying to promote through your online store. You can also opt to gift your customers with vouchers or gift cards, which they can use at a later point.

Online store Sugarbones' BFCM campaigns are pretty unique. By gifting a mystery box of bonus items in the form of stickers or miniature art prints, Sugarbones has managed to build a fun and exciting BFCM campaign and clear its inventory of older items simultaneously.

Extend your sale period

If you have the necessary inventory and logistics support, you can always opt to extend your sale period post-BFCM. Black Friday and Cyber Monday bring in massive attraction and online traffic to your store. And, if your customers are waiting to get a good deal for their wishlist items, you can help them by extending your sale period and offering additional discounts.

Also, some customers who might have received gift cards or vouchers will get a chance to use them to get a discount deal during this extended sale period. It will help you promote your products better and give you a competitive edge over your competitors in terms of sales.

Multiply the channels

Remember – BFCM is the time when people are everywhere for their shopping needs. As a business, you need to be present wherever your customers are. In this mobile-dominated world, it is a no-brainer that you have to have a responsive website and a native app for your store. If you don’t have one, build it before the BFCM sale starts. And you don’t need hundreds of developers to build an app today. All that you need is a few hours of your time to tailor the perfect app for your online store. This is made possible through the instant app factory Vajro which accelerates your app-building process from months to just hours. Want to know more about Vajro? Contact us now.

Summary

BFCM sale weekend can be daunting, but it is also exciting at the same time. If the last year taught us something, it’s that we should not take BFCM lightly. You need to have a clear outline of your campaign. You should prepare your homepage, landing pages, and you should also review your inventory consistently. Be proactive, follow our guidelines, witness your sales skyrocket, experience a truly eventful BFCM.