There is Black Friday for normal people and there is Black Friday for Amazon sellers. And believe me, there is a world of difference between the two. If you are selling on Amazon then this is probably the most overwhelming yet profitable time of the year and it can make or break your business. Black Friday is the day after the US holiday Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday is the following Monday. This year, Black Friday falls on November 29th and Cyber Monday falls on December 2nd. Although the biggest shopping days of the year are still weeks away, sellers should start the preparations soon. I have rounded up some tips on Black Friday & Cyber Monday that an Amazon seller will benefit the most from:
Tip #1: Start Early & End Late
You can’t just log into your seller central account after Thanksgiving dinner and just walk away with a bunch of profit on Black Friday. Sellers need to start preparing for the ‘big day’ weeks before, if not months. If you wait till mid-November, you will be late for sending inventories, planning and executing marketing strategies, setting your products up for lightening deals and for earning profits. For everyone, it must be Black Friday, but for Amazon sellers, it is the Black Month. You know how the brick-and-mortar stores start preparing for Christmas much before the holidays. They begin to decorate their stores, give discounts and make every possible move to make their shop look attractive. You also need to do the same with your Amazon store. You don’t want to be the black sheep that gets left behind. Optimize your listings, make EBC, run promotion and increase brand awareness.
And remember, most of the smart sellers have discounts for Black Friday weeks before Black Friday as well as weeks after. It’s not just a matter of one or two days; you want to keep the sales flowing for the full Q4 and not just for one or two days.
Tip #2: Stay In Stock For Cyber Monday As Well
Stock flies off the shelf during these days and the worst thing an Amazon seller can face during this time is to stay out of stock exactly when hundreds of customers are ready with their pockets full of money. Many times it happens that the entire inventory gets sold out during Black Friday and there is nothing left for Cyber Monday. You cannot afford to miss those sales. Leverage last year’s data to predict this year’s potential sales number and stock up your inventory accordingly. If you are an FBA seller, then send inventory to warehouses soon because Amazon may be slow in receiving shipments during the holiday rush. Your inventory should arrive at the fulfillment centers by the start of November. And if you don’t want to risk stocking up too much, then look for a backup supplier and dropship when you need more stock.
Tip #3: Stand Out By Giving Free Shipping
Even during normal days, Amazon is an extremely competitive marketplace, so you can imagine the situation during the holiday season. Sellers make every effort to get an edge over the competitors and most popular amongst them is the Free Shipping strategy. Usually, buyers expect lower prices and free shipping in order to deem the transaction a “great deal,” and they are discouraged if they have to pay extra for shipping the product. Any decision that triggers the negative instincts of the customers equals a lost sale. You don’t want that right now, do you? Usually, buyers lower their prices to a greater extent to stimulate buyer motivation, but fast shipping can work better.
Already had that in mind? Bundle up or cross-sell to increase your sales even more. If you are selling many related on Amazon, then you can bundle them up to increase sales on all the items, this can really make a difference. Also, having bundled products can significantly increase your chances of winning the Buy Box.
Tip #4: Sell What’s Trending
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Q4, in general, is probably not the best time to test and launch “new products” in Amazon. The best and safest thing would be to sell what’s already selling well. Each year, there are a few products like toys, games, clothes and some other popular categories that sell like hotcakes. It’s okay if you don’t make these products a backbone of your line, but it would be smart and profitable to stock up and capitalize on them during the holiday season.
Invest one or two hours of your day in researching new products that are most likely to sell during the holiday season and bring them to your product list. This will – (a) increase the sales of your products because when customer comes to buy the trending products, they might look at your other products too, (b) if you are selling some non-holiday items like screws or car batteries, then it might help you get some extra sales and (c) make customers happy. So it’s a win-win situation for all.
Tip #5: Incorporate Black Friday & Cyber Monday In Your Titles & Bullets
People specifically search for terms like “Black Friday Deals” and “Cyber Monday discounts,” so make sure your title and bullet points and especially your title has those words. Make an exclusive keyword list for such keywords and add them to your title and bullet points prefix. This increases your chances of being seen in front of customers when he/she is searching for deals and discounts for the holidays. Also, this can push the buyer to close the sale now rather than waiting for later. Amazon does not encourage the use of words like “deal” or “sale,” in the copy and if you want strictly follow Amazon’s guidelines, then just use the “Black Friday” & “Cyber Monday.”
You can also create a keyword list consisting of Black Friday & Cyber Monday related keywords and use them for PPC (this is something I do for all my clients during all the big holiday sales). Make a separate campaign with such keywords and add all your hot selling and holiday-related products. I am pretty sure you will see a significant sales jump and an increase in organic ranking as well.
Bonus Tip: Don’t Forget To Shop For Yourself
Remember you are not just an Amazon seller but a human being too 😛 Take a small moment to realize that holidays aren’t just an excellent opportunity to sell products and make sales but to buy something for yourself and your loved ones too (because let’s admit the deals are really un-missable). But this can be done only if you plan everything in advance. Or, we have a better option. You can hire expert Amazon consultants from eStore Factory and let us handle your Amazon store while you enjoy the holidays.
All the best for the holidays, seller.