How Shopify stores can prepare for BFCM
Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is one of the most awaited holiday shopping seasons. Black Friday takes place every end of November, the Friday after Thanksgiving while Cyber Monday falls on the Monday after Black Friday. During BFCM, almost all stores offer huge discounts to attract customers. Some stores would even extend their sales throughout the entire month of November proclaiming it to be “Black November” in order to reap massive profits.
Beyond the shadow of a doubt, BFCM in 2020 is going to be a lot more different from the other years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing and isolation have become the new normal. With measures taken to reduce the spread of this outbreak, the shift to online shopping has accelerated as most people do not want to be exposed to crowds.
Here are several ways Shopify store owners can prepare to make the best of BFCM this year.
- Check Product Inventory
Inventory management can appear to be troublesome especially during major events or shopping season such as BFCM. As a merchant, it is pivotal to identify and keep the inventory count up to date. This is to avoid backorders or overselling. All things considered, visual inspection and manual updates are unfeasible, especially during BFCM. Backorder and overselling tend to happen. When the demand exceeds the supply due to poor inventory management, the sales can be impacted drastically resulting in loss of customers.
One of the common solutions is to request the customer's email and extending the discount to those who want to purchase the sold-out item. The purpose of this is to maintain a good rapport with the customers. However, to avoid this problem from creating too much inconvenience, strain, and labor, merchants can use Stock Sync to keep their inventory updated.
Stock Sync allows merchants to schedule their updates hourly or daily. Hence, the inventory will be updated automatically at a specified time. What is more, Stock Sync can read diverse file formats, for instance, CSV, XML, XLS, XLSX, EDI, .TXT, HTML, JSON and even compressed files such as .zip and .gz. On top of that, Stock Sync comprises of another additional feature, namely, Quantity Rules that help merchants to manage their inventory effortlessly. By using Quantity Rules, merchants can custom the number of products to avoid overselling.
2. Consider Product Trends
Also, during BFCM this year, it is imperative to review and think through product trends. Merchants need to be able to offer products that are of high demand, taking into consideration the pandemic that has taken place. There are certain categories of products that are completely set aside this year as it is deemed to be insignificant such as travel items and bags. On the other hand, there are also other categories of products that became extremely popular in the last few months such as household essentials, gaming equipment, fitness equipment, etc. This implies that merchants need to add products that are high on demand into their list to maximize sales. This can be accomplished by using Stock Sync. Stock Sync enables merchants to add and highlight products on demand by using the filter option. With the filter option, merchants can group all the trending products into one category which makes it more noticeable by customers that are visiting the online store. This creates an overall pleasant experience for customers as Stock Sync facilitates effective website navigation.
3. Create irresistible BFCM offers
Last in order but not of importance, merchants need to create irresistible offers during BFCM. There are many types of offers and discounts that are enticing to customers such as member-exclusive rewards, free shipping, a percentage discount, a multi-buy offer, and a value-based discount. One way to increase the number of sales without decreasing the profit margin is to bundle multiple products and offer discounts as a package instead of offering discounts on a single product. This will certainly create a lot of hassle, especially during BFCM as merchants need to update the price of the product one after another. After the sales are over, merchants need to update the price of their products once again. This problem can be resolved by using one of Stock Sync’s features known as the Price Condition. By using Price Condition, merchants can add multiple price conditions from a variety of price ranges. Merchants can also manipulate the price of the products in their store with just a single update.
To conclude, priorities had changed and as one would expect, the shopping behavior had also changed. Most people are depending on online stores to get their shopping done. Therefore, merchants need to pay close attention to the customers’ needs amid this pandemic. To maximize sales this BFCM, merchants need to constantly check and update their inventory, monitor product trends, and create irresistible offers. No doubt it is the busiest time of the year, but is it vital for merchants to provide a good shopping experience for customers. By that being said, customers will be inclined to keep buying from the same store even after the sales are over.
Stock Sync is changing the game for e-commerce inventory management. With a huge number of integrations, your e-commerce store can now sync stock from various suppliers and sources such as Etsy, Walmart, eBay and more. Your intelligent Stock Sync app gets all your stock nicely fitted into format and you can even set it to automatically download latest stock items from your suppliers via download links. There are plenty of other features and functions that you shouldn’t miss out on as well. Head on over to the Stock Sync website to get your online shop synced up with the future.
