Cyber Monday refers to the Monday after the Thanksgiving holiday, which is a 24-hour online shopping event generally observed in the United States.

Given the current global circumstances, people are preferring to shop online rather than shopping from brick-and-mortar stores during the Black Friday sale. Cyber Monday has continued to play a crucial role in the success story of holiday shopping. Cyber Monday is touted to be the biggest online shopping day of the year in the US and presents a massive opportunity for eCommerce retailers. 

Although traditionally brick and mortar stores focused on Black Friday sales, more and more consumers are leaning towards shopping online and the concept of Black Friday being the kick-off to the holiday season is gradually changing. As consumer behaviour evolves coupled with the global pandemic, online shopping has become the go-to medium for a majority of buyers. The period from Black Friday to Cyber Monday is now referred to as the ‘Cyber weekend’, with discounts getting steeper as time progresses.

As an online business, you simply cannot miss the opportunity to capture buyer attention during this crucial period. As an eCommerce store, you need to prepare your store to handle the high traffic influx and fulfil customer orders successfully during the Cyber Monday sale. Here’s our guide to successfully leveraging the holiday season and gaining profits:

Review your marketing strategy

Create an online momentum around your brand and products in the online space to keep the buzz going about the upcoming sale. This will help in maximizing profits during the sale as your intended audience is already aware and excited about the upcoming offers on your site. Based on insights gathered over the past years, create a strategy that works best for your business. Marketing successfully can bring in heaps of benefits for the brand during the actual sale period. It can be achieved through various techniques like:

  • Starting an email marketing campaign
  • Going live on Facebook or Instagram
  • Tying up with Instagram influencers who match your niche
  • Sharing teasers of offers on social media channels
  • Reworking on the content of the website and coming up with exciting blogs and articles to amp up the hype
  • Carrying out a paid search ad campaign

Increase ad spending

This is the time to go all-out with your media budget and spend judiciously to create the right buzz around your brand. There is huge competition in the market around this time with every retailer vying for elusive customer attention. To compete in the online world, businesses need to conduct thorough keyword research to find the opportunities and attract the right audience for their brand. Increase your ad spending budget to successfully capitalize on your digital strategy. This is the perfect opportunity to grab audience attention and convert it to a successful sale that should not be missed by any online retailer during the Cyber Monday sale. Design a strategy that utilizes your budget successfully and get to the task well before the sale is live to generate the right market buzz.

Optimize for mobile

The share of mCommerce in all e-commerce is expected to rise to 72.9% by 2021.

The growth of mobile shoppers over the years is only increasing and missing to capture on this audience can cost heavily to online retailers. Before the sale is live, ensure that your website looks great and works seamlessly on mobile to successfully cater to the online audience. Your site must be user-friendly, responsive, and provide an enjoyable shopping experience. Run a mobile compatibility test, check for slow-loading pages and optimize accordingly to not face any issues during crunch time. Mobile optimization issues during the sale can potentially lead to a disgruntled audience and thereby low sales.

Set your site for the Cyber Monday rush

The traffic for the Cyber Monday sale can be immense and your website should be adept in handling this influx of traffic. Optimize site performance and usability for running a successful online shopping campaign. With huge competition in the market, shoppers won’t have the patience to deal with long loading times, unresponsive pages, or clumsy site design. Collaborate with your IT team to ensure that your site can handle the traffic rush. Have contingency plans in action in preparation for the Cyber Monday rush and meet any last-minute hiccups. Put your Cyber Monday specials on the home page for the seamless experience of your customers and quick buys.

Figure out your logistics

Whether you’re operating a small business or a large business, your inventory, warehousing, or shipping capabilities need to be on point. Get your team together to create specific strategies to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of your entire process. Your entire booking to packing strategy should be flawless so that the packages get shipped on time without compromising on packing quality or date of delivery. If your logistics are faulty, you’re likely to earn a bad reputation in the market and few takers for your products in the long run. Therefore, ensure that you have well-trained workers in place to get these packages packed properly and shipped out in time.

 Create a seamless checkout process

A faulty or lengthy checkout process is the most cited reason for cart abandonment. The entire strategy and prep can go in vain if you don’t have a seamless and easy checkout process for buyers. It is one of the biggest factors that can make your Cyber Monday sale a success. To ensure a seamless checkout process:

  • Help people complete purchases without registration
  • Allow order modifications
  • Offer multiple payment options
  • Upsell or cross-sell before checkout
  • Remove unnecessary fields
  • Make the process mobile-friendly
  • Provide live chat options to sort out any last-minute hiccups that customers face

Failing to plan for the big event can mean a certain loss for your business while others witness a boom in sales. Cyber Monday is a huge shopping event that people look forward to spending and splurging. A bit of planning, ingenuity, brainstorming, and attention to detail can gear you up for success. You can also conduct a trial run before the sale to ensure that your entire process is on track. Therefore, ensure that your online store is all ready and geared up for the big Cyber Monday sale!