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We’ve all seen the outrageous news stories covering Black Friday. Complete with fights breaking out, tug-o-war battles over flatscreen TVs, lines wrapping around the block, generally horrible behavior from middle-aged adults, and of course people getting trampled over some deals on blenders.
For those of you living under a rock, Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving and the day with the best deals on almost any product you can think of; from toothbrushes to SUVs.
The day after Thanksgiving as the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season may be linked together with the idea of Santa Claus parades. These parades began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and have almost always been sponsored by or affiliated with department stores. Most recently, the main event surrounding Turkey day is the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
Of course, before the internet, the mad dash to get the best deals was all done in person. Sometimes shoppers would want to get the best Christmas gifts, but in many cases, people were found to be buying relatively mundane everyday products. I mean, why not? They were cheaper.
So, for decades, people would finish their turkey and stuffing leftovers, get up super early, and head down to the local department store on that Friday right after Thanksgiving. But the deals that previously were only available in person are now available at the click of a button in the modern age.
Enter Cyber Monday. Skip the line and waking up to camp out in the freezing cold waiting for the store to open. Just log on to your laptop and click away. The term ‘Cyber Monday’ was coined by Ellen Davis of the National Retail Federation and Scott Silverman, and made its debut on November 28, 2005, in a Shop.org press release entitled “‘Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year”.
Rowland Hazard, Account Director at Advertise Purple, had the following to say about how we prepare our clients for this incredibly busy time; especially now with e-commerce being such a key element to people’s shopping plans leading up to the holidays:
“For many of our clients at Advertise Purple Black Friday and Cyber Monday represent the culmination of a year’s worth of marketing efforts to drive brand awareness and recognition.”
There’s not much you can do to just flip a switch and have a successful Black Friday or Cyber Monday if you haven’t put in the leg work required to create a great e-commerce experience prior to that.
It’s like going straight to the playoffs without racking up wins in the regular season. Even if you have a great product or team, you won’t be ready for big time without having a system that works.
Rowland continued, “We’re working extremely closely with clients throughout our entire management process to better understand their goals and to test different optimization opportunities and pricing strategies in preparation for the holiday season.”
The amount of data we’ve leveraged working with our clients leading up to the big shopping days informs our strategy.
Rowland adds, “Planning begins in our third quarter when we aggregate and organize placement opportunities across all our affiliate partnerships. We then begin an intensive strategy period where we work with our clients to identify placements and promotional packages to pursue during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.”
Keep in mind, at Advertise Purple there are both analysts and account managers attached to every single account we work on. So key performance indicator (KPI) numbers are communicated and optimized for throughout the year. We also have projections that are normally accurate so our clients are aware of how they’re doing.
We also have an account team of experts who are accessible around the clock to discuss changes to clients’ programs.
“As we approach the final two weeks leading up the two biggest shopping days in all of e-commerce the entire team is working overtime to get deals set up, deliver assets, communicate with top performing affiliates, and identifying last minute incremental opportunities. By the time Black Friday hits 90% of the work has been completed but we continue to maintain and open line of communication with our clients and monitor activity on all affiliate networks to ensure everything works seamlessly.”
Advertise Purple has been around for a decade of Black Fridays, and while the space may have changed, our approach has not. Sure, there are challenges when preparing for this huge shopping period, but rest assured if you are working with us, you’ll get the best affiliate strategy possible.
So, have a great Thanksgiving! Watch some football (or not), eat some turkey (also or not) and enjoy your family (I think it goes without saying, or not). Have a great Black Friday and Cyber Monday!
