How SMS can help retailers to have a successful Black Friday. Australia Post has released the latest ecommerce figures, and August 2020 was the biggest month ever in Australian online shopping history. Not only did online purchases increase 85.3% compared to August last year, they were also 8.9% higher than the pre-Christmas peak in 2019.
Between March and August 2020, more than 900,000 new households shopped online for the first time, a 35.4% increase YOY. For the 200,000 plus households who shopped online for the first time in April, over two-thirds of them have continued to shop online in recent months, and 25% of them have become regular online shoppers who shopped twice or more per month on average (source).
This suggested that the shift to online shopping might not only be a reaction to the COVID-19 restrictions, but a lasting change in consumer behaviour.
As we enter the last quarter of the year, it is very likely that the record figure in August will get surpassed on the Black Friday weekend. After all, Black Friday 2019 was the biggest trading day in Amazon Australia’s history (source), as well as the biggest online shopping week in Australia’s history (source).
This year, Black Friday falls on 27th November and Cyber Monday on 30th November. While we are hopeful that things will improve in Victoria, every state in Australia and indeed everywhere in the world will be doing Black Friday in the new COVID normal. With social distancing restrictions, travel bans and unforeseeable business closures in place, retailers can expect an even bigger Black Friday weekend in ecommerce than last year as consumers move online to have a safer shopping spree.
In order to help retailers prepare for the possibly most important weekend in 2020, here are some of the content and resources which we feel would be useful for retailers this sales season.
- How to increase online sales – if you are a bricks and mortar store and are struggling with declining footfall, here are some of the things you can do to combat that and increase your online sales.
- 10 online shopping habits that have changed since COVID-19 – this article provides some insights into the trends and consumer behaviours arising in the last couple of months, including behaviours within different age groups, which can help inform your strategies.
- 6 ways retailers can use SMS – while we all know the power of SMS marketing, there are so many more ways SMS can be used during the customer journey, and provide a much better customer experience that could be the key differentiation between you and your competitors.
- 10 sms templates for sales, marketing and promotional offers – if you are short of time or are looking for some inspirations, here are some SMS templates you can easily adapt to suit your Black Friday offers.
- Consider using SMS Landing Pages instead of email to deliver your offer – research indicated that weekly volumes of email campaigns rose from 3,600 to 40,000 during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are still relying on email to deliver your offer, you might need to think again. Find out how SMS Landing Pages can help deliver your offer and provide you a better open rate and conversion rate.
- 3 ways Omnichannel Chat can help retailers benefit from the ecommerce boom post COVID-19 – did you know that 66% of Australian consumers would like the ability to securely text with any business, and 55% said that they are more likely to buy from a company if they could text message them? In light of COVID-19, demand for customer support through different mobile messaging channels has spiked significantly. Omnichannel Chat is a low cost and low touch solution that can help retailers to address the above needs from consumers.
2020 has been a challenging year in so many ways, but we are here to support retailers to make the most of it this Black Friday. Please get in touch via 1300 764 946 or [email protected] if you’d like to know how our different products and solutions can help.
Prachi Bametha
Marketing Coordinator, Esendex Australia