Offline vs Online: Are you ready to flourish digitally this Black Friday

OFFLINE V ONLINE: ARE YOU READY TO FLOURISH DIGITALLY THIS BLACK FRIDAY?

It’s that time of year again – the time where our hats and gloves are venturing out, the Christmas decorations are going up, and stores are getting ready for their biggest sale of the year – Black Friday.

The annual tradition originates from America, after retailers began to cut prices on a huge range of items to mark the day after Thanksgiving. However, over the years, Black Friday has grown to become a bargain bonanza that’s hugely celebrated worldwide – including the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Mexico, along with many other parts of the world.

The official date of Black Friday is the 29th of November, with reductions carrying on over the weekend in the lead up to Cyber Monday, taking place on the 2nd December.

However, in the attempt to stay ahead of their competitors, a number of major brands have started their sale on the Monday before the big event (25th November), with retail giant Amazon, boasting incredible deals since last Friday (a whole week prior to the official date). Some US retailers have even had their sale going on longer than DFS – with bargains up for grabs since Singles’ Day, which took place on the 11th November. 

Televisions… phones… clothes… furniture… jewellery – the eminent weekend will see deals on all kinds of items. However, with limited stock available at such jaw-dropping prices, it’s no wonder the day is typically renowned for frenzied customers dashing through shops to bag the best bargain.

It’s probably why so many shoppers are now choosing to trawl the internet for the best deal from the comfort of their bed, compared to getting up early and braving the frantic crowds on the high street.

ECOMMERCE IS BOOMING

In 2018, purchases made in store dropped as much as 9% in comparison to 2017, whereas online sales were up 26.4%, according to Adobe Systems.

However, it’s mobile shopping that has firmly established itself as the new normal, taking 66% of online sales from Shopify merchants, versus 34% on desktop during BFCM (Shopify, 2018).

In fact, e-commerce, or more specifically m-commerce, is undeniably thriving in general – so much so that the traditional store experience doesn’t even stand a chance anymore.

However, despite this digital dominance in recent years, online retailers have countless concerns, especially as we approach the year’s biggest days in business.

In todays, time-conscious and convenient-driven marketplace, customers are not only on the lookout for the best bargains, but also the quickest and easiest method of purchase. Therefore, if the checkout seems complicated, friction-focussed or time-consuming, they’ll simply move onto the next offer, and potentially, your competitor.

On top of this, there’s also implications such as deliverability, erroneous payments and bogus registrations to prepare for.

SO HOW CAN YOU GET ONLINE READY?

Here at Data8, we have a suite of award-winning tools to help you create a speedy, secure and smooth shopping experience, while attaining your biggest ROI yet.

Using cutting-edge technology, our Eircode Verification, Address Validation and Postcode Lookup tools intelligently predict, standardise and complete all necessary fields in minimum keystrokes. In fact, it has proven to speed up data entry by up to 80-percent, therefore streamlining the checkout process, reducing cart abandonment, and ensuring efficient worldwide deliverability post-purchase.

Combine this with our real-time phone and email validation solutions, and you’ll quickly capture verified, active customer contact details at point of entry. That way, you’ll reduce the risk of a mistyped key becoming a missed opportunity, you’ll save time and money contacting invalid records, and you’ll boost conversions with continued customer service and marketing efforts. But that’s just the start – to learn more, check out our recent blog on ‘5 reasons you need email validation’.

The best part? We’ll get you set up and running within minutes, providing unmatched support from our expert team for your complete data journey. And as proud leaders in data quality, we work with a huge range of shopping cart integrations, including Magento, Opencart, Prestashop, Woocommerce, Shopify Plus and many more.

To discover the benefits for yourself, organise a demo with our expert team for a time and date that suits you – or why not sign up for a free 14 day trial?

Oh, and don’t forget to tell us how you’ll be spending Black Friday this year! Whether you’ll be scanning the work computer on your lunch break, hunting for bargains on your couch at home, being brave and hitting the shops, or avoiding the madness altogether, we can’t wait to hear what you’re up to.

Let us know by leaving a comment below, and find out what your friends are doing by sharing our blog on social media.