Plan for a very different Black Friday this year

After betting the ranch on Black Friday 2021, local brands are taking a much more pragmatic approach to the retail holiday this year, choosing to play the long game with better planning and a more niched focus. But, with inflationary pressures and a more selective consumer, SA retailers will have to fight for every sale. Digital marketing specialist Incubeta shares how local companies are preparing for Black Friday 2022 with six insights to help brands navigate the sale days ahead.  

“Last year we saw brands throwing everything they had at Black Friday, with the possibly naive expectation that the retail holiday would pull them out of the pandemic slowdown,” says Chelsea Owens, business unit director at Incubeta.

“This year, brands have woken up to the fact that they can’t all compete on the same day and are approaching the end-of-year trade in a more incremental fashion, pacing themselves over a longer period. We are also seeing brands being a lot more critical of what they have going for them, beginning their planning well in advance and making the most of smaller budgets.”

Calvin van Rensburg, media and platform consultant at Incubeta, says brands are likely to be more cautious this year in light of all the market uncertainty. “Lower disposable income and a general fear of the unknown is taking its toll. Global energy costs are already inflating prices and will, of course, add to delivery costs. All of this is squeezing margins and brands will have to apply every value-add they can to lure customers.”    

Their advice to brands as they finalise their plans for Black Friday 2022 is to recognise that consumers are more aware of brand trickery. With tighter purses going into Black Friday, brands must expect a more savvy consumer to know if they are offering meaningful savings.

Whatever they do, brands should not try to get away with bumping prices in the weeks ahead of sale days to make the savings look bigger on the day. Many consumers have a long-standing wish list and have been tracking products across retailers in anticipation of Black Friday. Any disingenuous price manipulations will be exposed and could end up costing brands dearly. 

Similarly, consumers should adjust their expectations. Most brands won’t be discounting their latest and greatest products, but rather looking to shift older stock ahead of the festive season. Brands are keenly aware of minimising slow-moving stock. 

Brands that understand just how tight budgets are and offer the option to buy using loyalty points such as Discovery Miles and eBucks are likely to win big. 

In the same vein, having buy now, pay later (BNPL) options at checkout will really count, especially to move big-ticket items and to encourage shoppers to load up their baskets. 

Another consideration when choosing what to mark down, and by how much, is to remember that many South Africans will have spent a good deal of disposable income buying generators or other solutions to mitigate the effects of load-shedding. This may well affect shoppers’ appetite for big-ticket items. 

People will be doing their festive season shopping early this year. Not just because they are being frugal and will be planning well in advance, but South Africans are expecting to travel again this year and so they will be looking to buy and have their gifts delivered before they leave on their December holidays. Retailers need to bear this in mind when splitting their inventory and efforts between Black Friday and festive season sales.  

Owens says that while it may be too late for big digital architectural changes, there are still tweaks to drive performance that can be made between now and November.  

“Many brands are sitting on gold mines of first-party data that they may not have loaded into a digital channel. Get ahead of the game and upload your first-party audiences before Black Friday to [learn lessons] ahead of time. Ultimately, you want to see how users perform and respond, and then tweak your messaging to find the perfect iteration and combination for your Black Friday campaign,” she says. 

As a final piece of practical advice for all retailers, Van Rensburg says: “Brands must have clear, measurable goals going into Black Friday. They should maximise their value-adds in addition to excellent prices. Consumers are looking for free shipping, rapid delivery, flexi payment options, voucher savings, bundled deals and other wins which will influence who they choose to support.”

The big take-out: Brands must have clear measurable goals going into Black Friday.