Black Friday/Cyber Monday – the dreaded Peak that can hold both opportunity and fear in equal measure for brands and retailers across the world.
The last 3 months of the year is the busiest time for most businesses. With the Black Friday sales and the run up to Christmas, people are buying more products and spending more money. This increase in demand has to be prepared for by retailers and suppliers alike, whose production and distribution needs to be in line with demand in order to maximise sales, profit and revenue, whilst increasing customer satisfaction.
These plans are often informed not only by individual business’ performance of previous peaks and throughout the year, but also by market trends and averages, and predictions of how this peak period will go.
The predictions for this peak generally state that it will be bigger than last year – UK consumers plan to spend 21% more this peak than they did last peak, and searches for ‘when is Black Friday’ are up 22% this year compared to last year.
In terms of sectors, the cosmetics industry is expected to have a big peak, as interest in cosmetics products has gone up 22% this year. This is likely to be amplified by social commerce platforms such as TikTok Shop, as 62% of 18-24 year olds are likely to use this platform, and 80% of the platform’s sales are of cosmetics products, of which one sells every 2 seconds on the platform.
For the toys industry, interest in discounted sales of toys products has also increased by 22%, which suggests that people may be waiting for Black Friday to buy toys products, which could lead to a large spike.
Not only is this data important for ensuring businesses can meet demand during peak season, data centred around customers’ shopping habits will also allow businesses to meet customers’ expectations and increase their loyalty. 59% of UK consumers prefer a hybrid shopping experience – your customers are looking for a multichannel experience, with a mix of online shopping for small products and in-store shopping for larger products. As well as this, 25% of shoppers say they wait for a big sale before beginning their holiday shopping, and 50% say that discounts are the best way to increase their loyalty to a brand.
In conclusion, this year’s peak will see consumers spending more money than last year, and demand seems to be increasing this year for discounts and sales, particularly in the toys and cosmetics industries. A multichannel experience is in high demand from shoppers, and offering more discounts will increase their loyalty to your brand and increase the likelihood of repeat purchases. Planning for this increase in demand will be essential – having a third party logistics partner who can assist you with planning and forecasting, and provide expert multichannel logistics services to your brand to allow you to provide your customers with a hybrid shopping experience seamlessly – will unlock huge growth for your business, particularly during peak.
If you’re looking for a partner with this expertise, talk to Staci.