Missed the recording?
Commerce has changed dramatically as 2020 forces 10 years of commerce evolution in a matter of months. In-person selling has been flipped on its head as consumer’s buying behaviours have all changed. Black Friday Cyber Monday 2020 is not cancelled, just different.
The focus for the final Brisbane Shopify Meetup event for 2020 was, you guessed it – Black Friday Cyber Monday and how brands can get the most out of what they’ve learnt this year, while dealing with the new normal. With a line up of speakers featuring Amy Zobec from Shopify Plus, Lucinda Bauermeister from Facebook and Instagram and Daniel Peacock from Skinmart and GLO Skin Body, the morning was packed with valuable insights and takeaways for the Shopify & eCommerce community.
77% of consumers will shop online,
instead of in store
Although restrictions are starting to ease, buyers are conditioned to new buying behaviours with 86% of Shopify’s merchants expecting a year-on-year growth for online sales and expect 95% of consumers to make their purchases online.
Not sure where to start? Take a look at our latest tips and tricks or even chat with a Reload Digital Strategist!
Amy Zobec from Shopify Plus shares her top two trends that will impact 2020 BFCM
Shopping early
Driven by fear of returning to retail stores, Google’s research shows that 80% of consumers will do additional planning and research online prior to committing to purchase. This has also contributed to the noticeable trend in increased cart abandonment “which we believe is from people waiting for sales and deals”, Amy states.
Value over price
Amy emphasised the fact that merchants shouldn’t discount for the sake of it. Authenticity is a key differentiator for the 2020 BFCM with consumer’s priorities changing to align with things they value most. Merchants were prompted to think about what their audiences value most and how can this be leveraged. Amy provided some great examples which included:
VIP Access
Is there a way to give value to your VIP customers. Have low stock numbers? Offer these within a separate sale to VIP groups only.
Create moments of delight
Think outside the box. Can you offer something of more value like a charitable donation or an ethical discount for environmentally sustainable products.
Gift with Purchase
Based on stock levels, consider offering a gift with purchase that can create a meaningful experience with your customer. This will also increase your average order value on your store throughout this season without just giving a blanket discount.
Discounts
Consider bundling dead or dying stock as a ‘Buy the look’ campaign. Bogos (Buy one get one free) have also been found to be extremely successful allowing merchants to move dead stock.
Time discounts
Time discounts can promote urgency and encourage consumers to get in quickly. Be sure to be transparent with these offers so consumers don’t purchase quickly to then find out if they waited they could have received a better deal.
Lucinda Beaumeister, Client Solutions Manager from Facebook & Instagram supported the notion to start your campaigns early.
Lucinda explains that by going early, you can get ahead of the pack and capture consumers’ share of wallet before your competitors. Unlike Google who is an intent platform, Facebook and Instagram are discovery platforms, meaning it’s much easier to inspire an unintentional purchase or trigger a subconscious need for your product early.
When researched further, we found that statista states that 43% of global shoppers research products online via social media. This demonstrates the importance of a tailored social media strategy with the following points to consider:
Scheduling
Consider how long it will take you to set up a campaign, ads sets and ads. You could be delayed due to your creative not functioning, your ads are stuck in review or everything is pending or in a long learning stage. Review time can take up to 6hours so ensure everything is completed at minimum 24hours before you want to go live.
Machine learning & targeting
Lucinda reminds us that machines are smarter than people and recommends always using broad audiences and letting the platform optimise towards the strongest converting audience they find. This will allow you to find new audiences and will also lower your CPA as stricker targeting can mean smaller and more competitive audiences.
Creative
After a certain point of growth, many performance marketers find themselves hitting a ceiling. Going in search of a new audience can help inspire a new creative approach, launch a new product, or ultimately fight revenue plateau. Even try playing around with asset formatting which allows you to tailor your creative to feeds, stories, story experiences, carousels and more.
Daniel Peakcock, Owner and Director of GLO SKIN BODY and SKINMART shares their success story and what their business priorities are for BFCM
Automation
Automate everything that doesn’t involve touching a client. This allows you to spend your time focusing on the client as much as possible and what they value most. Automation tools are available for everything from managing finances, order receipts, emails, batch processing and much more. Additionally, this has allowed both businesses to scale and grow to the scale it is today. During lockdown sales in March tripled, as having an automated process allowed the business to easily adapt to demand with time then being invested to increase client engagement and experience with the brand.
Invest in lifetime clients
Invest in lifetime clients by focusing on longevity and adding value to a person’s life. Think about what they would appreciate that will encourage them to return to your store. With both businesses we have found that offering personalised consultations through video has helped us excel particularly through the pandemic resulting in a 34% repurchase rate.
That’s a wrap on Brisbane Shopify Meetups for 2020! You can check out the slides from the event below. We’ll be back in 2021 with more speakers, business insights and hopefully networking opportunities for the ecommerce community. Make sure you’re following @Reload_Media on Twitter or join our group on Meetup.com to stay in the loop for future events!
