Black Friday is finally here, to the delight of consumers and brands. In one of the most important events for consumption around the world, it is important that entrepreneurs, big or small, know the secrets behind the growth of their companies on special dates like this.
To learn a little more about the topic, Adnews has prepared a series of special interviews for this month. In the first one, we talked to Fernando Moulin, Marketing Executive for over 20 years, speaker and professor at ESPM in São Paulo, who shared his view on some very interesting topics related to Black Friday.
Check out the Adnews interview with Fernando Molin:
1- For the first time, the World Cup will happen together with Black Friday. How much should this affect the market and drive sales of specific products, in addition to leveraging promotions and campaigns for this year’s brands?
[FM] “This unprecedented factor has been causing anguish (rs) in all retailers and the industry since the beginning of the year, as it joins several other factors of complexity that occurred during the year 2022: resumption after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, war in Ukraine, high inflation and interest rates, the most polarized election in history… and now the imminence of a new wave of COVID in the coming weeks.
Therefore, the fact is that no one can say exactly what the real effects will be on the market, and there are some “shadows” that could harm the typical results and projections for the Black Friday season.
Me, I’m optimistic. I feel like a consumer who has avoided spending before, to buy their desired products and services at this time of strong promotional appeal and when there are real discounts on multiple offers. I hope that we will have positive results for the sale of electronics (televisions, cell phones, etc.), food retail (mainly beverages, ready-to-eat foods and festive items), as well as in some branches of fashion retail (the recent case of The widespread use of official shirts for the Brazilian team illustrates part of the difficulties of predictability in the management of supply and demand in this period). There should be revenue growth compared to the previous year, discounting price inflation.”
2- About the consumer’s shopping journey and experience, what are the main challenges and next steps to be successful and consistent during Black Friday?
[FM] “Success will depend on excellent and consistent execution in some business strategies, mainly thinking about: consistency in the execution of multichannel offers, integrating “phygital” experiences (physical + digital) for customers; agility and quick reaction power in the face of competitive lightning offers; optimization of
investments and presence in digital media; relevance in social commerce, including but not limited to working with influencers and engagement formats; operational excellence (stable, bug-free digital platforms that stay up during peaks in demand…); simple and efficient customer journeys; cybersecurity for businesses and consumers (a period extremely conducive to digital scams and hacker attacks).”
3- From a marketing point of view, how advantageous is it for brands to extend their promotions for several days or even weeks as seen in recent years?
[FM] “Black Friday, in its early years, brought with it some “pain” that this strategy of extending the promotional period helps to reduce. It was very common for consumers to be in a shopping frenzy during the event weekend, but feel frustrated by the lack of time to evaluate all the possibilities and fulfill their consumption desires in very fleeting periods (not to mention many brands with websites , applications etc. down due to excessive access requests).
Also for companies, it caused an extreme concentration of orders that affected the entire logistical operation of purchase, delivery and relationship, causing frustration and many problems in the after-sales. Additionally, it caused many marketing and media inefficiencies by focusing so much effort and investment in a very short period of time to monetize and maximize returns. Among other factors.
As in recent years, for a large part of retail, Black Friday has become so relevant (or even more so) for revenue that Christmas – and the date has become routine, very well accepted and known by consumers – I believe to be natural and It is very advantageous to extend the promotional period to the entire month of November. More than that, I believe that it is an exaggerated anticipation and that it may eventually mischaracterize the calendar date.”
4- What advice would you give to e-commerce entrepreneurs who want to use Black Friday to boost their business?
[FM] “Only do this if you already have a very well-structured operation and consistent results. Black Friday is the period that typically concentrates the highest volumes transacted in the year in e-commerce and, although this fact seems very tempting to any entrepreneur, the characteristics of strong promotional discounts, high demand and “herd” behavior can affect in a very harmful way for companies and operations that are not very well structured in their marketing, sales, operations and after-sales processes.
A well-done Black Friday can be another excellent billing period for your e-commerce; however, poorly done can represent (depending on the size of the problems) the very death of your business.
Therefore, I recommend planning, caution and a lot of focus on operational excellence and maintaining healthy commercial margins.”
5- Thinking about the digital journey, the new consumer profile has as one of its characteristics the relationship with brands through multiple channels. It is at this point that companies that optimize their digital and physical channels gain an advantage, as customers seek, above all, for experiences. How is this concept in practice and what are the main demands of consumers in their shopping experiences?
[FM] “In fact, omnichannel (full integration of all contact channels around the consumer’s purchase journey, considering the customer in fact at the “center”) is one of the main demands of this consumer in the post-digital world in which we are today. we found inserted.
In practice, it means deeply understanding customers in the most personalized way possible, preparing all journeys to have minimal friction (ideally none), and ensuring that customers have simple, humanized and fluid experiences in any interaction with the brand. through any channel – physical or digital.
Consumers increasingly demand to be treated with respect for their demands and requirements, that their problems and pains be prevented or resolved very quickly, and that companies and their channels simply fulfill and deliver on the brand’s promise of value. Companies that do this with excellence and are able to provide experiences that go beyond, with excellence and engagement, will have a huge differential and will guarantee the loyalty of their customers.”
6- What are the main trends and challenges of e-commerce in the coming years?
[FM] “Some of the main challenges: implementation of omnichannel solutions, customer relevance, integrated media strategies on and offline, financial efficiency and reduced cost of customer acquisition (CAC), operational excellence, personalization at scale, coherent application of innovative solutions based on AI, AR/VR and the like, reduced freight costs and improvements throughout the supply chain.
As main trends, I see social commerce, sales with the help of voice devices (Alexa, Google Assistant), 5G leveraging solutions that improve the user experience based on technologies based on virtual reality, and all e-commerce formats from wearables, super apps, virtual avatars, etc.
I envision alternative realities like the metaverse becoming something more concrete and tangible for the average Brazilian e-commerce user in a period of no less than 3-5 years.”
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The post Black November: Fernando Moulin reveals secrets to succeeding on Black Friday appeared first on DNEWS.
