By
I would like to start this article by asking you a question as a customer and not as someone involved in the e-commerce sector… Don’t you just love it when discounts, offers, and promotions are all around you?
If your answer is yes, then you understand what customers feel in times of online shopping events, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Unfortunately, despite its crucial significance, Cyber Monday does not receive the same attention as Black Friday. In this article, we will delve into Cyber Monday, covering what it is, its benefits for e-commerce stores, and how you can effectively prepare your store for this significant event.
Table of contents:
- What Is Cyber Monday For E-Commerce Stores?
- Statistics About Cyber Monday For E-Commerce Stores.
- Top 5 Benefits Of Cyber Monday For E-Commerce Stores:
- Increases Traffic
- Boosts Sales And Revenues
- Clearance Of Inventory
- Enhancing Customer Acquisition, Retention, And Loyalty
- Provides An Opportunity For Collecting Customer Data And Insights
- Start Early
- Optimize Your E-Commerce Website
- Invest In Mobile Commerce
- Use Email Marketing
- Use Social Media Advertising
- Work With Influencers
- Leverage FOMO Marketing Techniques
- Provide Customer Support
- Differentiate Your Offers
- Use Automation
What Is Cyber Monday For E-Commerce Stores?
Image source: cnet.com
Every year, on the Monday following Thanksgiving, a special event occurs. It is an online shopping event that is significant to the point it is considered one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. This event is called “Cyber Monday.”
So, “Cyber Monday” is a term used to refer to an e-commerce shopping event in which online stores offer huge discounts and promotions on their products or services.
Ever since the term “Cyber Monday” was coined in 2005 by Ellen Davis, President of the National Retail Foundation, its popularity has skyrocketed.
Does this sound familiar to you? Does it remind you of something?... Perhaps, something called “Black Friday”?
Well… “Cyber Monday” and “Black Friday” are all about e-commerce stores offering irresistible deals and substantial discounts. It is normal to get confused between the two events because they usually occur around the same time. However, “Cyber Monday” occurs on the nearest Monday after Thanksgiving, while “Black Friday” occurs on the nearest Friday. So, no need to get confused. It is just an additional opportunity to buy discounted products and services online and save money. Who wouldn’t love that?
This year, “Black Friday” falls on November 24, and “Cyber Monday” is on November 27. Take it from us, you wouldn’t want your e-commerce store to overlook these dates. We will discuss the benefits such events can provide for e-commerce stores in a separate section of this article.
Statistics About Cyber Monday For E-Commerce Stores
If this is your first time learning about Cyber Monday, you might not be able to envision how this event can be as successful as Black Friday is; therefore, we gathered some of the most important statistics that can show you just how significant this event is.
- In 2022, the global online sales of Cyber Monday reached $46.2 Billion, while the global online sales of Black Friday reached $65.3 Billion (Salesforce, 2022). This shows you how close the sales figures of the two events are highlighting their nearly equal significance.
- In 2022, the average Cyber Monday consumer spent between $113 and $147 (Capital One Shopping, 2023). This illustrates how high the Average Order Value is during that time of the year.
- In 2023, it is expected that around 10% of customers will be spending over $1,000, but most consumers won’t be going beyond $600. On Cyber Monday itself, it is expected that 22% of consumers will be spending between $400 and $599. Don’t you wish these dollars would be spent on your products or services?
- In 2023, 86% of customers have it in their plan to buy something on Cyber Monday (Contact Pigeon, 2023). This illustrates the large number of shoppers expecting offers from e-commerce stores this year. Perhaps the customers of YOUR online store are expecting that from you too.
- In 2022, around 59% of online Cyber Monday shoppers used their mobile devices, up from 52% in 2021 (NRF, 2022), which highlights how crucial mobile commerce is.
- In 2022, Cyber Week witnessed a 5% drop in cart abandonment rates. As someone who owns an e-commerce store or works at one, this should be very attractive to you considering that cart abandonment is one of the biggest challenges online stores struggle with.
- It is also worth noting that, during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, Black Friday generated approximately $9 billion in 2020. Cyber Monday surpassed that number by $1.8 billion, reaching an accumulated $10.8 billion worth of purchases (Web Tribunal, 2023). We bet that now you’re starting to realize that Cyber Monday requires as much attention as Black Friday.
Top 5 Benefits Of Cyber Monday For E-Commerce Stores
Just like we promised at the beginning of this article, we are committed to showing you all the benefits that your e-commerce store can get from Cyber Monday.
1- Increases Traffic
On Cyber Monday and throughout Cyber Week, customers browse online stores, looking for the best offers and discounts. Whenever many deals are available, it is in the customers’ nature to browse for a while before deciding which is the best deal to land on. This is your chance. You want your online store to be one of the websites that customers browse through in their hunt for offers.
We understand that the ultimate goal is to increase sales, which we will tackle in the following point. However, you need to broaden your thoughts by accepting that other things are as important as increasing sales. For instance, enhancing the reach and exposure of your e-commerce brand is crucial. More exposure translates to increased visibility, leading to a greater customer base and, consequently, more sales in the long term.
In other words, even if you do not get significant sales on Cyber Monday itself, you will gain visibility that can open doors for you in the future.
2- Boosts Sales And Revenues
Now, let’s discuss the benefit that immediately attracts anyone in the e-commerce sector: boosting sales and revenues.
Often, you may find yourself thinking about how to increase the demand for your products or services. Meanwhile, Cyber Monday comes with an already heightened demand for all kinds of products and services that are on offer. Therefore, we recommend you reallocate your resources. Instead of investing in increasing demand, invest in guaranteeing that this high demand translates into conversions, sales, and revenues.
In the following section of this article, we will give you a few tips on how to prepare your e-commerce store for Cyber Monday so that you can secure more sales.
** Discover 25 Black Friday E-commerce Tips And Tactics To Increase Your Revenue.
Cyber Monday provides you with an opportunity to clear up space in your warehouses so that you can re-stock your products. If you are struggling with overstocking, rest assured that Cyber Monday is your chance to get rid of that problem.
Whether you choose to cut the prices of the products taking up space in your warehouse, bundle them with other products, or offer them as post-purchase gifts, the result will be a well-managed inventory.
In other words, Cyber Monday can prevent the accumulation of overstock, which makes your operations more efficient, optimizes your storage spaces, and protects you from the costs you may incur by holding onto surplus products for extended periods.
4- Enhancing Customer Acquisition, Retention, And Loyalty
As we mentioned in the first point, Cyber Monday can be a good chance to attract website visitors. It will allow you to acquire new customers without incurring additional customer acquisition costs.
However, you should also remember that the deals you offer on Cyber Monday are not just targeting new audiences, but also your current customer base. That automatically translates into enhanced customer retention and loyalty. To demonstrate, offering good deals on Cyber Monday can make your existing customers wonder “Why look in other places when our usual online store is providing us with all these offers?”
The fact that we said that customers tend to browse before choosing the best deal does not contradict the fact that humans generally resist changing what they're accustomed to unless necessary. So, if you are keeping your customers satisfied on Cyber Monday, they will not feel the need to look anywhere else. This will eventually reflect positively on your customer loyalty.
5- Provides An Opportunity For Collecting Customer Data And Insights
Collecting customer data and insights is always a priority for e-commerce stores because, in the online commerce world, customer data is as valuable as gold. Everything relies on data, whether targeting, customizing, personalizing, or any other operation that your store may undertake.
Do you remember when you were a child dressing up on Halloween and trying to gather as much candy as possible? … Well, for your e-commerce store, Cyber Monday is like Halloween, and customer data is like candy.
You would be surprised at what customers would do to get an offer. Registering, creating an account, subscribing to a newsletter, or entering their data on a landing page are among those actions. So, imagine the volume of data you would be getting with the increased traffic we discussed in previous points!
Moreover, analyzing the customers’ shopping patterns and buying behaviors during Cyber Monday can give you insights into how their minds operate during such events, which will help you tailor your offers more effectively in future similar events.
Best 10 Tips On How To Prepare Your E-Commerce Store For Cyber Monday
Now that you know what Cyber Monday is, how important it is, and the benefits your e-commerce store can get from it, it is time we show you how to prepare your e-commerce store for this event. Here are a few useful tips:
1- Start Early
You don’t want to be like the student who starts studying for the first time the night before the exam.
To reap all the benefits we discussed, you must prepare for Cyber Monday well in advance. Dedicating weeks or months to prepare for such an event is worth the effort. That will allow you to plan strategically, ensure technical and logistical readiness, give your marketing campaigns time to achieve their objectives, foster customer engagement, create a competitive advantage, and avoid last-minute challenges or setbacks.
So, before delving into the following tips, bear in mind that you have to start working on them as early as possible to ensure maximum success.
2- Optimize Your E-Commerce Website
Your e-commerce website is EVERYTHING. If you don’t invest in it, what’s the point of investing in anything else? In other words, you can invest all your money in creating the best marketing campaigns and offering the most attractive discounts on earth, yet you may not reap any benefits from Cyber Monday if your e-commerce website is not well optimized.
- Make sure you check your website’s speed and performance to guarantee that it can handle a surge in visitors.
- Make sure the website is clear and easy to navigate.
- Work on making your checkout process as short and simple as possible.
- Offer multiple payment options.
- Invest in strengthening the security of your website to make customers feel safe when providing you with their data.
- Optimize images and graphics on your e-commerce website and use high-quality visuals.
- Optimize the search feature and include filters and sorting options to make it easier for customers to look for what they want.
- Create a special landing page customized for Cyber Monday.
3- Invest In Mobile Commerce
It is no secret that mobile commerce is on the rise. In addition to the statistics provided in this article, you must also know that the mobile commerce market share comprises 73% of total e-commerce (Zippia, 2022).
Therefore, if you want to have a chance at benefiting from Cyber Monday, you need to work on optimizing your e-commerce website for different types of mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. That means our website needs to be responsive, frictionless, and mobile-friendly.
4- Use Email Marketing
Think of email marketing as your kind friend who is always there for you.
Considering that emails are used by almost 50% of the population and that the purchase decision of 59% of customers is influenced by emails, along with numerous other similar statistics, you must leverage email marketing when preparing for Cyber Monday.
Email marketing is one of the best tools you can rely on when promoting Cyber Monday discounts and offers. Use it to send teaser emails, to start countdowns, or to show exclusive sneak peeks of your deals. That builds anticipation, which is very useful in the case of big online shopping events.
We also recommend you consider personalizing your email marketing campaigns to get better results.
** Check out: Top 8 Black Friday Email Marketing Ideas To Maximize Sales
5- Use Social Media Advertising
Social media advertising is another way you could engage with your customers and promote your Cyber Monday deals. Today, social media, with its numerous channels and platforms, provides an extensive reach and has great engagement capabilities that can allow you to reach any audience wherever and whenever you want.
You can utilize social media in many ways, for example, you can launch social media ads, craft engaging organic social media posts, launch attractive contests, or engage with your customers through user-generated content. Whatever you choose to do, social media is capable of making your customers aware of your Cyber Monday offers and ready for them.
6- Work With Influencers
Influencer marketing is another smart move to inform your target audience of your Cyber Monday offers. It is well-known that influencers provide customers with the kind of social proof they need before deciding to make a purchase. By working with influencers before Cyber Monday, you are leveraging their credibility to gain the trust of audiences in your brand and what it has to offer.
7- Leverage FOMO Marketing Techniques
Leveraging FOMO marketing can be a powerful strategy when preparing your e-commerce store for Cyber Monday. FOMO marketing rests on three main pillars: Urgency, Scarcity, and Social Proof. These pillars align very well with the preparation for Cyber Monday.
FOMO marketing techniques you can use while preparing for Cyber Monday include:
- Offering exclusive deals, flash sales, and limited-time offers.
- Using countdown timers.
- Offer early access to Cyber Monday offers for loyal customers (You can do it within a loyalty program).
- Displaying the number of items left in stock.
8- Provide Customer Support
A lot of offers and deals may confuse some customers. Therefore, make sure you are always available for them through a round-the-clock customer support service.
Remember when we said that you should start early because some things cannot be prepared overnight?... Well, your customer support system is one of those things.
You need to spend some time on enhancing your customer support services, and this can be done through:
- Using AI-powered chatbots to take care of customers’ inquiries and provide quick responses.
- Prepare a comprehensive Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section and make sure it includes the expected questions that customers may ask on Cyber Monday.
- Make sure you follow up after Cyber Monday and gather feedback from all your customers.
9- Differentiate Your Offers
Another tip we would like you to know is that differentiating your offers on Cyber Monday is crucial. You don't want to find yourself providing the same deals as everyone else. Instead, aim to make your deals shine in a way that outshines others' offers.
Whether you will be offering exclusive bundles, early access, limited-time offers, personalized products, freebies and gifts, limited-edition products, gamification elements, or something else entirely, ensure it is executed in a creative manner that sets it apart from the competition.
10- Use Automation
Finally, to prepare well for Cyber Monday, you must not distract yourself with tasks that can be automated. Today, many automation tools can make the process a lot easier for you. Converted.in is offering you today a marketing automation tool that can do the following for you:
- Create, personalize, and automate all the email marketing campaigns you will be launching to promote your Cyber Monday deals.
- Launch and automate any social media ads that you will be using to showcase your Cyber Monday offers.
- Gather all the customer data that you will collect on Cyber Monday in one place with a 360-degree view.
Book your demo now and start preparing for Cyber Monday with the help of Converted.in.
