E-Commerce Websites and Black Friday – Lessons for 2016

Another Black Friday has been and gone, with some companies laughing all the way to the bank and others left scratching their heads wondering where it all went wrong!

So, what lessons can we learn from the events of this year’s now-customary sales bonanza?

Black Friday Online

Though Black Friday is now followed by Cyber Monday, that didn’t stop online retailers from taking advantage of both. Online shoppers in the UK bagged an eye-watering £1.1bn of discounted products and services on Black Friday this year, with just less than £1bn spent immediately after on Cyber Monday (statistics from Experian-IMRG).

These figures, which smash all previous records, were driven by a number of factors including the increased availability of smart devices and the fact that many brick-and-mortar stores opted to avoid chaotic scenes by extending their deals over the whole week or not taking part in Black Friday at all.

Preparation – or the lack of it!

Many operators of e-commerce websites experienced service losses during Black Friday – the online presence of at least 15 major retailers were hit by crashes due to the sheer number of visitors trying to access the site at once, according to the Traffic Defender web monitoring company. These sites included Tesco, John Lewis and Argos, showing just how many people now take to their computer, tablet or mobile to get the Black Friday deals without the hassle.

Rapid Change

Just a year ago, people were filmed in such ordinarily-unexciting places as Sainsbury’s and Tesco literally fighting over discounted items. The scenes repeated themselves up and down the country, leading many retailers to conduct a scaled-back version of the event in their stores this year. Some stores did open very early - Boots tentatively opened the doors of their London Oxford Road store at midnight but the expected crowds failed to materialise, leaving journalists with nothing to photograph except one another. Late-night events at computer and console retailer Game were more successful, with avid gamers braving the cold to get their hands on the newest products.

It seems that Black Friday has now become the exclusive property of the online environment and, as well as offering pointers on how the operators of e-commerce websites can do better next year, this fact is a clear pointer to how the habits of shoppers are evolving across the board. Demanding and discerning, today’s shopper wants a smooth, seamless experience - they want it online, on all the time and on their terms. Make sure they can have it – choose Brick technology Web Development Company to show you how.

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