Retailers need to act now to be ready for the upcoming season to maximise the sales opportunity and recoup the revenue deficit from the last 6-8 months. A successful season is going to be essential for the survival and future success for many retailers. While the online shopping trend has been growing steadily, the expected uptick in revenue for Click Frenzy 2020 will be significant.
Since COVID hit in March 2020, there was a significant increase in revenue across digital retail channels. The growth was sustained up until April, where it started to drop slightly.COVID-19 has also motivated more Australians to buy and shop with local businesses. Seventy-two percent of those shoppers said they want to contribute to Australian companies, to help them survive post-COIVD. Furthermore, 59 percent said they would support local to preserve and create jobs for fellow Aussies. Click Frenzy puts Australian retail brands in the spotlight, with its already strong member base growing this year.
The Click Frenzy Mayhem event saw a 135 percent increase in visits, reaching nearly 2.5 million. There were over 19 million pageviews at this year’s event, up 222 percent from 2019. Of those visits, 5,309,929 were to retailers, up 103 percent.
This year, Click Frenzy starts at 7pm on Tuesday 10 November and finishes on Thursday 12 November.How can you prepare for a successful Click Frenzy 2020? Here are some tips:
- Plan – analyse your products by looking at the best performing lines, slow-moving stock or what items sold well at the same time last year. This will help you prepare inventory levels to keep up with demand and how you utilise your promotional efforts in preparation for the day.
- Make your deals exclusive – for the best exposure, make your deals exclusive to Click Frenzy. Interest will be sparked when customers know the offer isn’t available anywhere else.
- Ensure site speed is optimised – Click Frenzy is an eCommerce play, don’t miss out on potential sales due to a poor website experience. Ensure you have the correct codes available, and that landing pages are loading quickly.
- Build anticipation – have pre-event marketing in place and let your customers know that you’re participating in Click Frenzy well in advance. This will hype up the event and get people excited about the deals you have to offer, as well as makes you top of mind when the day rolls around.
- Direct link to deals – don’t make your customers search for the deal they clicked on. Minimise the number of clicks it takes for your customer to place their items into shopping carts.
- Optimise for mobile – according to Click Frenzy, 55% of traffic across the event comes from mobile devices. Ensure your site is optimised for mobile to capture and convert customer visits.
- Take advantage of FOMO – fear of missing out is a key driver of the success of Click Frenzy. Build suspense by including a countdown to your website, and by implementing other time-sensitive strategies.
- Customer service is key – Click Frenzy will drive customers to your site that may not have visited otherwise. Ensure these customers have a great first experience. Make sure you have stock available (based on real-time data), fast delivery and excellent and speedy communication. This will help drive repeat visits from these customers.
- Have a customer onboarding plan – new customers that you acquire through Click Frenzy may also be new to online shopping due to COVID. Have an onboarding plan that caters to those, making them feel comfortable and secure through the purchase process. Also include the physical experience when the purchase arrives. Include a note in the package and potentially an offer with a call to action that will encourage them to become a repeat customer.
- Have variety in images – if consumers see the same image more than once, they will assume it is the same. Vary your images to present a wider range of product and services.
- Make it time-sensitive – 24-hour events create a sense of urgency. If buyers believe they have more time to think about a purchase they may abandon it entirely. You want to appeal to bargain-hungry, impulse shoppers, so make your deals so exclusive they’ll have to check-out quickly or risk missing out.
- Be clear – make sure your customer knows exactly what they’re getting. Have clear messaging around the discount/offer, sizing / specs and terms and conditions.
- Maximise ROI – As you acquire more customers during Click Frenzy, ensure you are maximising ROI by attaining these customers for the long-term by applying initiatives which you can introduce throughout the customer journey. Read more about how to build an existing customer growth and loyalty program here.
- Maximise speed of home delivery – this could include Ship From Store
It is not too late to get ready for Click Frenzy 2020 The unprecedented nature of this year is sure to produce a holiday season that is unlike any other. If you are looking for ideas or to learn how other retailers are preparing for this holiday season my team of retail experts are always happy to chat and share what we are seeing across the thousands of retailers that we partner with.
Aaron Blackman – CEO, Retail Express