I wrote an article recently that previewed Black Friday 2022. Now that we have passed the biggest shopping day of the year, how was it for your business?
Over in the US, it looks like American shoppers were back with a vengeance after disrupted shopping in both 2020 and 2021. In 2020 most retail was forced to support online shopping only, but even 2021 was still affected by the pandemic – shoppers could still return to stores, but many were still wary or were avoiding crowded places like shopping malls.
Year on year the US numbers were up 2.3% on last year – that’s a total of $9.12 billion spent just on the Black Friday sales. It’s also interesting to note that buy now pay later deals were up 78% on Black Friday week compared to the week before, so it seems that many people grabbed a bargain, but intend to pay for it later.
Here where I live in the UK, there was also a boost, but it was qualified by different sectors of retail. Talking to the Retail Gazette, KPMG UK head of retail Paul Martin said: “Black Friday sales had provided a much-needed boost on the high street and online. Household appliances, footwear, and furniture saw positive sales growth, both in-store and online, as consumers sought out good deals on designer items and started to prepare for Christmas gatherings at home.”
He added: “However, some categories such as toys, computing, and baby equipment have now seen several months of negative sales figures that even the festive boost has not been able to reverse.”
So the UK has seen a boost, but not across the board. Shoppers have focused on a few key areas. This is reflected in a study by the Boston Consulting Group that predicted the strongest spending during Black Friday 2022 would be in the US – all other major markets would see a more modest return to the sales frenzy we have known in the past.
In fact, reading between the lines on the BCG research, it may just be that consumers are getting smarter. The study indicated that many consumers expect bargains to be even better in the period between Black Friday and the end of the year. Perhaps they are holding on for bigger bargains as companies realise they need to offload all that excess stock?
My earlier article talked about the need for customer service executives to think carefully about this time of year. Although we can see Black Friday evolving and becoming less focused on a single day, there is still a focus on the period around Black Friday through to the New Year.
There is a need for all customer service executives to consider how to build the agility they need to manage this period. Canceling time off and enforcing overtime in the final month of the year isn’t going to be enough to handle the intense customer focus on this period.
This is where our flexible approach at Quantanite can help. We work with extremely agile companies that have a very flexible need for customer service resources. This has given us experience and expertise in workforce management and the ability to plan ahead for busy periods – such as Black Friday. Get in touch and I can share some examples and case studies of how we can partner to help you manage next year.
Let me know about your own Black Friday 2022 experience – get in touch via my LinkedIn.
CC Photo by Tamanna Rumee
