How can you optimise stock management during Black Friday?
Do you sell online? Christmas is just around the corner, and with it the sales peaks on your e-commerce site. Black Friday, which falls on 25 November this year, is the first event not to be missed. But what exactly is it? And how can you make the most of it for your business? Read on for all our e-commerce tips and advice.
What is Black Friday?
Black Friday marks the start of the last shopping period before the festive season. It takes place every year on the fourth Friday in November. Retailers take advantage of the opportunity to make promotional offers and encourage purchases with bargains, special offers, discounts and discount codes. The tradition of Black Friday originated in the United States, where it takes place the day after Thanksgiving - the turkey festival celebrating the harvest.
The term Black Friday is thought to have been coined by Philadelphia police officers in the 1960s, in reference to the crowded streets on this day of widespread shopping. Another interpretation is based on the change in colour of retailers' accounts, which, having previously been in the red, are now in the black thanks to the increase in Black Friday revenue.
Black Friday in France
This phenomenon from across the Atlantic, which attracts crowds of shoppers and crowded shopping centres, has gradually caught on in Europe, and particularly in France. While some physical shops are gradually adopting it - such as Auchan, Fnac, Darty, La Redoute and Géant Casino - it's on the web that the phenomenon is most present and generating the most buzz. Driven by major e-commerce names such as Amazon, Cdiscount and Rueducommerce, it is also being deployed by eagerly-awaited brands such as Apple, with Christmas gifts featuring high-tech products a big hit at this time of year.
Following the Paris attacks in November 2015, an initiative was launched by the Fédération du e-commerce et de la vente à distance (FEVAD) to rename "Black Friday" as " XXL Day ", out of respect for the victims and their families.
A major e-commerce challenge
Like the summer sales, the winter sales and Cyber Monday, Black Friday and the weeks leading up to Christmas are good times for commerce in general and e-commerce in particular, but they are also a complex time in terms of stock management:
- purchasing intentions are high, but remain random
- the buying period is short and concentrated.
As an e-tailer, you may have your own online sales site. But to be content with this as your only sales space on the web would be to squander a whole host of opportunities. With the various marketplaces that exist, it's in your interest to relay your product catalogue via other channels: Internet users used to surfing Cdiscount should be able to find you on this platform, for example.
But how do you satisfy as many consumers as possible at the same time? And how do you organise the best possible stock management? There are a number of levers available to you.
E-commerce: backstage management
Multiplying distribution channels
Does multiplying sales interfaces mean multiplying stocks and the associated management? Not necessarily. Especially as it would be almost impossible to offer the same batch simultaneously in different places. Your stock must therefore be adjusted in real time. The aim is to avoid selling the same product twice and not being able to fulfil orders that have already been validated. Doing this manually is impossible as the number of channels increases!
Facilitating cross-channel sales
There are tools for continuously updating your stock across the different points of entry where you offer it for sale. The Iziflux software enables you to distribute your products on all e-commerce media while synchronising your catalogue in real time. You can set alerts for out-of-stock situations or minimum thresholds, so you can anticipate your stock management as effectively as possible.
Unify and manage stocks
When the stock offered online coincides with that available in shop, the update must also cover the flows from your physical points of sale in real time. This synchronisation is made possible by a tool such as TCBia (Terminal Code Barre), an application offered by Archipelia's horizontal ERP. Connected to your warehouse, TCBia makes it possible to unify data between your web and in-store distribution, and to facilitate inventories, preparations and supplies. And it's all omnichannel!
Black Friday, or XXL day, is becoming an increasingly popular event in France. It has become a key event in the e-commerce calendar, and is particularly popular with consumers. As a seller, equipping yourself with a sufficiently advanced stock management solution such as Iziflux or Archipelia will enable you to take strategic advantage of this fantastic opportunity to boost your sales.
Article translated from French