Last Minute Black Friday Prep for Amazon Vendors and Sellers
Black Friday is around the corner! This year's Black Friday will take place on November 24th, 2023, with Cyber Monday following on November 27th. But deals already start at the beginning of Black Week (November 7th).That doesn't leave much time to prepare for the deal events... and there's a lot to do.
Sellers and Vendors have to define their Amazon Black Friday strategy, plan Amazon ads, ready their product listings, and much more. But there's no need to panic. We have put together a last-minute guide with the most important points for your success on the deal days.
Check the basics
Deals:
First of all, start planning early and do not miss the deadlines. For the majority of Amazon sellers and vendors, the cutoff date for submitting Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals was Saturday, September 30, 2023.
Listing:
Review your listings one more time and make sure you follow best practices. Adjust your top products to improve the conversion rate.
Product Titles
• Maintain a character count ranging between 80 and 150.
• Explicitly state measurements (e.g., pounds, inches).
• Utilize numerals for numbers rather than spelling them out (e.g., 7 instead of seven).
Bullet Points
• Utilize 5 bullet points.
• Describe the use case for clarity.
• Integrate relevant keywords.
Product Descriptions
• Incorporate relevant keywords.
• Enhance the description with multiple images.
Images
• Display only the product.
• Ensure a pure white background.
• Include a minimum of 5 images.
A+ Content
• Highlight your Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
• Maintain content short and simple.
• Prioritize visual elements over excessive text.
Don't forget your Brand Store and keep it up to date. Also, use Hidden Keywords for optimal search results.
Adjust Ads:
Prepare your Ads strategy for Q4 on time. Start your special Black Friday campaigns in advance because clicks and sales go up before Black Friday. No seller wants to miss out on this important traffic. Most people decide what to buy in the two weeks before the events! Shoppers look for deals a few weeks before Black Friday. They compare products, brands, and check out offers before buying on the big days.
More people click on ads during Black Friday, so you might need to increase your ad budget during that time. If your budget is too low, it might run out before the day ends, and you'll miss potential sales. When planning for Amazon Black Friday, remember you might need extra money for ads to get good results during the sale days.
Prepare for analysis in the tool:
To quickly and easily start an analysis after the deal days, we recommend preparing in our tool. Tag your catalog ASIN, keywords, and deal ASINs now in the tool to quickly understand the outcome of the deal days afterward.
Inventory:
The first step for good inventory planning is to use accurate demand forecasts. These should be based on previous Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales periods or other similar promotional periods that can help the analysis. Check your inventory ahead of time and make sure to include higher item volumes for the deal days.
Seller: Sellers need to make sure there is enough in stock - especially their best sellers and deals. Free shipping is also an important point that can make or break a purchase. Make sure you keep an eye on the Buy Box here.
Vendor: Vendors can rely on the "Born to run" program in an urgent situation. Amazon's Born to Run Program is an invite-only program that allows vendors to request orders for a product by telling Amazon how many units of that product they expect to sell through in 10 weeks. Amazon will review your request and – if approved – will buy up to that amount.
Budget:
As already mentioned, you need enough budget during the deal days. When planning your budget, always build in a budget buffer per category for Q4. Look at the last two years of your Amazon business and learn from previous data.
Rapid Retail Analytics
This year you have the opportunity to monitor your sales data on Amazon almost in real-time. With Rapid Retail Analytics, you can view your sales, traffic, and inventory data on an hourly basis. This allows you to optimize your daily budget and adjust it to the traffic so that you don't waste money. Campaigns can be adjusted hourly this way.
The data you generate with Rapid Retail Analytics will not only help you during the deal days but also in learning about your target group and for the next deal events.
Bonus tip: During the last deal days, we were able to recognize certain traffic peaks with Rapid Retail Analytics: the initial traffic peak during the night, the second high during lunch, and the third high in the evening, the fourth high FOMO (during the last few hours, a traffic peak could be recorded - here, everyone who has not yet made a purchase wants to quickly grab something from the discounts. The so-called "fear of missing out" plays a role here).
Don't change a running system
Once you have a running system, try not to make sudden changes right before Black Friday and Cyber Monday. If you add new keywords at the last minute, they might not have enough history to show if they bring in sales or just use up your budget without good results.
If available: Make use of AMC Prime Day targeting (Rule Based Audiences)
What are Rule Based Audiences? Advertisers can create audiences in the Amazon Marketing Cloud and activate them in Amazon DSP. These audiences are created along the customer journey. This relatively new function is available to all AMC users. If you have already created audiences here, you can use them on the upcoming deal days. For example: "Users who have browsed your brand but not purchased".
After deal days
Don't forget to adjust and lower your biddings after the deal days.
Another important tip: Collect your data and learnings. Amidst all the stress, don't forget to make a note of what you observe and learn for next year. What went well? What would you want to change for the next time? Keep your reports and take a moment to write down what you find. Your analysis will help you next year!
