New Yieldify research finds high level of optimism among retailers for Black Friday and beyond, but with changing attitudes towards approaching the season’s key discounting holidays
LONDON, August 13, 2019 – Retailers are anticipating a successful holiday season despite a challenging 2018, according to new research released today by Yieldify.
The report, The Shape of Peak to Come, surveyed over 400 US and UK retail marketers and found that there is a 25% average year-on-year revenue growth expectation for Black Friday. Marketers predicted a 28% revenue increase for the holiday season as a whole, while less than 10% of participants predicted flat or negative results for Q4 in 2019.
However, the report found some marketers to be more optimistic than others. US retailers were among the most positive, with 49% predicting a year-on-year revenue boost between 25-75% compared to just 33% of UK retailers.
The report also found that attitudes towards the key events of peak season – chiefly Black Friday – are evolving. Most retailers still plan on participating in Black Friday, but 22% of the more cautious pure-play ecommerce businesses said they would be opting out. Those who do plan on participating will be offering fewer and smaller discounts than their multi-channel counterparts.
Rather than opting for a Black Friday bonanza, retailers appear to favour spreading discounts across the quarter. Price-slashing activity will peak during the weeks leading up to the Christmas period, when 85% plan to offer discounts. More than half (58%) of retailers are planning to offer discounts across their entire range during the Christmas period – higher than on Black Friday (51%) or Cyber Monday (44%). US retailers are more likely to favor this approach to discounting, even on Black Friday, with 62% discounting across all ranges compared to just 39% of their British counterparts.
Jay Radia, CEO and Founder at Yieldify, said of the report: “The report attests to the trends we’ve seen in recent years with our clients – what used to be a race to the bottom for discounts has evolved into a more diverse set of approaches to the traditional peak season. With competition stronger than ever, it pays to be different as much as it pays to discount.”
The report found that companies recognize the value of early preparation regardless of their overall strategy. Over half (61%) of retail marketers have already started preparations for the holiday season, with campaigns set to get underway early in September. Overall, multi-channel retailers were the most likely to start both planning and execution early: 52% of multi-channel retailers had already started planning in July compared to 24% of pure-play ecommerce outfits.
Tactics that retailers will rely on to achieve the predicted revenue increases are varied, but there are clear priorities. Email is still king for Black Friday, with 34% ranking it as their top strategy. Website personalization is the next most popular method, particularly for pure-play ecommerce retailers – a tactic that increases in popularity as retailers learn more about their newly-acquired visitors.
Email and personalization strategies both rely on a foundation of customer data, so now is the time for retailers to invest in this as a priority. Romain Sestier, VP of Product and Data at Yieldify, said: “While we’re early on in the journey to peak, you can’t underestimate the importance of capturing data. Having captured over 2.6 million email leads for our clients, we see lead capture strategies pay dividends for those who plan ahead.”
More information about Yieldify can be found at yieldify.com.
About Yieldify
Yieldify is a customer journey optimization company that brings personalization to the full customer journey. It combines award-winning software with a proven CJOTM methodology to deliver measurable results quickly and easily.
To date, Yieldify has influenced over 100 million sales through more than 250,000 journeys. It currently delivers customer journey optimization for over 1,000 leading e-commerce websites, including Domino’s Pizza, L’Oreal and megabus. Learn more at yieldify.com.