Black Friday vs Cyber Monday what's the difference?

Black Friday vs Cyber Monday What's the Difference?

A question that's often raised, Black Friday vs Cyber Monday - what is the difference? As a small business owner, these huge sales calendar events can be a little daunting. It's difficult to know whether or not to participate in such events, after all they come with pros and cons.

Given the build up and hype around this sale period, you are likely to find that an increase in sales will naturally occur without you spending any extra money on marketing or slashing your prices. Shoppers are generally out in full force, ready to bag a bargain and to begin ticking off their ever growing Christmas shopping list.

What is Black Friday?

Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving in America, marks the first day of the Christmas shopping season. An American tradition, that sees many retailers launching special offers for consumers to grab a deal.

As a retailer, participating in the annual Black Friday event will be a something you undoubtedly will look to take part in. Driving footfall through your business doors is something you feel as though you can't afford to miss. This doesn't mean that you need to reduce everything across the board and slash prices. If that doesn't work for your business, simply select a handful of products to discount. Creating bundle deals is another option and provides value to your customers. After all, if you're not going to make a profit, it doesn't benefit you or the future of your business.

Black Friday has snowballed over the years into to an event that can start up to a week before the big day! It now sees hundreds of retailers, e-tailers, insurers, travel companies and more offering discounts.

Interesting fact about Black Friday

Black Friday, as it's known was given its name as so many people descended upon the sales, leading to traffic accidents and sometimes even violence!

How does Black Friday vs Cyber Monday?

Cyber Monday is the following Monday after Thanksgiving. The idea behind Cyber Monday was exclusively for online retailers to have their own day to offer exceptional bargains.

Consumers are becoming more savvy when shopping and looking for the best deal online is becoming easier as the days go on. With an array of comparison tools, marketplaces, shoppers using discount and cash back websites, shopping online is unbelievably appealing. Cyber Monday is a great opportunity for e-tailers to reach their existing and a new audience with exclusive offers.

As an e-tailer, whether you own a small business or a multi-million pound one, you can help grow your business and brand awareness during this busy period. Online traffic increases with shoppers intending on purchasing. An intent to purchase will generally see an increase in conversion. Ultimately the traffic you receive is more likely to convert to a purchase, thus increasing the number of sales.

Approach with caution and only offer discounts or deals that your business can afford to. Take everything into consideration when creating your offers, the cost of goods, marketing fees, shipping, packaging and additional staff requirements. An oversight on these could prove costly.

When was Cyber Monday introduced?

The concept was adopted here in the UK by none other than Amazon.co.uk in 2010. The giant e-tailer, who are at the forefront of embracing new routes to market and technologies found that promoted products were selling out within seconds!

Black Friday vs Cyber Monday, which one is bigger?

As we await the figures for 2018, we took a look at consumer spend in 2017. A whopping £1.4bn was spent on Black Friday vs Cyber Monday's hitting a record high of £3.1bn. It's estimated that over £7bn will be spent across the sales period in 2018.