Over the last decade Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become two of the biggest (if not THE biggest) retail days of the year. In fact, in 2022 the UK is already planning to spend £3.95 billion across the sale weekend.
But just because customers are looking to spend, when Black Friday rolls around, you can’t stick to your standard marketing strategies. Everyone around you is promoting their extra special deals, on every channel they have. From paying out for special Black Friday Google Ads to the thunderous culmination of long-term social media and organic strategies, customers are going to be overwhelmed with advertising in every direction and from every industry.
For furniture retailers, this means you can’t just rely on your fantastic Black Friday deals to catch customers' attention. It won't be enough to simply refresh your marketing messages. You need to look at whom you're marketing to. You need a razor-sharp story that will resonate with the right audience.
One sure-fire way furniture companies can stand out on Black Friday is to harness the power of homemover data. In this post, we’ll explain exactly why customer intelligence is so important, as well as discuss actionable ways to use it.
When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2022?
This year Black Friday will be on the 25th of November, while Cyber Monday will be on the 28th.
Black Friday Sales originated in America so the day itself traditionally falls on the Friday after Thanksgiving - a date that is impossible to forget Stateside but can feel more like a random Friday in the UK. An easy way to remember is that it usually falls on the last Friday of November, with Cyber Monday rolling up on the other side of the weekend.
Why are these dates so important for furniture retailers?
These dates are important in any industry that revolves around retail. Across the entire retail industry, companies slash their prices. And a vast number of shoppers go hunting for deals, hoping to snap up some of the biggest discounts of the year.
Many shoppers wait until this sale season to purchase big ticket items at a lower price. Particularly when it comes to furniture and big electrical items, people avoid making expensive purchases in the weeks, even months, leading up to the Black Friday sales. Instead, they save their money to splurge over the sales, knowing they will get more for their money with the deals and promotions.
When it comes to the furniture industry, the end of Cyber Monday sales see the start of a short revenue lull too. During the run-up to Christmas, shoppers have holiday shopping on their minds. While the purchase rates for gifts, food and decorations soar, everything else goes on hold until Boxing Day when shoppers return to a more typical shopping pattern.
Black Friday/Cyber Monday has even started to overtake the Boxing Day sale period, so if you miss out on the great opportunity these days offer, you are unlikely to catch those sales up for months.
These key seasonal retail sales are not without their pitfalls though. So many retailers will be offering discounts that it can be hard to catch shoppers' attention - the market will be flooded with sale offerings and standing out can be challenging.
Of course, some retailers choose to start their Black Friday sales early too, which further complicates things.
How can homemover data help maximise furniture retailers' Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaigns?
Getting ahead of your competitors isn't always about making yourself the most visible - which is good because that is expensive to attempt and often completely unrealistic. Making yourself visible to the right people is a lot easier. Plus, being visible to people who already want to buy your products creates a much bigger ROI than marketing strategies aimed at a broad audience. This means targeting.
Targeting your marketing lets you tailor your deals, tone, and the benefits you highlight so they all speak directly to a group likely to invest in your product already.
Our research shows that during the moving process, consumers dramatically increase their spending – we have discovered that homemovers in the UK spend an astronomical £29 billion in the year before and the year after a move, outside of the transaction value. This is an audience that is looking to spend and spend a lot.
But during the Black Friday holiday season, they are going to need a lot more incentive to spend their money with you.
The most effective way of targeting your consumers on Black Friday is to base your marketing strategy on data. Homemover data can give you the insights you need to make sure your customers choose you over your competitors.
How can effective use of homemover data help improve your ROI in Black Friday marketing strategies?
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Target your marketing using customer segmentation
One of the most effective ways to use homemover data is to gain insight into who your customers are. While a homemovers data segment might sound or feel like a small niche in itself, a whole range of different people buy homes - you need to find marketing tactics to suit each of them. From starry-eyed first-time buyers with tight budgets and a vast 'to get' list to life-worn retirees who are downsizing to spend their twilight years in comfort, homemover data provides valuable information about who your customers are. -
Use buyer personas to personalise offers and cross-sells
Using customer personas to ground your marketing is always important but when it comes to Black Friday you can even use it to guide offers, cross-sells and bundle promotions. Many homemovers are looking for bigger furniture bundles which give you scale to spread discounts out more. Rather than just offering chairs with a dining table, for example, you can discount the price further across other related items like sideboards or bookcases. -
Narrow down your targeting using the home mover wave
Getting ahead of your competitors isn't always about being the first to reach potential customers first. When it comes to home movers, your audience is usually under a lot of stress - even in the aftermath of the moving process. They are unlikely to remember companies or deals they heard about months or even weeks ago when they weren't ready to buy.
This makes the timing of your marketing vital. Targeting customers specifically in the ‘Moving Soon’, ‘Moving Now’ and ‘Just Moved’ stages of the home mover wave lets you speak to shoppers who are already looking to buy big-ticket furniture items NOW. While they'll be looking for a good price, you don't have to rely on unbearably low deals to win a sale. Instead, you will get a higher ROI on your marketing spend while also maintaining a more realistic pricing strategy.
Black Friday also gives you an opportunity to target people in the ‘Settling In’ stage. People who deferred their big buys like a three-piece suite or matching bedroom storage during the moving process will be looking to tailor their new home to their tastes and comfort and significant sale savings could persuade them to make more extravagant purchases.
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Offer solutions to stretch across the homemover wave
Tailoring your marketing to meet the needs of the homemover wave doesn't mean limiting yourself to it though. Stand out against your competitors by offering solutions that can make life easier for a collection of customers already struggling to keep all their plates spinning. As well as making sure credit options are available on expensive items, think about deliveries and discount structure.
Offering a range of delayed and super quick delivery options means that people in the 'Moving Soon' and 'Settling In' stages are equally likely to commit. After all, someone who is moving soon won't want their new furniture today if it just means more items to pack into the removal van. Similarly, a customer who is already in their new home is going to be even more impatient to get their home sorted.
Alternatively, target promotions on essentials to those 'moving soon' and keep back those 'final touch' items for those already 'settling in'.
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Use a multi-channel approach focused on homemovers
Many businesses avoid multi-channel marketing as it can be expensive - the increased competition around Black Friday can be even more discouraging. Using homemover data can help you cut costs considerably, letting you reap the benefits of a multi-channel approach without significant spending.
Targeting homemovers lets you target a subset of customers who are ready to buy. With a multi-channel approach, you can reach them through various touchpoints, helping you to generate more sales.
Tips for effective Black Friday sales campaigns
Homemover data is an important way to improve your ROI during the Black Friday sales. However, furniture retailers also need to remember the basics to truly maximise returns. These include:
- Tailoring your offers to your stock
This might seem obvious, but make sure the promotions and sales you run are on items you are able to supply quickly and reliably. Timing is even more vital to homemovers than other customers - they may not be able to 'make do' to wait for extended delivery periods. - Start early, finish late
Don’t leave it until Black Friday itself to start advertising your sales - or even the day before! Reach out on the days, even weeks, before to advertise your offers - even if they don’t go live until closer to the day. Similarly, make sure your sale prices stay active long enough to reap their benefits. - Track impact and evaluate results to shape future campaigns
Even if part of your Black Friday campaign doesn't perform as well as you'd hoped, don't class it as a failure. Take time to assess the situation and analyse what caused a technique, tactic or channel to underperform. This is a long-term way of working and will allow you to improve future campaign performance.
How can TwentyCi help you take advantage of Black Friday revenue?
TwentyCi can supply you with homemover data that is completely factual. We don't use modelled or sentiment-based data so you can rely on our information to give real-world insights that you can build on.
The scale and scope of our data is unmatched in the UK too. We have access to data from over 4,500 providers, that you can use to help streamline your marketing and maximise your ROI across Black Friday and all year round.