With 2021 Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast approaching, it’s the time of year for ecommerce shops to assess whether they are prepared for the festive season. In recent years, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been pinnacle dates in the calendar for physical and online shop owners.  

Online sales have been continuously growing year on year, and 2020 was no exception. Research suggests that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused a huge acceleration of online sales, with 2020 seeing two years worth of growth during the holiday season. It’s vital for online retailers to consider potential marketing strategies and site optimisation in order to capitalise on the growing market. 

While the current consumer landscape is a difficult one to navigate with Covid-19 still impacting the market, the competitive nature of Black Friday has remained consistent. Large retailers often thrive with better resources, planning and supply, putting further pressure on smaller independent retailers to compete.

The infographic below from Website Builder Expert provides a comprehensive guide to ensure your store is holiday season ready. The 10 steps highlighted cover the fundamentals for all ecommerce stores to implement in order for a successful Black Friday weekend. 

A key point to outline is the rise of mobile shopping, last year $3.6 billion was spent on mobile devices during Black Friday. 2021 could potentially see this record broken if the growing trend of mobile consumerism continues at the same rate. Making your site as mobile friendly as possible has never been more important. Additionally, Google’s new Core Web Vitals update places higher importance on mobile friendly page experience.  
As consumers are heading towards a more mobile oriented shopping experience, voice search and conversational technology is also growing. 1 in 4 US adults now own a smart speaker in their home, suggesting that the trend towards voice operated shopping could continue to rise. This could be a possible area in which ecommerce stores could excel during Black Friday, by optimizing site content for voice search.