Happy October! Bit of a car message this month. And I’m talking about cyber weekend / Hoping to give you a few tips. so what is cyber weekend first of all so cyber weekend is a lovely American phenomenon that has come to our shores and got bigger and bigger. Little bit like Halloween but later.
So - how does it affect you? Well, whether you are trading online or not - If you are a retail business - cyber weekend does affect you. What is it? It’s a discounting weekend that begins the day after the US Thanksgiving - This year that is Friday the 23rd of November / Black Friday is Friday, the 23rd of November/ and the deals run over the weekend / And then Cyber Monday (which is a really big online day) is Monday, the 26th of November this year.
So - how could that affect you. Well trading patterns have changed over the last 3 to 5 years and we’re seeing that magnify every year on year. Every year we think ‘my goodness it's not gonna be bigger’ - and every year it is bigger. So it does impact you - You may find the week to 10 days leading up to cyber weekend - a little bit quieter - and then you’ll find - a lot of people actually these days in Ireland - have started to take the Friday off. And it can signal the beginning of Christmas shopping . So there is this really intense flurry of retail activity over cyber weekend- after it being quiet for the week leading up to it - and then it can be quite quiet again for a week to 10 days after.
So it has , particularly in last 2-3 yrs , distorted Christmas trading patterns- therefore really important that you don't miss the boat , and you are ready to trade as best as you can for that cyber trading period. Retailers that do this really well - Often they’ll either do a blanket discount for the four days, or they may do a deal a day and then use the showcase deals or real ‘wow’ deals on the Friday which is Black Friday and for Cyber Monday.
If you don't trade online, you can still do some cyber weekend activity and put some signage up and do a deal. This could be an opportunity to clear some slower selling lines or to introduce your gifting range for Christmas.
I think psychologically, a lot of people now see cyber weekend as the beginning of Christmas shopping. So - as a retailer, its a really good opportunity for you to really launch your peak gifting trading. I hope that is a little bit helpful and gives you a little bit / a few tips to begin with. If you visit my website - pto.ie - there is a free Peak trading calendar , with these dates on it and a few other tips for trading over the the holidays, and over that important quarter four trading. Hope that’s helpful.
Get in touch if I can help you. Have a great week!