After years of interest rate hikes, there is a definite change in the air and things are starting to look up. The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) recently decided to lower the repo rate by 25 basis points, offering some relief to consumers’ pockets in the months ahead. For South African e-commerce business owners, this could not have come at a better time. With Black Friday and “Dezemba” on the horizon, consumers may feel a bit freer to spend. But with increased website traffic, more transactions, and heightened demand for customer service, a successful Black Friday requires careful planning and preparation. Here’s how to make the most of it this year and end 2024 on a high note.

1. Plan Your Promos in Advance

Create promotions that resonate with your brand and encourage shoppers to spend more. For instance:

• Reward Loyalty: Offer exclusive deals to returning customers. This not only boosts sales but reinforces customer loyalty.
• Drive Higher Basket Sizes: Promotions like “buy one, get one free” or “3 for 2” encourage customers to spend more per transaction.
• Consider Green Friday Options: If sustainability is core to your brand, implement a “Green Friday” where a portion of sales goes to charity, giving customers an added reason to purchase.

Develop a unified promotional plan for social media, email, and website content that aligns with your brand voice and emphasizes the urgency of shopping with you on Black Friday.

2. Ensure Your Site Can Handle Increased Traffic

A spike in traffic is one of the biggest challenges for e-commerce sites on Black Friday. Prepare your website for the rush:

• Conduct Stress Tests: Use tools like Loadview to simulate heavy traffic loads and see how your site handles them.
• Confirm Hosting Support: Check that your hosting provider can scale up if needed, and consider a hosting upgrade if your current plan is limited.
• Have Technical Support Ready: Ensure your technical or e-commerce team has a contingency plan if the site slows or crashes. Keep a dev shop on standby and prepare communication materials for your social channels to keep customers informed.

3. Optimise the Customer Journey

A seamless shopping experience can make or break your Black Friday success.

• Mobile Optimization: Many Black Friday shoppers in South Africa use smartphones, so make sure your website is fully mobile-responsive.
• Multiple Payment Options: Offer a range of payment methods, from credit cards to BNPL (buy now, pay later) options. Ensure that each option is accessible, reliable and contributes to your conversion instead of cluttering your checkout experience.
• Test the Journey: Get friends or family to go through the shopping experience, identifying any possible friction points before the big day.

4. Set Up a Backup Payment System

With increased sales volume, payment gateways may slow or even fail. A backup solution can save the day:

• Integrate a Reliable Payment Backup: wigwag.me is designed to handle high traffic without a drop in performance. A secondary payment gateway helps prevent failed transactions and abandoned carts.
• Ensure System Robustness: Confirm that your primary payment system is equipped to handle the increased load and automatically routes transactions to your backup if necessary. Fun fact: WigWag is built on the same technology that Bash and IStore will be using this Black Friday. 
• Make sure you have the right mix of payment methods: Make sure to a selection of card, Smartphone wallets and a BNPL solution.

5. Scale Customer Service

More sales mean more customer inquiries. Make sure your customer service is prepared:

• Staff Up: Schedule additional team members to handle the Black Friday influx and extend support hours during peak times (early mornings, lunch hours, and evenings).
• Add Live Chat or Chatbots: A live chat system can assist customers instantly, and a chatbot can handle basic inquiries, freeing up your team for complex issues.
• Prepare FAQs: Build an FAQ page covering common questions about shipping, returns, and order tracking. This can help reduce the volume of customer queries and improve customer satisfaction.

6. Stock Up and Streamline Inventory

Running out of stock during Black Friday can lead to lost sales and frustrated customers.

• Forecast Demand and Stock Up: Use historical data and consider industry trends to estimate the quantities you’ll need for popular items. Stock up accordingly to meet demand.
• Real-Time Inventory Management: Your system should update stock levels in real time to prevent overselling and disappointing customers.
• Communicate Availability Clearly: If an item sells out, make sure it’s clearly marked on the site. Use “notify me” features or waitlists to retain interested customers for future sales.

7. Plan for the Unexpected

Preparing for Black Friday also means planning for any potential challenges.

• Scenario Planning: Run through your customer experience from start to finish, identifying potential failure points. Equip each team with a plan and contact list for troubleshooting.
• Prepare Communication Strategies: If something goes wrong, your team should know who to contact and what messaging to send to customers across your platforms.

8. Start Marketing Early

Help customers plan their Black Friday shopping with you. Marketing isn’t just for the big day—get the word out early.

• Email Marketing and Ads: Begin sending teasers to your email list. Run targeted Google and Meta ads to create anticipation and build up excitement.
• Clear Communication Across Channels: Create a consistent message across social media, email, and ads so that customers know exactly when and where to find your deals.
• Use Dead Stock Strategically: Offer discounts on last season’s inventory to clear out space for new arrivals and maximize your Black Friday sales potential.

Contact WigWag to Optimise Your Payments

Ensure your Black Friday is a success by partnering with a payment solution you can rely on. Wigwag offers optimised payment systems that handle high traffic, minimise drop-off rates, and integrate seamlessly with your website.

Contact us today
Find us here: wigwag.me
Email us: jayde@wigwag.me

‍