AI-Powered Retail Intelligence: Black Friday Strategy
Are you a business owner or marketing professional all geared up for the best time of the year with the most sales; Black Friday Season!? Or just starting with preparing for this time, that’s no less than wartime with several businesses fighting for customers' attention and loyalty. Did you know just last year (2023), Black Friday and holiday sales reached a staggering 964.4 billion US dollars? Accordingly, retail intelligence isn’t just some nice-to-have anymore, but a need!
Customers willingly wait for these Black Friday sales to shop their hearts out. A recent Deloitte survey revealed that 78% of consumers plan to participate in 2024 sales and increase their spending by 8% (year-over-year). That means having a few colorful discount vouchers or spin-to-win wheel deals won’t cut through in the competitive space.
But how do you craft attractive deals while still maximizing your profits? The answer is AI-powered retail intelligence! Read along to learn all about retail intelligence and how it can supercharge your Black Friday revenue:
What is Retail Intelligence and How it Transforms Retail Strategies
Simply put, retail intelligence refers to you as a business collecting and analyzing data to get the hang of market trends, your customers’ behavior and preferences, and operational efficiencies to make well-informed decisions that directly influence your company’s bottom line. There are various components of retail intelligence, with key ones as follows:
- Data Analytics: This covers using different software to gather and analyze data from multiple sources to find trends and insights that can benefit your business.
- Market Insights: Understanding market trends and consumer behavior patterns to adjust your offerings and their prices to meet user demands efficiently.
- Point-of-Sale (POS) Data: This covers garnering your POS data or simply your business’s sale transaction information to determine which of your offerings are selling best, when, and at what price.
- Inventory Management: This includes keeping a tab on your stock levels and turnover rates so you can keep optimal inventory levels without having excess inventory.
With all the insights retail intelligence gives, businesses get a fuss-free way to deal with the complexities of high fluctuation times like Black Friday. Additionally, it can help you prepare your business for long-term success in the ever-changing retail and e-commerce space.
Black Friday Strategy – Best Practices for Implementing Retail Intelligence
Now that you know what’s retail intelligence, here are some best practices you can adopt for your Black Friday sales, and make sure that you don’t just participate but excel in this cut-throat business scenario:
1. Understand the Needs of Your Business and Customers
Before you get down to developing a Black Friday strategy, reflect on the needs of your unique business and its customers’ preferences. Find answers to what offerings your customers love and how they shop during sales. Use data from your past sales, customer reviews, and market trends, as well as the revenue growth you want for your business, to tailor your strategy.
2. Set Clear Pricing Objectives
Set some clear pricing objectives for the Black Friday sale by considering if you want to clear out old stock, gain a larger market share, or increase your business’s profit margins. Use tools for AI price optimization and competitor price monitoring to track your competitors' price fluctuations and the overall market situation. All of this will help you offer the right discounts and promotions and make profits with a dynamic pricing strategy.
3. Use an AI-empowered retail Intelligence Platform for Analytics
Take the hassle out of data analysis by using an AI-empowered retail analytics tool. You can get real-time inside scoop on sales trends, inventory levels, and customer shopping patterns with these and adjust your prices and stock on the go. They also do predictive analytics that can help you understand which products you need to stock more of without ending up with excess inventory after sales end.
4. Bring Together Your Marketing and Pricing Teams
If you want to execute a results-driven and retail intelligence-based Black Friday strategy for your business, a collaboration between your marketing and pricing executives is a must. This will ensure both of those teams are on one page with regard to the promotions and discounts you offer and that you deliver the right messaging across to attract customers. The result? You’ll get compelling campaigns and consistent pricing across different channels.
5. Generate Special Discounts and Offers
Who doesn’t love a steal deal during Black Friday? Not your customers, at least, and remembering that, use the data you get from retail intelligence to offer exclusive discounts and special offers that speak to your target audience. Use limited-time promotions, bundle deals, or loyalty points to make customers urgently shop from you.