Black Friday often brings a mix of excitement and apprehension for retailers and warehouse managers. While it offers buyers the perfect opportunity to secure deals ahead of the festive season, it can add strain on sellers’ resources, especially when technology is not used efficiently to manage the sudden surge in demand. According to an article by Orderflow, the Black Friday landscape has changed over the past few years but the future looks a bit promising.
Recent data from Glimpse and Google Trends revealed that Black Friday searches could be as high as 40% above when compared to the year 2023 highlighting the importance of this event and its resurgence and how using technology-efficient solutions to manage consumer interest and purchases.
Search Volume Through the Years and a Hopeful Future
In October 2024, Black Friday searches reached 837,000, marking a significant 40% increase compared to October 2023. Based on the historical data, search volumes in November have surged more than the figure in October. If this upward trend continues in 2024, Black Friday searches could increase by 10 million in the UK.
October 2019 saw searches reach 13 million, the highest recorded Black Friday interest in recent years. Projections for Black Friday 2024 suggest a similar rise which brings in hope as the sales increase, which shows a recovery and a renewed consumer enthusiasm for the deals and discounts that this period brings.
Why the rise? Consumer Trends and Adaptation of Tech
Many people feel the need to stay up-to-date with current trends and modern gadgets. Black Friday offers the ‘perfect opportunity’ to buy desired items at lower prices and within budget. This post-pandemic behaviour might reflect a consumer’s focus on spending wisely during periods of maximum savings. This article talks about the importance of using modern technologies and real-time tracking systems in warehouses to support and meet demand.
Mobile devices accounted for 70% of all sales and 63% of all revenue on Black Friday 2023, indicating that consumers are getting comfortable with making quick purchases on their phones, which can be a reason for the rise in activity, highlighting the importance of ease of technology usage.
How Black Friday can Impact Retailers
As the landscape continues to evolve, technology plays an increasingly vital role in helping retailers and fulfilment teams prepare for one of the busiest times of the year. Warehouses that invest in smart WMS systems are in a better position to handle high-volume orders, ensuring on-time deliveries and a competitive edge during the Black Friday period.
This plays a vital role in maintaining brand reputation and trustworthiness for businesses as some problems with orders may arise and customer service would increase so it is important to streamline order processing, manage inventory more effectively, and predict trends in real-time, retailers can stay ahead of demand, reduce errors, and improve overall customer experience during peak shopping seasons.
Black Friday attracts many consumers, but dealing with the increase can create challenges for a retailer’s fulfilment process, according to Charlie Armor, MD of OrderFlow, comments:
“The unpredictable nature of Black Friday promotions can make them very disruptive to the retailer’s fulfilment process. It’s important that the marketing department and the fulfilment operation work closely together to identify the possible business impact of sudden spikes in sales volume and that the warehouse team have a plan that will allow them to fulfil the additional orders without affecting the service provided to other customers.
A flexible WMS platform that allows the retailer to process specific promotions in bulk is critical to ensuring that retailers can capitalise on the opportunity ‘Black Friday’ can present.”
Making Black Friday an efficient one.
Black Friday continues to be an important shopping event for many people all over the world. Having an efficient WMS system can support the functioning of organising during busy times or for the smooth functioning of operations all year round making it resilient to all types of fluctuating demands.