Why live sales are the perfect fit for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

In this article we will show you why and how you should include live selling in your Black Friday strategy. We will also reveal how to maximize your profit with minimal effort.

Host live events during the Shopping Season

As a retailer, one of your most important tasks is to make sure your business stands out from the crowd. It’s also your responsibility to hit shoppers with new and different buying experiences that will engage them immediately and leave them hungry for more.

This is especially true on national shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. On these days, the competition for the consumers’ attention is particularly fierce and your impact needs to be even fiercer.

It is now a well-known fact that consumers want not only competent advice, but also entertaining shopping experiences – and preferably online. This is also the case with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the shopping season that follows.

Actually, a new survey shows that as many as 82% of US consumers surveyed are hoping for an entertaining shopping experience on Black Friday. Similar surveys have been conducted in other countries with similar results.

With all this in mind, you should consider incorporating livestreamed shopping events into your business strategy. Live selling – also known as live commerce or social selling – combines online presence with expert guidance and excellent entertainment.

By hosting live shopping events you get a new way of interacting with your customers which meets the demands of modern-day consumers. It allows you to reap the benefits of e-commerce while retaining the human connection of in-store commerce.

10 BENEFITS OF LIVE COMMERCE

• Stand out from your competitors
• Build a larger or more loyal customer base
• Boost your conversion rate
• Lower your return rate
• Create a personal relationship with your customers
• Gain more followers on social media
• Upscale your business
• Become top-of-mind among consumers
• Increase your brand reliability
• Get a better understanding of your customers’ preferences

With all these benefits in mind, it is no wonder that a growing number of retailers are hosting highly successful live shows each year on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the rest of the shopping season.

How live selling works – in simple terms

Sounds intriguing, right? But how does it actually work? To put it simply, live selling is the practice of showcasing and selling products through livestreamed videos, often although not necessarily via social media.

During a broadcast, the retailer has a unique opportunity to highlight specific qualities of certain items; to educate his viewers about how to best maintain each item; to demonstrate his products in action or try them on (depending on the product category); to entertain and interact with his customers; and to add a face and personality to his brand.

Meanwhile, the viewers can ask questions about the specific products and receive informed answers from the retailer in real- time. In addition, they can interact with each other; receive tips and tricks about the items showcased; share their experiences with various products; and become part of a community with similar interests – all from the comfort of their own sofa or favorite coffee shop.

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Just make sure to automate the process with a piece of software that can handle everything from order registration to stock status and customer enquiries. There is bound to be too many enquiries for you to handle alone – especially on days like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Therefore, it’s vital that you have the administration under control so that your customers have the best possible experience. To be successful, you need to have your processes in place and your system able to cope with the pressure of, potentially, thousands of orders, products, and customer enquiries.

PRO TIP:

You can automate your live sales with the live bot Sprii, a complete software solution for live shopping. Thanks to Sprii, you can get started with live shopping without increasing your workload.

During a live sale, Sprii replies to comments, creates orders for your customers, sends them a link to their basket, and handles payment and shipping. All these elements are incredibly important on a busy shopping day like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Where you should go live

If you plan on hosting one or more live events, your social pages are the perfect platforms to do it. Just create an awesome-looking event, invite all your social media followers to participate, and encourage them to invite their friends as well.

In this way, lots of potential buyers will be notified when you post something in the event. You can even extend the potential for increased sales by doing multiple live sessions throughout Black Week and Cyber Week.

PRO TIP:

Sprii has a useful Live Reminder feature which makes sure that all those who sign up will receive a reminder in Messenger whenever you go live. If you mention this during each live session, your list will continue to grow over time and thus also your viewer count.

Also, make sure to advertise your upcoming deals and offers in the weeks leading up to Black Friday. The purpose of this is to lure in as many viewers and gain as many followers as possible. Remember: Every viewer is a potential customer so think “exposure, expo-sure, exposure”.

Not feeling up for hosting live events?

Do you find the idea of broadcasting live a bit daunting? No problem. You can stay out of the spotlight by making post sales instead.

In all simplicity, post selling means that people can buy a specific product by commenting on an offer that you have posted on one of your social channels. The post can be designed exactly how you want it. You can either write a text, upload a video, or use some cool pictures to catch the eye.

Like with shoppable videos, post selling is an incredibly inexpensive form of marketing. The social media algorithms take care of the exposure of your post as the comments flood in.

This means that your message spreads to a huge audience for free. Post selling encourages your followers to participate, creates visibility, and allows you to sell products in a new and effective way.

PRO TIP:

With Sprii, you can turn social media posts into effective flash sales without having to lift a finger. Whether you post the offer on your Instagram feed, in an event on Facebook, or even as an Instagram story, our software handles all the administration. Simply sit back and relax while Sprii keeps track of your product stock and responds to all comments on your behalf.

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