Black Friday and Cyber Monday

With the summer sunshine a thing of the not too distant past, and autumn speeding in with its plethora of colorful leaves, we find ourselves looking forward to the upcoming Holiday Season. Before you know it, Thanksgiving will be upon us, kickstarting the 2019 Season of Giving. While memories of seasons past will have you looking forward to time with family and friends, there are other more pressing matters which need to be addressed before you start picking out your turkey and preparing your Thanksgiving day menu.

How did Black Friday get its name?

There is a popular myth surrounding the name “Black Friday.” The tale most often repeated is that stores would spend most of the year “in the red” and come Holiday Season, starting with the Friday after Thanksgiving, the sales would put them “in the black” for the year. Hence the name Black Friday.

While the story is a myth, the increase in sales on Black Friday still holds true today. Online sales on Thanksgiving Day 2018 brought in $3.7 BILLION! Online sales on Black Friday 2018 brought in an additional $6.2 BILLION! Not to be forgotten, Cyber Monday 2018 brought in online sales of $7.9 BILLION! That was an increase of 19.3% from Cyber Monday 2017. With the potential for massive sales in a short span of time, it is of utmost importance that you prepare yourself for the onslaught. 

Cyber Monday is no longer just Monday

Don’t let yourself be fooled into thinking you don’t need to worry about online sales until Cyber Monday.  Research has shown that while the foot traffic into brick and mortar stores was down 9% in 2018 as compared to 2017, overall sales increased. Online sales across the entire 2018 Thanksgiving Weekend accounted for a 16.7% increase. Shoppers are actually already browsing before Thanksgiving in search of online deals. This means you need to prepare early in order to keep up with the upcoming shopping frenzy.

Preparation should include backend operations

There is much information about preparing your eCommerce site for the influx of visitors. While this is definitely an important concern, it is not the only item on your to-do list that you should focus on. What good is a website that operates at maximum performance, no crashes, beautiful pictures, fully detailed product descriptions, if you are unable to handle the increase in traffic at the backend. If you are unable to fulfill orders as fast as they are coming in, you will lose your credibility and lose your customers.

How can you ensure that your backend can handle the traffic?

With orders being placed at a much faster pace during the holiday season, you need to make sure that your warehouse employees are up to the task of filling those orders at an equally fast pace. More importantly, you need to ensure that those orders are being filled CORRECTLY at that increased pace.  

The best way to achieve this goal is to verify that you have the best commerce operations software in place. You need software that will help you maintain an organized warehouse even during the busy holiday season. In addition, if that software is able to help you choose the most efficient pick order and decide how to package and ship the order, you will find warehouse operations bustling along with never before seen speed and accuracy. With the correct platform managing your inventory, this goal is not only something to aspire to, it is actually something that is quite achievable.

Is there a commerce operations platform that will actually do all that?

YES! SkuNexus was created for just this purpose. SkuNexus is the only fully customizable commerce operations platform. We are actually an inventory, order, warehouse management system all rolled into one. From placement of product in the warehouse, through pick, pack and fulfillment, we’ve got you covered. Filling your orders with heightened speed and accuracy, even with the increased pace of holiday orders, will be a feasible goal. SkuNexus will have your warehouse operations humming along. And your employees too!

Click here to see how SkuNexus can help you handle the holiday season!