We all know and love that one day of the year which falls on a Friday, that famous day we’ve come to know to be as, Black Friday. The one day a year that the nation goes frantic for discounted products and generous bargains. Justin Cobb takes the time to analyze the marketing strategies and tactics used by brands during Black Friday, in order to entice shoppers to buy more and spend more.
Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year, estimated to generate $655.8 billion in sales in the USA alone. In the recent years, the United kingdom has also scheduled the day into their calendar and are projecting a £1 Billion profit in sales over the course of Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. To most, this is just a day of bargains, price cuts and generous deals for the Christmas holidays, but for marketing experts like Justin Cobb, this is an obvious execution of marketing techniques and a fun game to spectate as they can predict all the moves.
Like all marketing campaigns that are designed to dive a high volume of sales and connect with buyers by appealing to their impulse and inner shopper, brands across the world take Black Friday and utilize every common marketing strategy in the book. Justin Cobb unpicks a selection of techniques used and reviews the theory and psychology behind each card played.
Greed
In this day and age, we always want more. Black Friday has created a culture or greed, using marketing campaigns and slashing prices to instill the need to spend in buyers. Making the shopper feel like it’s convenient, winning and money saving for them.
Fear Of Loss
Limited-time offers and last chance buys trigger the fear of scarcity and Fear of loss that drives us to buy. It makes us buy things we don’t really need, simply because we might not have the opportunity to buy them so cheaply again.
Impulse
Following fear of loss, buyers then often act on impulse and listen to their inner impulse which encourages them to act immediately no matter the consequences.
So, be ready, 2016 Black Friday is just around the corner and we hope and wish will be a good one, for both shoppers and retailers!