In the previous nine articles of our comprehensive series, we've covered a wide range of pricing strategies and techniques aimed at helping retailers prepare for the intense shopping frenzy of Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM). We've explored everything from optimizing your advertising performance to dynamic pricing, as well as simplifying prices, the power of incorporating shipping costs, alongside how to optimize your organic search position.
Up until now, we’ve focused on your product inventory as a whole. As we wrap up this series, we delve into a critical aspect of BFCM preparations: deciding which products to include in your promotions. Essentially which products should be discounted, and flagged in your marketing materials, and which products should be kept on your business-as-usual pricing strategy. Using data-driven insights, you can make strategic decisions about which products to promote during this high-stakes shopping event.
Data-Driven Product Selection for BFCM Success
The primary data points needed to decide on which products should enter promotions during BFCM are stock level data and historical sales volume data, as well as historical price change records.
BlackCurve's pricing analytics tool can then help take the strain here. By using stock level data and plotting the sales volume of each product of the last 12 months, against the number of price changes you've made over the same period, 5 clear product groups are created for promotional activity during BFCM:
Product Group 1 - Products with Excess Stock
Suggested Action: Product Discounted in BFCM Promotion
Excess stock ties up your capital and takes up valuable storage space. BFCM offers an ideal window to reduce excess stock levels. Identify products with excess inventory and promote them with attractive deals to entice buyers to clear your shelves. It is also recommended to consider using stock in your dynamic pricing strategy to ensure you sell through without discounting too heavily during the promotional period.
Product Group 2 - Underperforming Products – Low Historical Number of Price Changes
Suggested Action: Product Discounted in BFCM Promotion
Look for products with both low sales volume and a low number of price changes throughout the year. These are prime candidates for promotion during BFCM, as they have not sold well at their current price point, so discounts are suggested here to drive sales volumes.
Product Group 3 – Under-performing Products – High Historical Number of Price Changes
Suggested Action: Consider Bundling or Cross-Promoting with High Demand Items during BFCM
Products with low sales volumes and a high number of historical price changes indicate that pricing is not the issue here that is preventing sales, and a different strategy is required to shift them entirely. You can optimize their visibility and chance of conversion, by bundling or cross-promoting them with other high-demand items to maximize their potential during BFCM. If this does not drive sales, these products should be removed from your product inventory.
Product Group 4 - High-performing Products – Low Historical Number of Price Changes
Suggested Action: Increase Prices
On the flip side, products with a history of strong sales and a low number of price changes in the past, do not require drastic promotional changes. Maintain your business-as-usual (BAU) pricing strategy for these products to continue to capitalize on their popularity. You may wish to consider increasing the prices of these products in BFCM to capture more margin as you get increased traffic to your website over this promotional period. This is because they have been selling well, despite the price not having changed much historically, suggesting limited competition.
Product Group 5 – Competitive Products
Suggested Actions: Maintain BAU Pricing Strategy
Some products may have high sales volumes but also a high number of price changes. This suggests stiff competition in their category. You must ensure you again, continue to apply your BAU pricing strategy of keeping up with the competitor prices for these products during BFCM, as if you do not here, your sales will likely suffer.
Conclusion
In conclusion, your approach to BFCM should be beyond just offering discounts. Use the power of data to identify the right products to promote and those to minimize. By strategically clearing out underperforming products and optimizing the visibility of your top sellers, you can make the most of this high-impact shopping event while efficiently managing your inventory. As you embark on your BFCM preparations, let data be your guide to a successful and streamlined promotional season.