5 tips for small- and medium-sized businesses to succeed on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday 2020 marked the largest online shopping day in US history, with $10.8 billion in sales, an increase of 15.1% year over year, according to Forbes. According to Meleskie, during this time, “the most important thing you can do is increase the budgets on your advertising campaigns.”

Perpetua sees spend increase about three times across all their advertisers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. “If you don't have an increased budget, your campaigns will go dark and you will lose out on traffic,” Meleskie said. “This is extra important as throughout the day, as other advertisers' campaigns go dark, cost-per-clicks decrease.”

Meleskie said that on average Perpetua sees advertisers increase budget by three times, but spending may increase more or less depending on the SMB's specific category.

Amazon Ads always recommends brands maintain the quality of their product information and detail pages. But this is especially important during shopping events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday when impressions may be higher, but click-through rates may be lower than usual, according to Meleskie. In other words, Perpetua has seen that during BFCM, shoppers are less likely to click on an ad, but more likely to convert when they do. For that reason, brands need to craft their ads so they provide shoppers with the information they’re seeking. Use an informative, easy-to-read title that quickly gives shoppers the key facts. Feature high-quality images. Pick products with positive customer reviews. And make sure your products are in stock and reasonably priced.

Some SMBs might not have the budget to increase advertising spending by three times during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. And that’s okay, because there are other flexible ways to manage cost during these big shopping events.

For those brands working with a limited budget, Meleskie suggested prioritizing spending on Cyber Monday. “Although we see significant increases in sales on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Cyber Monday typically has a much higher conversion rate,” Meleskie said.

Perpetua has seen that shoppers are often waiting to see if specific products will go on sale during these big shopping events. By Cyber Monday, Meleskie said, shoppers are more likely to purchase one of these items even if it’s not on sale because they aren’t likely to be any time soon. “If you have limited advertising budget or you cannot compete on price with significant discounts, push more of your advertising dollars to Cyber Monday than Black Friday,” Meleskie said.

Perpetua actually sees SMBs generate more sales on Cyber Monday than Black Friday.

But the shopping journey doesn’t end after Black Friday. A recent Amazon Ads/Kantar survey found that 67% of holiday shoppers won’t complete their shopping until after Black Friday and Cyber Monday.³ There are still a few more weeks of the holiday season, after all. Meleskie suggests that SMBs use tools like Sponsored Display and Amazon DSP to remarket to audiences who may have viewed your product display pages but didn’t make purchases during Black Friday or Cyber Monday.

Small- and medium-sized businesses should not feel intimidated by the biggest shopping days of the year. In fact, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have proven to be holiday events where SMBs can see major wins. With some smart strategizing, this could be another record holiday season for SMBs.