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Your Black Friday marketing guide for 2024

Last updated: 25.09.2024

Discover top Black Friday marketing strategies to make the most out of the global shopping event of the year

Key takeaways:

Black Friday falls on the Friday following Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday follows the Black Friday weekend
This year, Black Friday will fall on 28th November 2024 and Cyber Monday on 29th November 2024
Many retail and e-commerce businesses offer continuous sales for 4 days, starting from Black Friday to Cyber Monday (Friday-Monday)
Australians spent $6.36 billion in 2023 during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend
Effective Black Friday marketing strategies include creating urgency, focusing on VIP customers, running paid campaigns and partnering with influencers

Black Friday sales originated in the US, but over the years, they have quickly gained popularity in Australia, becoming the country’s biggest pre-Christmas sale event.

According to a survey by Finder, 30% of Australians either had or planned to shop during Black Friday in 2023. While interest in Black Friday sales decreased during the lockdowns, it has piqued again since 2023 as more people search for discounted products to cope with high inflation.

Even in New Zealand, where Boxing Day has historically been the biggest yearly sales event, Black Friday is quickly gaining popularity. According to PriceSpy’s 2023 survey, 52% of Kiwis planned to make a purchase during Black Friday sales.

So, what does this mean for retail and e-commerce businesses? This means that ignoring one of the biggest sales events in ANZ could result in potential revenue loss.

We have put together the ultimate Black Friday marketing guide to help you prepare for the big sales weekend.

What are Black Friday sales?

Black Friday falls on the Friday following Thanksgiving and is one of the biggest retail events globally. Cyber Monday follows the Black Friday weekend.

Traditionally, Black Friday was restricted to retail stores and Cyber Monday was introduced for e-commerce sales. But now, both retail and e-commerce businesses offer continuous sales starting from Black Friday to Cyber Monday (Friday-Monday)

Here are the Black Friday dates for 2024 and upcoming years.

Year	Thanksgiving (Thursday)	Black Friday	Cyber Monday
2024	28 November 2024	29 November 2024	30 November 2024
2025	27 November 2025	28 November 2025	29 November 2025
2026	26 November 2026	27 November 2026	28 November 2026

Year	Thanksgiving (Thursday)	Black Friday	Cyber Monday
2024	28 November 2024	29 November 2024	30 November 2024
2025	27 November 2025	28 November 2025	29 November 2025
2026	26 November 2026	27 November 2026	28 November 2026

How big is Black Friday in Australia and New Zealand?

Black Friday has become an important part of the ANZ retail calendar, marked by a period of increased customer excitement and retail activity. Many customers now look forward to Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales to get deals on various categories, including electronics, beauty, fashion and home.

As per the Australian Retailers Association (ARA), Australians were predicted to spend $6.36 billion during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday week in 2023. Kiwis spent $346 million in-store during the same Black Friday week.

Global Shopify merchants recorded cumulative sales of $9.3 million over the same weekend, which was a 24% increase from the previous year.

Why should retailers and online sellers invest in Black Friday marketing?

Black Friday-Cyber Monday (BFCM) has now become a retail trend, with many customers holding off on making big purchases until the sales weekend. Most consumers also prefer to do Christmas shopping during the BFCM weekend to save more. In October 2023, retail sales dipped in Australia and analysts believe it was because customers were holding off and waiting for the BFCM weekend.

For retailers and online sellers, Black Friday is the ultimate time to attract more customers and increase sales. Customers are ready to make big and bulk purchases—all you have to do is run the right marketing campaigns and offer the right discounts to attract them to your store.

Here are some of the many benefits of investing in Black Friday marketing:

Increase in traffic and sales

With customers looking forward to deals and ready to make a purchase, Black Friday can drive website traffic and sales.

Clear excess stock

Black Friday sales are the perfect opportunity to clear up excess or slow-moving stock before you gear up for Christmas. You can use tactics like discounting, bundling and offering free products to clear up stock.

Attract new customers

Take advantage of the influx of shoppers during the BFCM weekend to attract new customers. You can also run retargeting campaigns for customers who have previously purchased from you.

Go head-to-head with competitors

Even if you don’t have a plan for running a Black Friday campaign yet, chances are, your competitors are already working on it. The only way to compete with them is by building your Black Friday e-commerce marketing strategy.

Top Black Friday sales marketing strategies

Here are some of the major Black Friday marketing strategies that you can use to attract more customers:

1. Build a sense of urgency

Black Friday shopping is popular among customers because of its compelling premise: Big discounts for a limited number of days.

It creates urgency among customers, and you can capitalize on that in your marketing campaigns.

Here are some ways to build urgency and excitement for your Black Friday sales:

Create a countdown timer

Add a countdown timer to your website as you get ready to host customers for the big Black Friday sale. You can also share a countdown promo video on your social media accounts a week before the actual sale starts. Start sharing the discounted rates of new products daily to increase customer excitement leading up to the main sale day.

Send SMS alerts

Push out time-sensitive alert messages to countdown the days until your Black Friday sale starts. You can also notify customers about flash sales through SMS.

Send emails to subscribers

You can send countdown emails to subscribers along with special promo codes or gift offers.

2. Focus on your VIP customers

Here’s a fact you might already know: It’s easier to sell to old customers than to new ones. Acquiring a new customer is five times more expensive than retaining an existing one. When you increase customer retention by 5%, your profits can increase by 25-95%.

While you try to attract new customers business during Black Friday, don’t forget your loyal customers who already like your products.

Filter out your customer list to identify VIP customers. Your VIP customers can be your rewards/ loyalty members, subscribers, or customers with high lifetime value (LTV)

Here are some campaign ideas for your VIP customers:

Offer early-bird access: These exclusive offers can be made available to VIP customers before the general sale starts. So, if your general sale starts on Thursday, you can offer early access to your VIP customers on Wednesday.

Give bigger discounts: If your general discounted rate is 30%, you can offer VIP customers a 40% discount through a special promo code. It shows your commitment to your loyal customers and compels them to make bulk purchases.

Bundle products: You can offer special discounts on bundled products to increase the average order size.

3. Run paid campaigns

Black Friday advertising through paid ads is the easiest and most effective way to reach your customers. Depending on where your target audience spends most of their time online, you can run ads on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and Google Ads.

Running Black Friday campaigns early allows you to experiment with different content, creatives and offers. You can identify the top-performing ads and run them during the Black Friday week.

However, don’t run too many ads in advance as it could lead to audience burnout. Excessive ads can also increase your marketing spend and customer acquisition costs. Instead, focus on adopting Black Friday marketing strategies to maximize the return on investment (ROI).

Note: Don’t take your organic reach for granted. By incorporating more engaging content, you can still reach new customers.

4. Partner with influencers and other businesses

Onboarding partners can increase your brand awareness and reach. Your business partners can be influencers, suppliers, affiliates and other businesses that aren’t your direct competitors.

The goal should be to find partners who can effectively increase your organic reach. The campaign should benefit both you and your partner.

Here are some Black Friday campaign ideas that you can use when working with influencers and other businesses

Selling bundled products at discounted prices
Hosting giveaways together
Building cross-promotional email campaigns
Creating marketing campaigns on social media

5. Run your sales campaign from Black Friday to Cyber Monday

You should definitely extend your sales campaign from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

While Black Friday has existed for many years, Cyber Mondays were introduced in the mid-2000s to attract customers to online stores. Whether you have a retail or online store, you can take advantage of the entire four-day period.

Consider slashing down the prices further on Cyber Monday or offer special last-minute discounts for unsold inventory.

6. Offer discounted gift cards

Many people now prefer to do their Christmas shopping around Black Friday to take advantage of the low prices. But since Christmas is still a few months away, they may not be sure of what to give yet.

You can leverage this uncertainty for your promotional strategy by offering gift cards at a discounted price. For instance, you can offer a $50 gift card for $40 or a $100 gift card for $80.

When customers buy a gift card from you, they are guaranteed to return to make a purchase. If they gift the card to someone, it can help you reach new potential customers.

Also, customers with a gift card usually spend more than the card’s value, directly leading to increased revenue. Sometimes, gift cards take a long time to redeem, or they don’t get redeemed at all.

Take your business global with WorldFirst

Black Friday week can be the perfect time for expanding your retail business to more countries and regions. At WorldFirst, we make it easy for you to collect payments in different currencies from customers worldwide.

With a World Account, you can:

Collect marketplace payments: It’s free to collect payments from 100+ marketplaces and payment gateways, including Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and Stripe.

Get paid in multiple currencies: Set up local currency accounts in 20+ currencies–each with unique account details.

Make seamless and secure cross-border payments: Pay suppliers, staff and business partners in 90+ currencies

Lock in exchange rates: Setup forward contracts to lock in exchange rates for up to 24 months, so you can budget with more certainty and protect your profit margins.

Make instant and free payments: Payments between World Accounts are instant and free.

Disclaimer: The information contained is general only and largely our views. Before acting on the information you should consider whether it is appropriate for you, in light of your objectives, financial situation or needs. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions, estimates, mentioned products/services and referenced material constitute the author’s own judgement as of the date of the briefing and are subject to change without notice. WorldFirst shall not be responsible for any losses or damages arising from your reliance of such information.

Written by Nidhi Kataria, Head of Marketing ANZ at WorldFirst

Nidhi Kataria has worked in marketing since 2009 across various functions, specializing in acquisition growth. She has held regional and global marketing roles at notable financial and technology firms and has lived in Australia since 2014. She believes that businesses can benefit from WorldFirst to make finances clearer, easier, and simpler to manage, allowing them to focus on growing their businesses.