THERE IS LIFE BEYOND DISCOUNTS! Manage Aspirational/Promotional content mix
Promo Mapping, promotional activity management optimization tool.
Promotional activity analysis during BLACK FRIDAY period in Spain. More than 1,000 communication actions in 20 fashion retail chains in Spain.
Is not enough to “do the promotions”. You must plan and manage them according to your brand and especially making them work for you and not just as a lost of Margin.
Work with the communication/aspirational activity/promotional mix… adapt it based on the moment.
Don’t let digital undervalue the power of the stores. Avoid treating the whole store equally. Discriminate positively.
Decathlon, who is in first place of the Omnichannel Retail Mhe Index 2017, didn´t make any communication regarding BLACK FRIDAY in any of the analysed channels. It is, with Primark, the exception in the main fashion retail brands in Spain.
Social networks with more immediacy to the event. Communication of more proximity
H&M was the first Brand to communicate BLACK FRIDAY through social networks (SN) or e-mail, one week in advance, through its newsletter. Other chains, such as Zara (SN), Massimo Dutti (SN and eMail) and Mango (eMail), decided to delay communications on such event until Thursday 23, just one day before the start of the promotions.
From BLACK FRIDAY to BLACK WEEKEND…and BLACK WEEK
Once BLACK FRIDAY was over, more than ¼ of the chains’ communications with their customers were related to that specific event, and this event has gone from being exclusive to a specific day, to last almost a week for many retailers.
Take advantage and reinvent the most basic channels … and even more effective, such as STORE and EMAIL
Promotions’ communication related to BLACK FRIDAY, more efficient through eMail and in physical store: eMail and Store are the main communication channels for the BLACK FRIDAY (2/3 of the communications that took place in both channels), while other contents represented ¾ parts of the communications through SN and the Web (exclusively in the HomePage).
Is not only Price or discount related. Communicate aspirational value for your brand
Social Networks and web, are the main channels for aspirational content. Store and email are more appropriate for promotional content. In Social network this type of communications represent more than a half of the total. On web, 4 out of 10 communications are about aspirational content. In store, communications become more promotional (9 out of 10 communications relate to promotional content).
As the week goes on, the weight of promotional communications increases representing 3 out of 10 communications the week before and 8 out of 10 communications one day before Black Friday.
Facebook is the most appropriate channel for Black Friday: because of the nature of the communications and the consumer is more used to buy directly through this social network (Instagram has one more step to buy because the users have to go to brand official web before). 3 out of 4 communications relate to Black Friday went through this channel.
Give priority to more effective store areas to communicate depending on the message
Store communications: the first third of the store is the most effective are and this is where the highest percentage of promotional communications is located.
Perimeter of the stores aims to communicate promotional, aspirational and other types of content like “corporate” messages. Floor or main parts are almost exclusively dedicated to communicate promotions (9 out of 10 communications). Other communications located in this store zones are related to new collections.
Discount percentage is the king. 20-30% the most popular
Discount percentage is the most used structure in the communications: in those communications related exclusively to Black Friday promotions, 84% were “% discount”. 1 out of 10 communications were “free shipping” (only online). The weight of promotional structure that require a minimum purchase of at least two articles (multi purchase) was residual.
Different types of discount percentage, even inside the same brand: the brands opted in Black Friday to communicate different amounts of discounts inside the assortment. It has been usual to find different % discounts for a department, section or product category.
