The American sales tradition of Black Friday, scheduled annually for the fourth Friday in November, seems to have at last infiltrated our shores to a very good degree. Coupled with the traditional discount fest of Black Friday is Cyber Monday which was created to persuade consumers to shop online.
Black Friday is said to be the biggest shopping day of the year and the start of the Christmas shopping season in America. While it’s traditionally been something of an event that South African shoppers could only drool at, retail commentators like Price Check say Black Friday is well established in South Africa and on its third year of real and substantial discounts.
So, how should mobile marketers be taking advantage of millions of local consumers primed and ready to spend today and on Monday?
Firstly, it is important to partner with a credible mobile marketing firm like InTarget who will be able to advise brands where they should be investing their mobile impressions for best effect. Mobile ads should not only have been placed in advance for today to reach optimal sales numbers, a strong strategy should have been planned for the whole extended sales weekend.
Secondly, don’t think of Black Friday as a relic of the Main Street shopping world with hundreds of people queuing outside doors while you focus your
mobile marketing spend on Black Friday’s younger cousin, Cyber Monday. While mobile data does indicate that Black Friday outpaces Cyber Monday, the entire ‘long weekend’ should be focused on as South Africa gets to grips with this relatively new phenomenon.
Finally, once again, it’s important to link traditional and mobile marketing media. In a market like South Africa, many consumers use traditional media such as radio, newspapers and billboards to alert them of specials they might find in the mobile or web marketplace. While consumers in developed markets might be ‘always online’, many South African consumers perhaps still need that prompt to ‘go online’, usually via a mobile device
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