Black Friday 2017 – prepare to fail

23/11/2017

In a consumer survey by YouGov and commissioned by Ampersand, consumers highlighted two things that put them off buying or researching goods on a small device: It’s difficult to type (32%), and it’s difficult to see products properly (41%). Retailers should ensure appropriate keyboards appear for email and numeric entry, offer product zoom and display retina-optimised imagery to avoid images looking blurred on newer mobile devices.

For shoppers using tablets or desktop devices, following general good practice such as faceted navigation, large product imagery and offering clear delivery and returns information will all help a consumer make a purchase easily.

Reliability isn’t just about the percentage of uptime, it applies to an entire purchase journey. Especially at Christmas, consumers need to trust that they will receive orders in-hand. According to our most recent Multichannel Report, House of Fraser, Schuh and Argos have the best multichannel offering. Effective fulfilment is paramount to ensuring that consumers eager to purchase gifts are not left empty-handed, yet many stores are failing to offer what consumers consider to be basic delivery options, such as next day and click and collect. Last year, delivery of online purchases let a lot of consumers down over the Black Friday and Christmas peak trading period. Consumers who were burnt on delivery last year may steer clear of those retailers this year altogether.

 

Ampersand is a commerce agency that helps established high street retailers build better online stores. We work with our retail customers year-round to ensure their websites can handle spikes in traffic on sale days such as Black Friday.