It wasn’t that long ago when a mention of Black Friday conjured up images of people camping outside a big box store or crowds of shoppers literally fighting each other to grab the last flat screen TV available.
Times have changed.
According to Price Waterhouse, only 20% of shoppers in 2022 planned on shopping Black Friday down from 60% in 2015. These numbers are just one more indicator of a shift in consumer buying habits, trending away from brick and mortar and towards the more abundant offerings that can be found online.
That’s not to say nothing has been lost. One of the advantages of shopping in-store is the ability to interact with a helpful salesperson, check out a garment from all angles or try on a pair of shoes with the jeans you are thinking about purchasing. Today’s modern shopper wants that personalized approach online, and those retailers who are focusing their attention on a more customer driven experience are positioning themselves to win the day.
Forrester puts it even more emphatically, “Customer-centricity is no longer an option—it’s an imperative. Companies that can’t put the customer at the center of their business model will struggle to survive in today’s hyper-competitive market.”
Retail’s Margin Call
Ask most retailers their number one concern these days and they won’t answer supply chain or market share, it’s margins. Hitting volume numbers generally translates into how much promotion is needed to get there.
Discounts have always been the cornerstone of Black Friday (people don’t fight over $1500 televisions) but as retail starts thinking about what these very important seasonal sales periods look like in 2023 and beyond, the smart ones are looking for solutions that will not only complement their discounting strategy but take a more personalized approach to increase basket purchases, which increase margins in the process.
This customer focused strategy is at the heart of what Stylitics calls Inspirational Commerce, a shopping experience that goes beyond the traditional browsing and purchasing model by creating an emotional connection with customers that inspires them with lifestyle content, brand stories and personalized recommendations.
Stylitics deploys data science and AI to take the manual labor out of bundling and outfitting and generate product combinations at a scale that would never be possible by hand, making it an indispensable suite of solutions for the tech savvy retailer looking to maximize their Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.
How Stylitics Can Supercharge Your Black Friday 2023 Gameplan
The Problem: Discounts alone won’t work. How can retailers make each shopper feel as though they are the most important person on their website and ensure that they’ll have the right product in the right size at the right time for today’s high-expectation consumer.
Stylitics Solutions: With merchandising teams spread thin all year round but even more so during critical sales periods like Black Friday, the time has never been better to harness the power of technology to maximize your available resources to offer the most dynamic and engaging customer experience for those visiting your website on desktops and mobile devices.
Easy to set up, backed by a Stylitics support team 80 people strong, and showing off the best and brightest products of your brand, Product Spotlights and Collection Shops are your new digital catalog. No postage necessary.
PDP Outfitting:
Shoppers find inspiration when they see products bundled in outfits that resonate with their personal style. When retailers inspire customers and show them the versatility of products through digital outfitting, the difference between Stylitics and traditional product recs is clear. Stylitics’ outfits drive improved performance.
Why Our Retailers Love It:
- Immediate boost to conversion and AOV
- Elevates the PDP look and feel
- Drives cross-sell into more categories
PDP Bundling:
Every visit to a retailer’s site includes some element of purchasing intent, but self-styling is hard for the average consumer. PDP Bundling offers shoppers an expertly crafted cheat sheet for inspiration. Create confidence through beautiful layouts and watch carts grow.
Stylitics’ digital bundling to PDPs highlights product value and versatility, allowing the retailer to more effectively captured this intent while increasing the value of each shopper.
Style Tip: Utilize Stylitics’ jump-links simultaneously with outfitting to help users easily navigate a “how to style” – driving inspiration and product discovery.
Client Success Story:
One Stylitics’ customer tested our PDP outfitting solution against a traditional product recommendation tool.
Here were their results:
- 20% Performance Lift vs. Product Recs
- 51% Increase to Avg. Order Value
- 56% Increase to Units per Transaction
Want to turn that client’s success story into yours? Find out how to get an edge this holiday season with actionable insights and industry data? Join us on June 15th for a FREE Webinar. Sign up today!
