1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:03,360 Today on the Winning with Shopify podcast, there were 12 2 00:00:03,800 --> 00:00:09,320 terabytes of data moving on average per minute throughout 3 00:00:09,320 --> 00:00:11,880 Black Friday. Brace yourself for January. 4 00:00:11,920 --> 00:00:16,960 A staggering $17.5 billion spent in the retail space purely on 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,720 Black Friday itself. It's all kind of scary. 6 00:00:24,840 --> 00:00:26,600 Hello and welcome to another episode of the Winning with 7 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:28,720 Shopify podcast. If anyone's not seen him before, 8 00:00:28,720 --> 00:00:30,720 my name is Nick. I'm hosting the show and today 9 00:00:30,720 --> 00:00:32,240 it's just going to be me. I'm going to be sharing some 10 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:36,080 insights from Black Friday, from the UK, the US and some global 11 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:38,320 wider numbers. I have a whole screen of numbers 12 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,000 in front of me here and also some advice for you guys about 13 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,520 what's happened, what I think brands and retailers should be 14 00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:45,440 doing as a result of Black Friday and everything else. 15 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:47,360 Just before we dive in, if you haven't already, please check 16 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:49,200 out the Growth Hub. We've had so many amazing round 17 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:51,200 tables. There's so many messages going 18 00:00:51,200 --> 00:00:53,480 on, people welcoming themselves, explaining what their business 19 00:00:53,480 --> 00:00:55,920 is, asking great questions. We're talking about apps for 20 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:57,440 integrations, for finance things. 21 00:00:57,440 --> 00:00:59,600 We're talking about different platforms people are using to 22 00:00:59,600 --> 00:01:02,000 manage things like customer service and e-mail marketing and 23 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:03,840 a whole range of other things. So definitely check out the 24 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:07,600 Growth Hub. Just go to wwspodcast.com/growth 25 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:09,880 Hub, though it might not be on exactly that forward slash, 26 00:01:09,880 --> 00:01:11,440 maybe just go to the homepage and click Growth Hub. 27 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,200 But links should be on the screen in front of you now 28 00:01:14,880 --> 00:01:17,040 anyway. Let's talk about Black Friday. 29 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:20,240 So it's been a very different picture actually in the UK from 30 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:22,400 the US. I've got a whole things, a whole 31 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:23,880 set of things in front of me on my screen. 32 00:01:23,880 --> 00:01:26,040 I've researched for you guys to pull some stats to go there and 33 00:01:26,040 --> 00:01:28,800 share some insights from some of our clients as well as to what 34 00:01:28,840 --> 00:01:31,440 has been going on. So we're going to start with the 35 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:34,000 UK because that's where I'm based and I love the UK. 36 00:01:34,000 --> 00:01:35,360 And I get the opportunity to start with that. 37 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:36,560 And then we'll talk about the US in a minute. 38 00:01:36,560 --> 00:01:38,800 And we'll talk about some of the global things and also some 39 00:01:38,800 --> 00:01:41,400 stats that Shopify themselves have shared. 40 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:44,320 And they said these stats are up for being updated as well 41 00:01:44,320 --> 00:01:45,680 shortly. But it's what they think has 42 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:47,520 happened so far. Bearing in mind these stats were 43 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,480 published within 24 hours of Cyber Monday finishing. 44 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:52,040 So they're pretty hot, hot off the press. 45 00:01:52,360 --> 00:01:54,920 But anyway, let's have a look. So in the UK, the British Retail 46 00:01:54,920 --> 00:01:57,920 Consortium has reported that sales have dropped into Black 47 00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:03,320 Friday by as much as 3.3% across all industries, and that's in 48 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,880 the 12 months up to November. It's a bit of a bleak picture. 49 00:02:07,240 --> 00:02:10,039 The retail bulletin here in the UK as well is saying that sales 50 00:02:10,039 --> 00:02:13,240 are declining due to lack of customer confidence, a late 51 00:02:13,240 --> 00:02:16,400 Black Friday, rising household bills and that all all of that 52 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:18,320 stuff is generally leaving consumers with less cash to 53 00:02:18,320 --> 00:02:20,440 spend. We had a government budget 54 00:02:20,440 --> 00:02:23,120 announced here in the UK at the end of October that has really 55 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:25,000 annoyed everybody and taxes going out. 56 00:02:25,160 --> 00:02:26,920 So people are reluctant to spend money. 57 00:02:27,240 --> 00:02:29,680 And also where the government used to help with people's 58 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:32,600 winter bills and other stuff, if if people are low earners for 59 00:02:32,600 --> 00:02:35,800 example, or didn't have much money, our government would give 60 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:38,960 support for things like that and they are lowering or stopping 61 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:40,560 that support for a lot of people. 62 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,480 It's all kind of scary. So people are spending less. 63 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,800 Interestingly, sales on food and drink increased 2.4% while non 64 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,840 food sales fell by two point 1%. The luxury market. 65 00:02:53,120 --> 00:02:55,400 And this is the real kicker, I think for a lot of you guys 66 00:02:55,400 --> 00:02:59,240 listening, the luxury market seems largely unaffected. 67 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,160 So actually luxury has seen an increase year on year where non 68 00:03:03,160 --> 00:03:06,840 luxury items or cheaper items have seen quite a bad decrease. 69 00:03:07,040 --> 00:03:09,840 They've been squeezed so much more on margins where products 70 00:03:09,840 --> 00:03:11,760 are cheaper, which kind of makes sense when I've just explained 71 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,200 the economic outlook for the UK at the moment. 72 00:03:14,640 --> 00:03:17,120 What's really even even more interesting, though, really 73 00:03:17,120 --> 00:03:19,240 interesting to look at is the middle market. 74 00:03:19,240 --> 00:03:20,640 So you take luxury down at one end. 75 00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:22,840 So take, take AT shirt. So luxury is like the most 76 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:25,720 expensive T-shirt you can find. The lower end of the market is 77 00:03:25,720 --> 00:03:27,720 where it's being squeezed, where it's got the cheapest T-shirt 78 00:03:27,720 --> 00:03:30,200 you can find. That middle market doesn't 79 00:03:30,200 --> 00:03:32,840 really exist anymore. In the last few years it's been 80 00:03:32,840 --> 00:03:35,000 disappearing, disappearing and people have gone into actually 81 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,080 going to spend a lot more on my on my items and invest more in 82 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,880 the things I buy or I'm going to spend less and look for the best 83 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:43,480 deals. In the UK, we've got this kind 84 00:03:43,480 --> 00:03:45,480 of parallel thing happening and we've seen it amongst our 85 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:47,120 clients. Quite a few middle of the road 86 00:03:47,120 --> 00:03:50,360 retailers in the UK have really, really struggled. 87 00:03:50,720 --> 00:03:54,200 Now that's all quite gloomy and don't worry, I've got some stuff 88 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:56,560 that is very exciting, certainly for you guys listening if you're 89 00:03:56,560 --> 00:03:59,320 on Shopify that I will share in a Uno memento. 90 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:02,200 But let's talk about the US. So in the US it was a completely 91 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,200 different story. Adobe Analytics is reporting a 92 00:04:05,200 --> 00:04:10,400 staggering $17.5 billion spent in the retail space purely on 93 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:14,640 Black Friday itself, and it has cited AI as one of the biggest 94 00:04:14,640 --> 00:04:17,399 improvements to that. Adobe is saying that actually 95 00:04:17,399 --> 00:04:20,240 the shopping experience has improved so much through AI, the 96 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,840 consumers have been spending more, getting solutions to their 97 00:04:22,840 --> 00:04:25,400 problems faster and understanding products quicker 98 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,320 and better. So if you're not using AI, there 99 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,840 is definitely an opportunity to start looking at that, whether 100 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:33,440 UK or US is clearly working as far as Adobe's concerned 101 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:37,360 MasterCard spending pulse. It seems to me this is a new 102 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:38,560 thing for me. I've never really looked at any 103 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:40,280 of their reports. Obviously part of the MasterCard 104 00:04:40,280 --> 00:04:43,320 group, but in the US they seem to be the main 1 quoted in the 105 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:45,560 press over the last sort of 2448 hours. 106 00:04:45,680 --> 00:04:47,920 When I recorded this episode and and pulled these numbers off, 107 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,120 they were saying that Black Friday sales in the US grew 3.4% 108 00:04:52,120 --> 00:04:54,840 compared to last year just on Black Friday itself. 109 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:59,960 Nought .7% growth in store you ready for this ladies and 110 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:02,480 gentlemen? Shopify and online e-commerce 111 00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:10,640 platforms 14.6% growth year on year, so one 4.6% growth year on 112 00:05:10,680 --> 00:05:13,240 year. So things are looking up and 113 00:05:13,240 --> 00:05:16,880 actually when I said about the UK hold fire like it's not quite 114 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,200 as doom and gloom as it looks. When I said about the UK that is 115 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:23,600 just people that are retailing in the UK and purchases in the 116 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:27,040 Uka lot of UK brands. We work a lot with the US and 117 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,760 actually it's been something that has changed a lot more 118 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:32,600 since Brexit as we've been looking outside of Europe for 119 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,040 partners markets to sell in and places sell our products. 120 00:05:35,040 --> 00:05:37,960 So if you're AUK retailer and you're not currently selling 121 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,240 products to the US, that is definitely something to explore 122 00:05:41,240 --> 00:05:43,040 next year. I think certainly where we've 123 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,920 seen this kind of the US markets lifted and the UK market shrunk. 124 00:05:46,320 --> 00:05:48,440 I think I won't get into it too much today, but I think given 125 00:05:48,440 --> 00:05:50,680 some of the recent elections that each of us have had as 126 00:05:50,680 --> 00:05:53,800 well, that was to be expected based on the results of those 127 00:05:53,800 --> 00:05:55,040 elections. I think it's quite interesting 128 00:05:55,040 --> 00:05:58,840 looking at those numbers. Get this though, this is the 129 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,600 Shopify list of numbers and they've got several blog posts 130 00:06:01,600 --> 00:06:03,600 citing different bits of these numbers. 131 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:05,840 I found one that had almost all of these numbers in as well. 132 00:06:05,840 --> 00:06:09,640 So feel free to go and look at this on Shopify's website itself 133 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:11,160 if you want to have a bit more of a deep dive. 134 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:15,640 And Shopify on Black Friday alone, this is just Black 135 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,640 Friday, right? $11.5 billion globally. 136 00:06:20,160 --> 00:06:23,920 And that was a record, like a massive record that was 24% up 137 00:06:23,920 --> 00:06:29,200 year on year 676,000,000 customers went through Shopify 138 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:35,080 just on that one day alone, that Black Friday, $4.6 million per 139 00:06:35,080 --> 00:06:37,840 minute on average on Black Friday. 140 00:06:38,600 --> 00:06:41,760 And that sorry, sorry, 4.6 million per minute was when it 141 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:46,600 hit its peak around midday Eastern seaboard time in the US. 142 00:06:46,760 --> 00:06:49,080 So around midday US, it'll be like early evening here in the 143 00:06:49,080 --> 00:06:50,920 UK. That is when Shopify hit its 144 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:55,320 peak and I was doing $4.6 million per minute of 145 00:06:55,320 --> 00:06:58,240 transactions and revenue going through Shopify stores. 146 00:06:58,640 --> 00:07:00,680 Average order value. Now this is interesting. 147 00:07:00,720 --> 00:07:03,680 So as about the middle market, if you're close to this bad 148 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,000 news, you want to be well above this or well maybe not too far 149 00:07:06,000 --> 00:07:08,040 below it, but you want to be below it or above it because 150 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:09,880 that middle market void has been created. 151 00:07:10,160 --> 00:07:12,600 And but on average, and this has been converted into dollars 152 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:16,040 across all the different countries, $108.56 was the 153 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:19,240 average order value, which that's pretty impressive. 154 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,800 Like I was expecting it to be more like 30 or $40 thinking 155 00:07:21,800 --> 00:07:25,280 about the volume of products and you'd buy way more smaller, 156 00:07:25,280 --> 00:07:27,840 cheaper products than you would large products, but no large 157 00:07:27,840 --> 00:07:29,600 products are selling as well to bring that average up to 158 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,520 $108.56. The top countries now I'm pretty 159 00:07:33,520 --> 00:07:36,400 proud of this top countries, United States, the second one. 160 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:38,880 Come on, guys, the UK. So although it was a bleak 161 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:42,760 outlook overall, Shopify in the UK or sorry, the UK was the 162 00:07:42,760 --> 00:07:45,760 second biggest market for Shopify transaction Shopify 163 00:07:45,760 --> 00:07:48,360 sales going on. And after that we got Australia, 164 00:07:48,360 --> 00:07:51,440 Canada and Germany. So they were the top five S USUK 165 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:54,760 Australia, sorry, spell check to to something else, but it's 166 00:07:54,760 --> 00:07:58,400 Australia in the list. So UKUS Australia, Canada and 167 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,120 Germany and the top selling cities. 168 00:08:01,320 --> 00:08:03,440 Well done. LA followed by New York, 169 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,000 followed by love it London. We were #3 and followed by San 170 00:08:07,000 --> 00:08:10,880 Francisco, followed by Miami. SO1UK4US cities in there. 171 00:08:10,880 --> 00:08:12,800 So you see how big the US was, which is fair enough. 172 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,760 You know, Shopify is a Canadian platform and very, very popular 173 00:08:15,760 --> 00:08:18,520 across the United States. And I'm not sure how many of you 174 00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:21,400 guys are using Shop Pay as a payment gateway on your website, 175 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,720 but there was a 58% increase year on year in people using 176 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:27,720 Shop Pay. I also read a report and 177 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:29,720 apologies, I can't remember the name of the report or the stats 178 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:31,360 on it, but it was quite, I remember it being quite 179 00:08:31,360 --> 00:08:34,039 compelling that actually if you use shop Pay, people are more 180 00:08:34,039 --> 00:08:36,360 likely to convert on your site because they trust Shop Pay. 181 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:39,919 Users are getting more and more used to using Shop Pay and a lot 182 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:42,520 of consumers that don't know what Shopify is will know what 183 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:44,280 Shop Pay is. That's like the front end. 184 00:08:44,480 --> 00:08:48,440 Hey, this site uses Shop Pay and people aren't to understand that 185 00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:50,160 it's a platform, it's an app you can download. 186 00:08:50,560 --> 00:08:53,960 And on top of that, so 58% increase year on year in the use 187 00:08:53,960 --> 00:08:55,880 of Shop Pay. On Black Friday, there were 188 00:08:55,880 --> 00:08:59,360 91,000,000 versus over. There's a plus sign next to it. 189 00:08:59,360 --> 00:09:03,040 So over 91,000,000 items were tracked on Shop Pay. 190 00:09:03,040 --> 00:09:04,440 So that's when the delivery bit happens. 191 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:06,400 You can use Shop Pay to track multiple orders from multiple 192 00:09:06,400 --> 00:09:08,560 retailers in one place. It's pretty cool. 193 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:11,280 And this one, this might mean nothing to some of you, but I 194 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:15,640 love seeing data stats. And there were 12 terabytes of 195 00:09:15,640 --> 00:09:21,120 data moving on average per minute throughout Black Friday. 196 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,840 So on average, every minute there were 12-12 terabytes of 197 00:09:24,840 --> 00:09:27,880 data moving through Shopify across the whole day of Black 198 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:31,280 Friday. So the short answer then is yes, 199 00:09:31,280 --> 00:09:33,880 we are all on this, all on the right platform using Shopify. 200 00:09:33,880 --> 00:09:35,800 Shopify has seen incredible growth. 201 00:09:36,000 --> 00:09:38,480 I haven't pulled out the growth of other platforms, but I had a 202 00:09:38,480 --> 00:09:40,920 quick look at a few and they were looking a bit bleak. 203 00:09:41,240 --> 00:09:43,720 I think Magento is heading towards death at the moment. 204 00:09:43,720 --> 00:09:46,280 I'm afraid everybody, it might not completely die. 205 00:09:46,800 --> 00:09:49,280 A lot of people aren't using it. Everybody I talk to is using it, 206 00:09:49,280 --> 00:09:52,320 has got frustrations with it and one client in particular, which 207 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:54,600 is you, Gary, if you're listening to this, you're moving 208 00:09:54,600 --> 00:09:57,040 your final sight to Shopify at the moment. 2 have already been 209 00:09:57,040 --> 00:09:59,360 moved and we're helping you move the third one and lots of people 210 00:09:59,360 --> 00:10:01,600 are doing that moving from a Gentile cross to Shopify. 211 00:10:02,200 --> 00:10:06,280 So I've got 3 recommendations if your Black Friday was good and 212 00:10:06,280 --> 00:10:08,520 three if it was bad, and you're welcome to take all six and all 213 00:10:08,520 --> 00:10:09,360 of them anyway. They're all good 214 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:11,560 recommendations, but I think they specifically apply if 215 00:10:11,560 --> 00:10:13,440 you've had a bad Black Friday or a good Black Friday. 216 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,920 So the three that are good, number one I would say is even 217 00:10:15,920 --> 00:10:18,160 though Black Friday was really good, especially if you're in 218 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:21,480 the UK or a struggling economy like the UK's at the moment, 219 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:24,240 it's actually starting to shrink and retract, which is not great 220 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:27,080 for any of us. Brace yourself for January. 221 00:10:27,120 --> 00:10:29,720 I think it's really important to have a serious think about 222 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,120 January and work out what you should and shouldn't be 223 00:10:32,120 --> 00:10:34,960 investing in ads, what you can get organically without having 224 00:10:34,960 --> 00:10:37,160 to invest in ads, because then you can increase the volume of 225 00:10:37,160 --> 00:10:40,440 organic sales without the cost. So I think my, my point really 226 00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:43,240 is brace yourself for January. We've got a couple of weeks left 227 00:10:43,240 --> 00:10:45,520 of this year before we all break up for Christmas and start 228 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:47,520 drinking Christmas whiskey, which I'm super excited about. 229 00:10:47,520 --> 00:10:48,760 I love a good whiskey at Christmas. 230 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:51,480 But I think have a real think about January and what we're 231 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,600 going to do in January and through Q1 of next year to make 232 00:10:54,600 --> 00:10:57,520 sure that we maintain this good level of sales we've had from 233 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:00,080 Black Friday. The 2nd 1 is, and I say this to 234 00:11:00,080 --> 00:11:01,880 everybody, whether you've had a good or bad, but I've put it in 235 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:03,760 the good list because I think in the good list, you'll have more 236 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,680 people in this and everyone who bought from you over Black 237 00:11:06,680 --> 00:11:08,160 Friday. Have a real think how we're 238 00:11:08,160 --> 00:11:10,760 going to segment those guys, what communication we're going 239 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:13,280 to give to those guys as well. I think it's worth looking back 240 00:11:13,280 --> 00:11:15,600 at previous Black Fridays. And when I say Black Friday, I 241 00:11:15,600 --> 00:11:18,600 mean the whole of Cyber weekend or however long you ran your 242 00:11:18,600 --> 00:11:20,880 your cyber campaigns for on site. 243 00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,080 And also have a look at peak in general. 244 00:11:23,440 --> 00:11:26,320 Have a look when those customers made their 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 245 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:29,840 6th purchases and let that define the frequency that you 246 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:32,040 talk to them over e-mail this year or you send them stuff in 247 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:33,640 the post. Do you ever find that in your 248 00:11:33,640 --> 00:11:35,320 warehouse? You have dead stock. 249 00:11:35,440 --> 00:11:37,280 You can't sell it, no one wants to buy it, and you can't get a 250 00:11:37,280 --> 00:11:40,080 refund on it. Or alternatively, you're missing 251 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:41,440 inventory in your warehouse that you need. 252 00:11:41,440 --> 00:11:43,920 You've got sales coming in and you're low on stock and you 253 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:46,040 haven't ordered more stock. In time. 254 00:12:23,320 --> 00:12:25,880 Some of them will be and great if they do take them out of your 255 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,560 Black Friday segmentation and put them in your just general 256 00:12:28,560 --> 00:12:32,080 VIP customers, repeat customers, newsletter customers, etcetera, 257 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:35,520 etcetera. But actually, if they only buy 258 00:12:35,520 --> 00:12:37,920 on Black Friday when you're on sale, just keep them in the 259 00:12:37,920 --> 00:12:39,880 list. Don't bother them all the time. 260 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:41,960 Send them the odd catch up, send them free bits of advice. 261 00:12:41,960 --> 00:12:44,000 Don't push products too much. And then when you do have a 262 00:12:44,000 --> 00:12:46,960 sale, hit them really hard. You know, 4 emails over, over 263 00:12:46,960 --> 00:12:49,080 the, over the kind of the two weeks sale you're running or 264 00:12:49,080 --> 00:12:50,400 whatever it might be throughout the year. 265 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:52,800 And, but do plan out that engagement strategy for everyone 266 00:12:52,800 --> 00:12:55,920 that's coming from Black Friday. And also be really aware of what 267 00:12:55,920 --> 00:12:58,880 discounts you ran during Black Friday and what the customer 268 00:12:58,880 --> 00:13:00,480 perception of those discounts is. 269 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:03,600 And we've had clients in the past and I mentioned one a 270 00:13:03,600 --> 00:13:06,640 couple of times since last year, not by name because then I can 271 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:09,480 say what I'm about to say. They over discounted from the 272 00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,040 1st of October, rather way through to December, January, 273 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:13,400 the whole business ground to a halt. 274 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:16,560 I don't want to say who they are because they're a good brand, a 275 00:13:16,560 --> 00:13:19,280 really good client of ours, but it was really hard and we had to 276 00:13:19,280 --> 00:13:21,840 dig ourselves out of that. So Black Friday this year has 277 00:13:21,840 --> 00:13:24,240 been way more like it's one window only and we're only doing 278 00:13:24,240 --> 00:13:26,200 1 discount. It's not too much, but we're 279 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,280 adding value rather than providing discounts to customers 280 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:32,320 that that is the plan this year and it's worked incredibly well. 281 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:34,480 But there's a good example that actually if you had a really 282 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:37,800 good peak, they had an incredible peak for three months 283 00:13:37,800 --> 00:13:40,680 through, through Black Friday, then into Christmas and then 284 00:13:40,680 --> 00:13:42,040 January. The whole business fell apart. 285 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:44,080 So again, be aware of January, think about that customer 286 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:46,880 engagement strategy and also be really aware of what discounts 287 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,080 you ran during Cyber Weekend or your cyber campaigns and Black 288 00:13:50,080 --> 00:13:52,200 Friday, etcetera. And bear that in mind when 289 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:54,360 you're doing the next thing. It's very dangerous, I think, 290 00:13:54,360 --> 00:13:56,520 for any brand to become hooked on discounts. 291 00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:59,120 We do have a few clients. It's like we go on discount 292 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:01,920 everyone like relax off. Finally, we put a sale on and 293 00:14:01,920 --> 00:14:04,440 revenues going up and everyone's looking all dandy and I'm 294 00:14:04,440 --> 00:14:07,120 normally the one screaming there being like, guys, it's all going 295 00:14:07,120 --> 00:14:08,560 to stop soon. Like, you know, the finance 296 00:14:08,560 --> 00:14:10,640 director is going to end this sale and we're going to have to 297 00:14:10,760 --> 00:14:13,240 survive without it. So actually I think A, we should 298 00:14:13,280 --> 00:14:16,280 end it early, B, we shouldn't discount too much and C, we 299 00:14:16,280 --> 00:14:18,600 should have a real think about anyone that bought this product 300 00:14:18,600 --> 00:14:19,960 during that time. We're going to push this product 301 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:22,360 because it's a good product to go with it and we might apply a 302 00:14:22,360 --> 00:14:24,280 second discount to a second order because that's cheaper 303 00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:26,160 than paying Google. So I think there's things you 304 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:28,880 can do like that without keeping a site wide sort of set of 305 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:31,080 discounts happening like every week, every month and every 306 00:14:31,080 --> 00:14:33,400 quarter. If Black Friday was 307 00:14:33,400 --> 00:14:35,920 underwhelming, firstly, I'm very sorry to hear that. 308 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:37,560 It is a tough, it is really tough. 309 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:40,360 Although there's an increased demand, there's also an influx 310 00:14:40,360 --> 00:14:43,360 of advertising and every retailer's pushing their thing 311 00:14:43,640 --> 00:14:46,280 to a consumer. I mean, I bought, I saved, I, I 312 00:14:46,280 --> 00:14:48,840 waited till Black Friday like a lot of consumers to buy big 313 00:14:48,840 --> 00:14:53,000 heavy items, heavy financially, as in it's going to cost me 314 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:55,240 quite a lot for that item. And I bought a new vacuum 315 00:14:55,240 --> 00:14:57,200 cleaner, for example, which is absolutely incredible. 316 00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:59,440 But I waited till Black Friday to do that. 317 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,000 I actually waited until Cyber Monday to order it because I 318 00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:03,480 want to see if the discount got any better. 319 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,720 And it did on Cyber Monday, they discounted it by another 5%. 320 00:15:06,960 --> 00:15:08,120 So great. I've just saved myself some good 321 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:10,360 money on that vacuum. And so if it has been 322 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:12,560 underwhelming, I am sorry, it is really difficult, but as a 323 00:15:12,560 --> 00:15:16,000 consumer, it's overwhelming. Everybody is screaming at you 324 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:17,720 buy this product. You want this thing like which 325 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:19,680 vacuum do you want to buy? What brand you want? 326 00:15:19,680 --> 00:15:20,960 Do you want to check out this one? 327 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:23,280 Like we're an amazing competitor to this brand that you know and 328 00:15:23,280 --> 00:15:25,160 love and we're probably thinking of buying from anyway. 329 00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,160 We're a good alternative to that. 330 00:15:27,160 --> 00:15:28,840 And it's like, oh, it's Black Friday. 331 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,400 I don't know if I've got the time because I've got things to 332 00:15:31,400 --> 00:15:32,520 buy. And obviously I work in 333 00:15:32,520 --> 00:15:34,440 marketing as well. So it's been hectic here, but 334 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:36,280 people do get overwhelmed by that. 335 00:15:36,280 --> 00:15:38,200 So I think my three points around Black Friday, it's been 336 00:15:38,200 --> 00:15:39,160 underwhelming. I'm really sorry. 337 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:41,640 But point number one is think carefully about your next sale 338 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,000 and next push. I wonder if maybe when you push 339 00:15:45,000 --> 00:15:48,160 Black Friday next year, you do it at a different time to 340 00:15:48,160 --> 00:15:49,600 everybody else. You do something over Cyber 341 00:15:49,600 --> 00:15:52,240 Weekend, but maybe go like 3 or 4 weeks early and say to 342 00:15:52,240 --> 00:15:55,680 everyone, we're doing our Black Friday sale early like this is 343 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:58,680 it, this is the discount by now or never again. 344 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:00,840 I mean, definitely never again. And they could, you could still 345 00:16:00,840 --> 00:16:02,680 run a sale later over Black Friday itself. 346 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,200 And, but I think trying to change the user behaviour so 347 00:16:05,200 --> 00:16:06,920 you're the only thing they're thinking about, the only thing 348 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:08,520 they are purchasing from at that moment. 349 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:11,000 But have a real think about that as well as when you're next 350 00:16:11,000 --> 00:16:13,280 going to go on discount. Because if it hasn't worked well 351 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:16,240 for you, then maybe you are an incredible business. 352 00:16:16,240 --> 00:16:17,320 And look at the bright side of this. 353 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:19,600 You don't need to discount products to make sales or 354 00:16:19,600 --> 00:16:21,560 actually discounts your customers don't care about, 355 00:16:21,960 --> 00:16:24,000 which might mean you still need to crack. 356 00:16:24,120 --> 00:16:27,160 What is it, you know, you know, cracking that case of what is it 357 00:16:27,160 --> 00:16:28,560 that customers really care about? 358 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:29,960 Why do they buy? What are they trying to get hold 359 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,000 of from me? And I will base the business 360 00:16:32,000 --> 00:16:33,440 around that, based on branding around that. 361 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,400 And second thing, if it was underwhelming, go back to the 362 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:38,520 basics. There's clearly something wrong 363 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:41,160 if you ran a Black Friday sale and sales did not increase or 364 00:16:41,160 --> 00:16:42,520 didn't increase as much as last year. 365 00:16:42,760 --> 00:16:45,280 So go back to the basics. And these are my three favorite 366 00:16:45,280 --> 00:16:47,800 questions that I ask clients all the time. 367 00:16:47,800 --> 00:16:49,320 And a lot of them don't know all three answers. 368 00:16:49,320 --> 00:16:51,400 And we help them find them out. We make much better decisions. 369 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:56,240 The question 1 is what do people want #2 is how do you offer that 370 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,400 effectively? And that involves the whole user 371 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:01,320 journey, the website, the way we position it, how we tackle those 372 00:17:01,320 --> 00:17:03,320 problems. And the third thing as well is 373 00:17:03,360 --> 00:17:05,839 and, and what does it cost? What does the product cost? 374 00:17:05,839 --> 00:17:09,119 And when I say cost, I really mean value, because money is 375 00:17:09,119 --> 00:17:11,560 just purely value as far as the consumer is concerned. 376 00:17:11,560 --> 00:17:13,240 They'll probably have a budget. There's probably a, you know, 377 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:15,599 limit on it, but even then you could go, well, why don't you 378 00:17:15,599 --> 00:17:17,839 buy now, pay later. And actually then the value of 379 00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:20,280 it has been massively increased. And actually the payment value 380 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:21,640 now is 6 months instead of one month. 381 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:23,760 They're going to value that product a lot more. 382 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:26,280 And I think a good example of this is when you've spent, think 383 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:28,680 about the most expensive item of clothing or jewellery you've 384 00:17:28,680 --> 00:17:31,360 ever bought. How much do you treasure that 385 00:17:31,920 --> 00:17:35,040 versus something you bought for $5 from a market like AT shirt 386 00:17:35,040 --> 00:17:36,920 or something? Evaluate a lot more. 387 00:17:37,560 --> 00:17:39,680 And so I think my second point about if it's underwhelming is 388 00:17:39,680 --> 00:17:41,120 go back to basing those three questions. 389 00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:43,360 What do people want, how do you offer that effectively and what 390 00:17:43,360 --> 00:17:47,920 does it cost #3 have a look now at your stock. 391 00:17:48,080 --> 00:17:50,080 And I think you need to make some really difficult decisions. 392 00:17:50,360 --> 00:17:52,920 One thing you want to look at is what did sell out? 393 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:55,600 What have we sold? What have we not got any more 394 00:17:56,000 --> 00:17:58,400 because if we've not got something anymore, it means it 395 00:17:58,400 --> 00:18:00,400 was successful and we ran out of stock. 396 00:18:00,400 --> 00:18:02,640 So were the sales on that good? Were they profitable? 397 00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:04,400 And is that why we ran out of stock? 398 00:18:04,400 --> 00:18:07,400 If yes, we do have a partner inventory planner, check them 399 00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,000 out. They have a bit of software that 400 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:11,440 can help you forecast when you're going to need to get more 401 00:18:11,440 --> 00:18:13,360 stock in etcetera, etcetera. And you can tell it's going to 402 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:15,360 take me 3 weeks to turn this thing around and it will go, you 403 00:18:15,360 --> 00:18:17,400 don't have enough stock for Black Friday and it's a best 404 00:18:17,400 --> 00:18:20,040 seller and it will tell you the financials of what is selling, 405 00:18:20,040 --> 00:18:21,440 what margins you making, etcetera. 406 00:18:21,440 --> 00:18:24,680 So I think have a look at the stock in the warehouse and make 407 00:18:24,680 --> 00:18:27,040 some hard decisions about how do we get rid of stock that we've 408 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:29,680 got leftover, what's sold out that we should buy more of and 409 00:18:29,680 --> 00:18:31,200 get more of really, really quickly. 410 00:18:31,600 --> 00:18:34,880 And sometimes if you've, if you've like sold out of like the 411 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:38,040 8020 rule, right, you've sold out of 20% of your products has 412 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:41,120 made you 80% of sales and 80% of your stock is still sitting 413 00:18:41,120 --> 00:18:44,600 there unsold. Some lenders, some banks, there 414 00:18:44,600 --> 00:18:46,600 are opportunities and I don't want to give any financial 415 00:18:46,600 --> 00:18:49,520 advice to people here, but there is an option to try and finance 416 00:18:49,520 --> 00:18:53,440 some of that stock with the bank to say, look, if give us some 417 00:18:53,440 --> 00:18:55,560 money against that stock. So you're basically going to 418 00:18:55,560 --> 00:18:57,760 finance against that stock. What we do is we're going to buy 419 00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,840 more of all this other stock that did sell and use the profit 420 00:18:59,840 --> 00:19:02,760 of that to pay your loan back. Plus, we know this stuff's going 421 00:19:02,760 --> 00:19:04,280 to sell. It's just going to take 6 to 12 422 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:05,640 months because it's selling slowly. 423 00:19:06,240 --> 00:19:08,200 And then, you know, get, get creative with it. 424 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:09,440 Go back to the basics of marketing. 425 00:19:09,640 --> 00:19:11,120 What is this product? Who's it for? 426 00:19:11,120 --> 00:19:12,560 Is it the right product? Is it the wrong product? 427 00:19:12,560 --> 00:19:14,520 What problems does it solve? Why do people buy it? 428 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:16,760 You know, if you've got downtime at the moment, because sales are 429 00:19:16,760 --> 00:19:19,160 slow, you've got downtime in January because consumer 430 00:19:19,160 --> 00:19:21,720 spending is going to decrease after January sales are 431 00:19:21,720 --> 00:19:24,360 finished. And spend that time on the phone 432 00:19:24,360 --> 00:19:26,720 to customers and you'll probably find some incredibly simple 433 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,520 little things that you can change very, very quickly, like 434 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,040 literally changing the wording of things on on your website. 435 00:19:33,760 --> 00:19:35,680 We've got an episode coming out in January that I've already 436 00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:38,600 recorded amazing guy called Chase and Chase said that one of 437 00:19:38,600 --> 00:19:40,680 the easiest, quickest CRO things he's ever done. 438 00:19:40,680 --> 00:19:42,280 And we've done this on a couple of clients and seen a very 439 00:19:42,280 --> 00:19:45,400 similar result next to the buy button or the add to cart 440 00:19:45,400 --> 00:19:48,840 button, literally just put next to it and you know, no, no 441 00:19:48,840 --> 00:19:52,200 questions, money back guarantee, 60 days, 90 days, something like 442 00:19:52,200 --> 00:19:53,680 that. All you're doing is you're just 443 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:56,360 saying we have a returns policy. If you're not happy, you can 444 00:19:56,360 --> 00:19:57,880 return it. And there are laws in most 445 00:19:57,880 --> 00:20:01,360 countries about the return, but with with just changing the 446 00:20:01,360 --> 00:20:03,080 wording of it, there's going to be no questions. 447 00:20:03,120 --> 00:20:05,440 Full money back guarantee if you're not happy. 448 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:09,000 And we've actually found returns have decreased because the 449 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,240 consumer confidence in the product that's arriving has 450 00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:12,880 increased. And they're more likely to want 451 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:15,560 to buy it and try it and make the most of it because you've 452 00:20:15,560 --> 00:20:17,960 been so confident in it, they're going to be confident in it as 453 00:20:17,960 --> 00:20:19,400 well. And so that the little bit might 454 00:20:19,400 --> 00:20:21,560 be little things like that you can do by talking to customers, 455 00:20:21,840 --> 00:20:24,320 find out why they bought from you, why they why they bought 456 00:20:24,320 --> 00:20:25,360 from you. A second, a third, a fourth 457 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:26,600 time. Those guys are really key. 458 00:20:26,840 --> 00:20:30,080 So look at ways you can shift that stock creatively. 459 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,600 We've had some brands in the past say, look, we bought tons 460 00:20:32,600 --> 00:20:34,160 of these. We've got a massive, massive 461 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:36,840 gamble on this. Bought loads of this item in. 462 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:38,560 We've got tons of stock of it. It's not selling. 463 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,040 We're just going to give one away for free with every single 464 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:42,720 order. Now put that on the website and 465 00:20:42,720 --> 00:20:44,560 something, our Google Ads ROI went up. 466 00:20:44,600 --> 00:20:46,680 And actually because the ROI went up, we're paying Google 467 00:20:46,680 --> 00:20:47,920 less per order that we're getting. 468 00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:51,560 And before you know it we've got rid of all of that stock and 469 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:52,880 we've made a good ROI in the process. 470 00:20:52,880 --> 00:20:55,960 We've actually ended up pretty much selling it not by charging 471 00:20:55,960 --> 00:20:59,080 consumers for that product, but by making a discounting our cost 472 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:01,920 per conversion on Google. So we're paying Google less for 473 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:04,360 the same amount of sales and that saving we've got there is 474 00:21:04,360 --> 00:21:06,120 covered our at least our buy price of this stock. 475 00:21:06,120 --> 00:21:08,520 So we've just got our money back and we can buy stock that we are 476 00:21:08,520 --> 00:21:10,360 going to sell versus stuff we're not. 477 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:12,600 Anyway, short episode from me today. 478 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:14,920 I just wanted to round this out. There's some incredible stats. 479 00:21:15,000 --> 00:21:16,840 Go, go and check out some of the Shopify stats as well. 480 00:21:17,200 --> 00:21:19,680 And, and if you're bucking the trend on Shopify and not doing 481 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:21,560 some of these incredible things, if it's not been as good for you 482 00:21:21,560 --> 00:21:23,320 guys, do you please do reach out. 483 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,360 I'm happy to spend 5 or 10 minutes on people's websites, 484 00:21:25,360 --> 00:21:28,160 give you some ideas over e-mail that I think might help, might 485 00:21:28,880 --> 00:21:31,400 give you guys some advice to help grow things or help turn 486 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:33,000 this thing around because I don't want to see any retailers 487 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,640 obviously go under and disappear when things don't go well. 488 00:21:35,960 --> 00:21:38,240 And one way you can engage with me and engage with the team here 489 00:21:38,240 --> 00:21:39,760 and lots and lots of our listeners. 490 00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:41,120 And it's growing like crazy at the moment. 491 00:21:41,120 --> 00:21:42,320 As mentioned, start as a growth hub. 492 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:44,120 And we've got loads of round tables going on. 493 00:21:44,120 --> 00:21:46,960 We are going to be doing a round table in January, specifically 494 00:21:46,960 --> 00:21:48,200 talking about peak and Black Friday. 495 00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,760 So if you want to come to that, come join the join the growth 496 00:21:50,760 --> 00:21:53,000 hub Baron and I'll let you into the growth hub pretty quickly. 497 00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:54,440 We've pretty much got no waiting list now. 498 00:21:54,440 --> 00:21:56,680 We've let everybody in. There's so much cool chat going 499 00:21:56,680 --> 00:21:58,200 on in there. And he comes that webinar in 500 00:21:58,200 --> 00:22:00,200 January and Sonia webinar round table. 501 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,040 And we may even need to start splitting our round tables 502 00:22:03,360 --> 00:22:05,000 because it looks like they're getting more and more popular. 503 00:22:05,000 --> 00:22:07,240 So you might have to do like two or three runs of one, but we'll 504 00:22:07,240 --> 00:22:09,360 try and put all of you in the right groups of different people 505 00:22:09,360 --> 00:22:10,320 as well, which is amazing. So yeah. 506 00:22:10,480 --> 00:22:12,240 And the growth is completely free, doesn't cost anything. 507 00:22:12,280 --> 00:22:14,560 So absolutely no reason not to go and sign up and see what it's 508 00:22:14,560 --> 00:22:16,000 all about. But anyway, I thank you so much 509 00:22:16,000 --> 00:22:17,640 for listening today. It's been so great to have you 510 00:22:17,640 --> 00:22:19,680 guys tuning in. I hope it's been really useful. 511 00:22:19,680 --> 00:22:22,200 If you've got any questions, you think I've got it wrong, my wife 512 00:22:22,200 --> 00:22:23,360 will confirm I get it wrong all the time. 513 00:22:23,360 --> 00:22:25,320 So please do send me an e-mail. Hello at winning with 514 00:22:25,320 --> 00:22:27,840 shopify.com or fill out one of the forms on the website. 515 00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:29,800 Let me know what you think I've got it wrong or actually, if you 516 00:22:29,800 --> 00:22:31,640 want to share that, that's exactly what's happened to me, 517 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:33,120 please help. We'll spend 2 minutes on your 518 00:22:33,120 --> 00:22:34,160 site. But thank you so much tuning in. 519 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:36,240 Back again next Friday and I hope you're staying well and I 520 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:38,120 hope you've had an amazing time through peak.