Black Friday 2020: The Impact of COVID-19 on the biggest sales day

Next November 27th will begin the first Black Friday of the COVID era. 

And the battle will be, more than ever, on the Internet. 

According to forecasts by the consulting firm BCG and published by The Business Insider, large retail groups are still trying to find the key to keeping shoppers safe in their stores, operating efficiently and generating demand.

A complicated equation to solve, indeed.

However, with the forecasts still cooking, there are changes that we will undoubtedly see consolidated from the past months, and since the Covid crisis broke out in March.

We analyze the most relevant:

In-store shopping

The in-store shopping experience has changed. And during Black Friday 2020 it will continue to do so towards a deeper immersion between the digital and the physical.

This includes the consolidation of options such as "click and collect", or an online replica of the bundle purchase, typical of the physical store on days like Black Friday. 

Refresh and reload

This year, online store traffic is expected to continue to rise.

With certain sites still technically kicking, and after the peaks suffered in April and May, we will continue to see eCommerce with drops and problems generated by a high number of users trying to buy at the same time.

Without a doubt, this will translate for some into a new lost opportunity to consolidate the online channel.

Better buying opportunities and for longer

The general bet is to increase discounts and the duration of them to take advantage of the need for stock clearance after the pandemic and following the trend of recent months, where the period of sales was interspersed with days of strong discounts, offers, and "only today" .

Opportunities and offers are expected to extend beyond November 27th and begin as early as Halloween until the end of the month. The goal is to make the most of consumers' shopping mode and keep it as long as possible.

The biggest revolution: online

The target of the business will not be the physical store (in fact in the US most of them will not be open on Thanksgiving).
The brands are already preparing certain changes and functionalities that will be tested among the general public during this period. We are talking for example about voice shopping, functionalities like VR, Visual Shopping etc...

In conclusion, those who have bet on strengthening their online channel in this 2020, could have a greater competitive advantage over their rivals. However, for those who still have pending tasks it will be more complicated to collect good results during this atypical Black Friday 2020.