With a month to go before Black Friday, retailers are focused on final preparations for what will be their biggest sales peak of the year.

And with good reason: it’s predicted that it could run for five days and be worth more than £5bn to retailers.

Despite this, last year a host of major retailers dropped out of the Black Friday race – most notably Asda, who helped bring the phenomenon to the UK in the first place.

So after all the hype of the last few years, the question is, should your company still get involved?

The answer, as you would expect, is not as clear cut as opting in or out.

Instead, retailers should analyse the huge amount of customer data they have at their disposal and build a peak strategy that puts their customer’s journey at the heart of anything they do.

One size does not fit all

At Qubit we analysed thousands of data points collected from a cross section of retailers during Black Friday last year.

Our analysis found that the impact of the day differs hugely across each sector.

Luxury retailers saw the highest percentage increase in conversion rate – 114% – when compared to the industry’s rest-of year-average, perhaps due to the scarcity of high-level discounts within this sector.

“Is the investment worth it for these retailers in the long term?”

At the other end of the scale, the conversion rate in home and garden increased by 27%.

Interestingly, the repeat purchase rate for luxury and home and garden from new visitors on Black Friday was higher than the rest-of-year average (18% and 9% respectively), making these customers great candidates to target with loyalty strategies.

Meanwhile, of those customers in the electronics sector who converted on Black Friday, only 7% returned to make another purchase.

So is the investment worth it for these retailers in the long term?

In any other industry, perhaps not, but for many retailers in this sector who have embraced a “big and one-off” purchasing strategy, it makes total sense.

Capitalising on the traffic surge

Our data also showed that some retailers benefited from a surge in traffic on Black Friday even if they didn’t run associated marketing campaigns, most notably in fashion.

For these retailers, focusing on creating a seamless, mobile-optimised experience will set them apart as much as their discounts.

“A Black Friday strategy can’t simply be picked off a shelf and plugged in”

As the data shows, a Black Friday strategy can’t simply be picked off a shelf and plugged in; while a discount strategy will hugely appeal to a customer segment for one retailer, a loyalty programme will work better for another.

To avoid meaningless customer experiences, look hard at your customer data from last year to understand how they behave and what appeals to them and serve up personalised experiences which convert and bind in loyalty.

Pick your peaks wisely

Looking at your data may even bring you to the conclusion that you are investing in the wrong peaks or there is a bigger opportunity elsewhere.

Home and garden and gifting are prime examples of industries where this could be the case.

Just look at how Black Friday peaks are evolving in the US.

“While the fourth quarter is traditionally the big focus for many gifting retailers, they shouldn’t ignore other profitable peaks at its expense”

Last year, Home Depot and Walmart took advantage of concentrated seasonal spending on home and garden products by launching a spring Black Friday on March 21.

While the fourth quarter is traditionally the big focus for many gifting retailers, they shouldn’t ignore other profitable peaks at its expense.

According to data from Rakuten Marketing, jewellery retailers’ average order values on Valentine’s Day are bigger than those on Black Friday, while the upcoming Chinese celebration Singles Day on November 11 offers huge opportunities for western retailers, given that last year it eclipsed Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a £6bn global spend.

With the pound at a record low, it would make sense for many retailers to consider diverting their attention and resources to Singles Day.

While the next few months are crucial for the sector, retailers shouldn’t let FOMO drive their customer engagement strategy.

Instead they should use the data at their disposal to better understand when and how they should engage with customers to get the biggest bang for their buck.

While we might not be able to put the genie back in the bottle with Black Friday, retailers should look at what their customers are doing before making any wish.

  • Graham Cooke is chief executive and founder at Qubit