{"id":526,"date":"2015-11-23T16:20:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-23T16:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hostinguk.net\/blog\/?p=526"},"modified":"2015-11-24T11:31:30","modified_gmt":"2015-11-24T11:31:30","slug":"black-friday-cyber-monday-is-your-website-ready","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hostinguk.net\/blog\/black-friday-cyber-monday-is-your-website-ready\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Friday & Cyber Monday…. is your website ready?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black Friday & Cyber Monday are important dates for many retail websites. Have you been preparing your website for them? Maybe you’re thinking: “What is it? When is it?” Don’t worry, we’ll explain all.<\/p>\n

These dates were created back in 2005 by marketing companies is the USA, to encourage people to do more shopping online. Many website promote special deals, discounts, etc on these dates – and as a result they are amongst the busiest shopping days online. People love a bargain, and many people look forward to these dates to make a purchase online. They are thought by many people to be the best time of year to grab a bargain. Furthermore, many people are also persuaded to make an impulse purchase on these dates, due to the deals promoted towards them.<\/p>\n

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America sneezes – and we all catch a cold<\/h2>\n

Black Friday & Cyber Monday have been running in the US for many years, but websites all over the world are fast catching up, to the extent that for many UK retailers, these dates are firmly established in their marketing calendars. It doesn’t matter what country a person lives in, they all like a bargain.<\/p>\n

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Black Friday<\/h2>\n

Since these dates originated in the US, they both follow the American holiday “Thanksgiving<\/strong>“, which is on the fourth Thursday in November – which this year\u00a0falls on November 26th. The next day is is\u00a0Black Friday –\u00a0November 27th.<\/p>\n

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Cyber Monday<\/h2>\n

Cyber Monday takes place the Monday after Black Friday – this year landing on November 30th. While Black Friday is popular, stats have shown that Cyber Monday usually results in the best deals being offered by retailers, often making it the second busiest shopping day in the UK.<\/p>\n

The term was coined by the US National Retail Federation in 2005 to encourage people to shop online on the Monday after Thanksgiving. Since people are often back at work on that day, they can’t go in shops\u00a0to get deals, but it turns out plenty of people will do some online shopping while at work.<\/p>\n

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How long do they last for?<\/h2>\n

Traditionally Black Friday & Cyber Monday were one day events, but now many retailers extend them for longer – in some case up to a week, which is what Amazon did last year – they offered a\u00a0Black Friday Deals week, which resulted in 5.5 million items sold which was a record for them. Some websites even extend their\u00a0Black Friday deals up to 2 weeks.<\/p>\n

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Suitable for your website?<\/h2>\n

Black Friday & Cyber Monday can be a huge sales opportunity for many websites. If you sell something via your website then you should at the very least test some promotions on these dates, to see if their is a demand from your audience. Around these dates huge numbers of people are actively searching for deals – these dates have caught peoples attention – people increasingly know of these special dates and are many are now expecting websites to be participating. Historically Black Friday promos has been used by websites offering\u00a0lower-end electronics, however, in recent years, numerous\u00a0luxury retailers have started offering sales and promotions through their outlets. Even companies such as Apple have started these type of promotion periods.<\/p>\n

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How to prepare your website<\/h2>\n

Get your website prepared as early as possible for\u00a0Black Friday & Cyber Monday.<\/p>\n