5 Ways to Stand Out and Boost Black Friday Sales

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, falling on Friday 29th November in 2024. It’s known for being a perfect time for snagging a bargain, opening the end of year shopping season, and causing a huge uptick in retail sales both on and offline. While Black Friday as a retail phenomenon started out in the US in the 80s, it’s now a popular shopping period the world over. Online retail traffic can double over the Black Friday weekend - and in the UK alone, over £13.3 billion* was spent in 2023.

If you’re an ecommerce seller, Black Friday is a prime time for boosting sales with the right strategies. Hot products in e-commerce will fly off the virtual shelves - and as Black Friday is now a global event, you can expect demand from all over the world.

This guide touches on a few ideas to maximise your impact over Black Friday - plus we’ll look at how Wise Business can help with taking international payments in different currencies from clients and customers, or for foreign currency withdrawals from platforms like Etsy, eBay, or Amazon.

How to get paid with your Wise Business account

Create Eye-catching Ads and Use Retargeting

Black Friday is huge for ecommerce - but it’s also hyper competitive. That means you’ll need to make clever use of adverts and marketing communication to stand out.

Start planning your advertising strategy early, and try to get ads visible several weeks in advance so your customers are ready to buy when it comes to Black Friday. You’ll need to use attention-grabbing design with bold colours and compelling visuals to make your ad designs stand out, including the black background colour that is popular for Black Friday.

Starting your Black Friday campaign early also gives plenty of time for retargeting. If customers browse your site, or load and abandon their cart, you’ve got time to engage them again, reminding them of the products they've viewed and the discounts being offered for Black Friday. Make the most of this tactic with dynamic ads that showcase products based on previous browsing behaviour to create a tailored shopping experience for each of your prospective customers.

Offer exclusive Deals and Bundles

Black Friday is known as a time to get a great deal - which means your customers will expect some kind of offer - whether that's bundles, deals, or free shipping for example.

Invest some time in thinking about which of your products will be top picks for Black Friday in particular, and how you can use promotional mechanics to increase visibility and grab your customer’s attention. As well as creating promotions on products that usually sell well, the huge increase in customer traffic also makes it worth promoting new or less well known products, with offers which are only available for Black Friday.

Use Email Marketing Effectively

Effective marketing strategies can help boost sales for Black Friday, especially if you're creating localised approaches for your customers worldwide. As you’ll be selling to a global market, thinking through your customer base in terms of their specific local preferences can set you apart from the pack.

To get the biggest impact, personalise your marketing emails to different customer segments based on past purchases or interests, to increase engagement and conversion rates. Using last-minute reminder emails on Black Friday morning can also be a powerful way to nudge customers who have shown interest in your products but haven't purchased yet. If you’re running promotions over the full Black Friday weekend, you can also follow up after the big day, to create a sense of urgency and help customers grab a bargain before time runs out.

Implement a Loyalty Rewards Programme

One common and productive approach is to offer early sale access for previous customers, or for loyalty programme members if you have them. By giving loyal customers early access to Black Friday deals, or exclusive offers for this customer group only, you’ll make them feel valued and encourage even more repeat business throughout the year.

If you have a loyalty reward programme in place already, this is a perfect time to sign up new members, plus you could offer bonus points for purchases over the Black Friday period as a good incentive for customers to join your mailing list and buy from you.

Incorporate Urgency

Black Friday tends to create an image of somewhat frantic spending - customers are in the mood to buy, and don’t want to miss out on the great deals.

Make the most of this sense of urgency by using limited stock notifications to inform customers of items that are popular but also running low, encouraging them to purchase before they miss out. Showing how many other customers are also looking at an item, or have put a specific item into their cart can have the same effect. You can also capitalise on this period by displaying countdown timers on product pages or at the checkout to create a sense of urgency around limited time offers.

Get paid with Wise Business

Make it as easy as possible for your customers to pay in their preferred currency, with Wise Business.

Display prices on your website in your customer's local currency, so the customer has a clear understanding of your value proposition and knows they won’t be hit with high conversion fees when they checkout. Then, with your Wise Business account you can withdraw money in the currency your customers pay you - making it a smoother process for both parties.

Wise lets you convert money in your account with the mid-market exchange rate and low, transparent fees, making sure that high conversion costs won’t eat into your business profits over this key sales period. More on that, next.

Manage your international company's finances with Wise Business

Open a Wise Business account for a one time fee, with no minimum balance or monthly subscription to pay. You can use your account to hold 40+ currencies, send payments to 160+ countries, and get local and SWIFT account details for total of 23+ currencies including GBP, EUR, USD and AUD.

Use your Wise account to get paid by customers, marketplace sites and PSPs in the currencies your customers prefer, and then convert to the currency you need with the mid-market exchange rate and low, transparent fees. You can also get business debit and expense cards for you and your team, allowing you to set and manage spending limits according to your business needs. Use your account to spend and withdraw at home and abroad, to send payments to suppliers and contractors, or to run payroll for your team.

Wise Business offers all you need to manage your business finances day to day, plus handy extras to save time and cut out unnecessary admin. Use batch payments to pay up to 1,000 recipients at a time in multiple currencies with one spreadsheet. Get multi-user access and manage user permissions to allow your team members to view, access, and manage the detail they need to do their jobs. And make accounting easier with powerful integrations with Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and more.

Black Friday - and the entire sales period which sits around the day itself - is too good an opportunity to miss as an ecommerce seller. And as Black Friday has huge global recognition, it’s also a top time to boost your international sales. Use the ideas in this guide to maximise your customer reach, and check out Wise Business as a clever way to get paid by others in foreign currencies with lower fees and simple, quick conversions.

*Mintel