Black Friday and Cyber Monday for B2B e-commerce – hit or miss

B2B e-commerce has slowly but surely been picking up trends from B2C. But what about Black Friday and Cyber Monday? 

How Black Friday works 

Black Friday is an American phenomenon that has been making waves in the rest of the world as well. Traditionally, it is the day before Thanksgiving, where shops give big reductions on products and services. Black Friday was first named Black in the 1960’s in Philadelphia, because it resulted in chaos: a huge amount of traffic in the cities, many people running in and out of shops, long waiting lines at the till... 

Cyber Monday used to be the digital sister of Black Friday. The first Monday after the Thanksgiving weekend, e-commerces would give big reductions. Today, both days have shifted towards e-commerce, especially in 2020, where we live with the reality of a pandemic. 

What’s B2B got to do with it? 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a huge trend in the B2C market, so why not think about it when you are in the B2B scope? Set yourself apart by taking part in Black Friday, as little B2B players are doing this. 

Even in the B2C market, opinions are divided. Some people are explicitly not taking part in events such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Hit or miss, it all comes down to this: even if you don't want to participate, why not thanking your customers for their loyalty? 

What can you do as a B2B player? 

Have you decided that you want to take part? Here's a few things you could do: 

1. Give personalized discounts, based on account type 
2. Give your customers a gift-with-purchase on Black Friday and Cyber Monday 
3. Send out an email to your customers with a coupon code for a free item or a discount code of choice 
4. If you don't have an e-commerce just yet, why not sending out cards with a coupon code that's redeemable with your customer's next purchase?  

Make sure to leverage email marketing and social media advertising (we recommend LinkedIn) when you are setting up a Black Friday or Cyber Monday campaign - it would be a waste of budget and energy if it then goes unnoticed. You could even create a dedicated landing page for the campaign, so you can generate leads while you're at it. 

Are you going to take part in Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year? Or will you put it in next year's marketing plan?

Let's discuss this on our LinkedIn-page.