Even before Covid, the balance of Black Friday consumption was slowly tipping toward e-commerce. But 2020 was the year of extreme tilt, with nearly twice as many consumers opting to stay home and buy online instead of going out to stores (100 million versus 58.7 million).
Make Black Friday a More Exciting Online Experience
How consumer psychology can make your major sales feel like IRL events.
November 16, 2021
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Summary.
As retailers seek to replicate online the success of big physical-store sales events like Black Friday, they should first look to the psychology behind what makes Black Friday so compelling to customers. The authors, marketing professors and experts in consumer psychology, identify three elements that spur sales and a positive customer experience at those big physical sales events: doorbusters, well-managed scarcity, and a compelling browsing experience that lets customers serendipitously discover products to buy. The authors then explain how these features can be replicated or modified for an e-commerce context — as Amazon, Walmart, Macy’s, and IKEA are already starting to do.