How to use Competitor Insights for Your Black Friday 2021 Pricing Strategy

We’ve ventured into the second half of 2021, which can only mean one thing if you work for a beauty brand: it’s time to map out your Black Friday strategy. With this frenzied sale period accounting for a high volume of overall industry revenue, it’s important to plan early if you want to get ahead. And, as ever, pricing will be key.

But, how do you ensure your discounts captivate customers without going too cheap? It’s a tricky line to straddle for brands, particularly in the luxury sector. Here, we reveal the crucial role competitor insights play in refining your Black Friday pricing strategy. Get your prices right, and you’ll be enjoying soaring sales revenue before Christmas has even begun.

Analysing Competitor Prices

One of the best ways to pre-empt pricing trends is by looking back at past Black Friday behaviour. Last year, many beauty shoppers shifted over to digital to shop the sales, with etailer traffic increasing by 27% in 2020 compared to 2019. COVID-19 played no small part in this boost for online shopping, but it remains to be seen whether digital traffic increases further in 2021.

However, it’s looking likely that many consumers who moved over to digital will stay there, after brands have invested in ecommerce content that makes online beauty shopping more enjoyable than ever. So, how do you ensure your Black Friday discounts stand out in this saturated space? A competitor analytics tool, like pricePOINT, will enable you to set out a more informed plan.

Because beauty – and particularly fragrance – is often seen as a luxury item, a high price tag is often considered a status symbol. It can elevate a brand’s perceived value. That’s why Black Friday sales are a challenge; if your brand doesn’t take part, you miss out on a big sales boost. However, if you take too much money off the price, you could erode your profits and your brand equity.

By using analytics, you can identify how your competitors priced their products in previous years and determine what level of discount is going to get your brand noticed. But, more than that, if you’re using the right tool, you can drill down to individual SKUs, and see how sales trends fluctuated from one retailer to the next.

For example, in 2020, online department stores were the only type of retailer that discounted more SKUs than in previous years. Others dialled down the number of discounted items compared to 2019. Use data to see how etailers and brands alike priced their products through Black Friday, so you can identify a winning sales percentage for 2021.

Perfecting Gifts with Purchase

Deep discounting isn’t the only tactic to entice Black Friday shoppers. Offering gifts with purchase (GWPs) is a popular strategy for boosting sales without compromising brand value. So, as well as analysing the level of discount brands have offered in previous years, use a service that reveals the gifts they’ve offered, so you can ensure your GWPs are competitive.

mmi is the only ecommerce data provider that can track these covetable gifts, giving you a complete view of how brands and etailers are reaching beauty lovers.

Tracking Share of Voice

Finally, as well as making sure you have the right discount and gift with purchase, you should be putting strategies in place to ensure you reach Black Friday’s bigger boost of online traffic. Co-op advertising with third-party etailers is one guaranteed way of getting noticed, but it’s important to use compliance tools, such as adCHECK, to ensure you’re getting the most lucrative placement.

What you’re aiming for is a high share of voice (SOV) compared to your competitors. The right tool will allow you identify the ad spots that boost your share, leading to increased clicks and revenue. Last year, Christian Dior, Paco Rabanne and Tiffany managed to secure the highest share in fragrance co-op ads. Taking lead from these digital disruptors will help you elevate your reach – and, in turn, your sales – for Black Friday 2021.

The more competitor data you have, the more informed your Black Friday strategy will be. To find out more about how we can help, contact us at hello@mmi-analytics.com.

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