Black Friday 2021: Last Minute Retail Tips

Retailers are determined to not let this year’s Black Friday be overshadowed by the supply chain issues faced globally. As consumers, we’re used to deals starting in early November that kick off a season of festive shopping. This year we saw more Singles Day promotions in the UK too, China’s largest shopping event which was originally an “anti-valentines” promotion, now trades more than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. So now we’re further into 2021’s golden quarter and retail is experiencing a much-needed uplift, what are some of the issues retailers should be aware of?

Cyber security tops every CTO’s Christmas list

Digital growth continues to rise, heavily influenced by the pandemic. However, this has increased opportunities for cyber criminals looking to launch an attack, and has meant that retailers and consumers really need to increase their levels of protection and awareness. An article in Retail Week, cited that each attempted fraudulent purchase across ecommerce is now worth an average of 70% more than they were pre-pandemic, increasing in value from $416 (£302) in October/November 2019 to $710 (£516).

What can retailers do to prevent fraudsters from taking advantage of the increased online trading activity?

Work with a cyber security expert to ensure you are protected from the risks of a cyber-attack: we are actively working with numerous clients, not only to implement the latest in cyber security software, but to carry out training for internal staff, through phishing simulations – internal employees are often your biggest security threat.

Carry out dark web scanning: do you have data that is vulnerable, or on the dark web? How can you protect your website and credentials of employees or customer data? Our IT security model provides a dark web scanning service to prevent cyber security threats by identifying, analysing and proactively monitoring your organisation’s compromised or stolen data.

Endpoint Management: it’s not just online technology that’s at risk – key to proactive IT estate management, endpoint management ensures that all your end devices are visible, controlled, consistent and secure. Our IT security support team have a single view of your estate, enabling them to manage alerts and updates more efficiently, keeping your critical devices protected from cyber security threats 24/7.

Don’t get too distracted with the whirlwind of peak trade to let a breach slip through the net. Check out our cyber security services overview to find out how you should keep your systems and customers safe.

Managing demand on the high street

Competition for consumer spend will be even tighter this year with only 33% of consumers planning to spend on Black Friday. This is because most consumers are planning to start Christmas shopping a little earlier this year in an attempt to curb stock shortages caused by supply chain issues.

This means increased demand in-store throughout the whole period, but after nearly two years of slow footfall, you need to make sure your systems will hold up. 79% of customers refuse to queue for more than five minutes in-store before abandoning purchases. If you lose 20 buyers a day at an average purchase of £40 across 100 stores, losses can add up to £30 million a year – all because either your POS system has crashed or won’t scan products at the right price.

Retail is counting on this peak trade season to increase revenue after so much uncertainty. With more shoppers planning to hit the high street in search of a sensory experience and whole new appreciation to be back out and shopping, retailers need to ensure that their in-store tech is in peak condition to enable them to trade as conveniently as possible and provide the best in-store customer experience. As such we’ve prepared a handy guide for retailers to download and check their in-store technology, download it here.

We work with many of the UK’s leading retail and hospitality brands to keep their systems trading and work with them on pro-active measures to prevent systems from going down. If you want to speak to the experts to ensure you are able to trade at peak levels and keep your systems in check, get in touch with us at info@retail-assist.co.uk.