An Inventory Planning Guide: The Possible Answer to Your BFCM Woes

BFCM: a phrase that has every eCommerce staff member scrambling to optimize their sales strategies and streamline inventories.

And why not? BFCM, or Black Friday and Cyber Monday, are the most revenue-generating days of the year for any eCommerce platform.

For instance, US e-retailers made a whopping $62 billion, or 22% of their total holiday sales figure, by selling goods during Cyber Week 2021, which includes BFCM. Also, the unique shoppers’ tally rose to 179.9 million for both in-store as well as online purchases during BFCM 2021.

With Thanksgiving and BFCM 2022 fast approaching, now is the best time to evaluate your sales strategies and optimize your inventory to handle the spurt in sales and improve your business's bottom line.

Fortunately, the market has shrugged off the supply chain disruptions witnessed during the peak of the COVID pandemic. Hence, we can expect more shoppers to join the fray this year and hit the ‘Purchase’ button.

This article provides proven tips to streamline inventory management that are crucial to tackling the weeklong shopping extravaganza.

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How to Manage Inventory to Handle the BFCM Season Like a Pro

Almost 88 million shoppers purchased products from various online retailers on Black Friday 2021. This figure touched 77 million on Cyber Monday.

Further, the sales volume on BFCM was 30% of the total retail sales by all eCommerce platforms. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are undoubtedly the best times to ramp up and reorganize your inventory.

The following are proven ways to streamline your inventory to tackle the spurt in sales in the upcoming BFCM holiday season.

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1. Analyze the Demand Surge and Increase the Stock of Popular Items

Analyze your product analytics and compare them with your inventory well before the BFCM season.

Previous years’ trends can help you to figure out the products you must stock up on. Analyze which product types are the most popular with BFCM shoppers to prepare a comprehensive list.

Pre-planning is crucial since it gives you enough time to stock up on the products your customers like. The worst thing to do is to show the ‘Out of Stock’ pop-up to a BFCM shopper. The more ‘Out of Stock’ your products are, the more customers (read: sales) you lose.

Hence, overstocking the bestsellers is always the best thing to do before BFCM arrives. There are mobile apps that let you find the best-selling products and items that typically sell at a discount.

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2. Overstock Highlighted Items

You might have a solid plan to display some products in your marketing campaigns. However, if you do not keep sufficient stock of that product, consumers may lose interest in shopping on your eCommerce platform. So, it is wise to overstock on such items you plan to feature in your marketing initiatives.

Understanding the current trends is vital at this stage. Keep an eye on social media, especially Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook, to observe the latest trends and overstock items that might be in vogue this season.

Remember, the wider your shopper base, the more items you must stock up on.

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3. Provide a Sign-Up Form for Pre-Launch Items

Many eCommerce stores and brands launch exclusive products during Cyber Week.

If you have similar plans, make sure to include a sign-up form well before the BFCM season on your website’s home or product page. Once consumers sign up, they start receiving mailers regarding the launch date.

The sign-up form can give you enough hints about the craze for the products you plan to launch during BFCM. You can also use the data to stock up on yet-to-be-released products. Hence, inventory management can become relatively easy when you have information about the sales potential of a product even before it is launched.

You may use the Back in Stock app to automate the sign-up form. The app simplifies messaging and hypes product launches. It sends automated notifications requesting customers to sign up for new product launches.

However, your task doesn’t end with capturing data in sign-up forms. You must send mailers or notifications to customers who have signed up, informing them of the status of the product launch.

Ensure to create a sense of urgency and exclusivity so that customers feel the urge to purchase the products when they are launched during BFCM.

Now that you know how to plan your inventory before the BFCM shopping season, pick up some tips to manage it like a pro.

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4. Monitor Inventory During BFCM

Keep an eye on the stock and restock as often as you can. It is wise to reorder a product as soon as the product quantity reaches 20% of its pre-BFCM level.

Marketers often see that the products that are usually in vogue fly off the shelves faster during the BFCM season.

Hence, understanding your sales patterns and restocking the inventory form the basis of inventory management in the BFCM shopping season.

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5. Include Product Labels

Product labels like ‘X Left,’ ‘Low Stock,’ ‘Out of Stock,’ and ‘Running Out’ may help you and your customers identify the status of popular products. Once you identify the product status, you can reorganize your inventory to restock similar or different items.

It is generally observed that product labels increase customers’ interest in the products that are about to become out of stock. However, if you do not find enough customer interest, you can fill up your inventory with different items.

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To Conclude

Cyber Week, including BFCM, enables eCommerce retailers to boost their sales and strengthen their balance sheets. Proper planning is important to make the most of the most remunerative shopping season of the year.

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