Shoe dealers report Black Friday

One of the largest Russian online sites selling fashion goods - Wildberries, which conducted sales from 22 to 26 on November, processed 1,1 million orders these days. At the same time, the number of goods ordered in the online store amounted to more than 3,5 million for a total of about 5,6 billion rubles. Buyers ordered clothes, shoes, underwear. On sale days, order growth was 87%.

In the network of shoe stores Econika, discounts from November 24 to November 26 reached 70%. The action was held both in traditional retail and in a branded online store. According to the brand director Econika by Alina Stepanova network traffic on the first day of the promotion increased by 50%, and revenue doubled. “Over the weekend, the dynamics decreased, but we still saw a 20% increase in traffic and 30% turnover compared to the previous period. Conversion has also increased these days. The average price decreased by 1000 rubles due to the fact that buyers were concentrating on buying models for which the maximum discounts were set, for this they were waiting for this promotion. On the whole, we are satisfied with the result of these three days, but it is very important for us to maintain our positioning, so we provided discounts carefully, not as aggressively as the market allowed itself, ”she says.

PR Director of the Rendez-Vous premium segment shoe store chain Marina Bitsadze says that high attendance at shopping centers during the Black Friday campaign in Russia can be seen with the naked eye. Today, many shopping centers have abandoned previous promotions such as "Birthday" and "Night of Sales" in favor of holding "Black Friday". In the network of Rendez-Vous salons this year, during the Black Friday promotion, discounts “from -25% for everything” were in effect.

“In this promotion it is very important not to deceive customers, but to give real discounts. Unfortunately, if you look at social networks, many customers see Black Friday as a trick due to the actions of unscrupulous retailers, who, in anticipation of a high customer flow during sales, pre-raise prices. We hope that in the future this practice will go away, and Black Friday will become a tradition in the Russian market. Next year we also plan to participate in this action, as it gives not only traffic growth, but also sales, ”notes Marina Bitsadze.

Some brands joined the Black Friday promotion following the malls where their stores are located. So discounts up to 20% on shoes brand products ECCO operated only in 54 company stores of the company network, which were located in the shopping centers of the organizers of "Black Friday". The remaining ECCO stores did not participate in the sales promotion. Representatives of the Danish shoe brand say that the growth of Black Friday traffic in the stores participating in the campaign depended largely on the scale of the Sales Day advertising campaign initiated by the shopping centers.

And according to the owner of the chain of stores "German shoes.Caprice" and "Peter Kaiser" Anatoly Levshin, sales during the period of discounts increased in all its stores, including in a free-standing street retail format. In many respects, this happened thanks to the SMS mailing on the customer base with sales day advertising, which was conducted by retail managers.

“We participated in the Black Friday campaign last year and this. In the past, we offered 50% discounts on all products, this year we put 50% discounts on demi-season shoes and 40% on winter shoes. Many stores in shopping centers participate in this promotion, and in general, the retail traffic of people is increasing. But in addition to this, we send SMS about sales on our customer base. Traffic on the day of sales increases by about four times. Last year, there was more buying activity during Black Friday. This year, in general, the demand for shoes decreased, therefore, on Black Friday sales were lower than during a similar campaign in 2016, ”says Anatoly Levshin.

Despite the increase in buying activity during the days of sales, the attitude to such promotions among some retailers remains ambiguous. The huge influx of visitors into the stores during the campaign does not allow maintaining the quality of customer service. Ultimately, such excitement harms the brand, - said Alina Stepanova.

“Our attitude to this marketing tool is ambiguous. On the one hand, people are waiting for the action, according to indicators, we see that activity these days is significantly increasing. On the other hand, when you build predictable relationships with your client and rely on the development of service and loyalty, such a rush harms the brand, because in the days of the promotion the network can not always give the level of service required by our positioning and keep the bar at the right level. We know that clients could encounter all sorts of overlays: someone lacked sizes, someone models. And for three days we physically did not have time to sort the goods for all our salons, ”she says. The management of the Econika network does not exclude the possibility that in the future, during Black Friday, it will be limited to discounts on goods in the online store.  

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This article was published in the 153 issue of the print version of the magazine.