Between COVID lockdowns and the ever evolving expectations of the consumer market, the retail industry has been well and truly upended over the last two years.
Consumers attitudes and buying habits have undoubtedly changed as it leads to questions about whether many of these trends are here to remain, post-pandemic.
After last year’s Black Friday sales were strictly online, ecommerce experienced an outstanding revolution. However, this year, many buyers will have been pleased to be back on the high street making those all important bargain purchases.
Whether you’re an in-store black friday shopper or an online cyber monday buyer, retail is slowly returning back into our lives and we were excited to see what marketing campaigns our favourite brands produced this year.
Take a look at our round up…
Amazon:
Highlighting its worldwide influence, Amazon never fails to produce a huge Black Friday campaign each year.
Whether it be an Echo Dot (£39.99 to £18.99), an Oral B toothbrush (£89.99 to £36.99) or a Braun Electric shaver (£479.99 to £179.99) – their 7 day deals outshine their competitors.
But what else can you expect when Amazon brought Black Friday to the UK?
Apple:
The tech giant knows how to keep things suspenseful yet classy when it comes to Black Friday marketing campaigns.
This year, Apple worked hard to target their loyal customers through an early email marketing technique suggesting what offers were to come. An easy yet effective way to keep consumers engaged and guessing.
Asos:
Asos welcomed customers with a vibrant and exciting campaign which did not hold back on the discount.
Offers from up to 80% plus and extra 15% made them one of the biggest discounters of the weekend.
Benefit:
Benefit went pretty in pink again this year, offering a range of discounts around various prices.
The campaign targeted larger promotions for the bigger store spenders – a great marketing tool to get customers buying more gifts in the lead up to Christmas.
Gymshark:
This year’s GymShark Black Friday campaign was bigger and better than ever before.
Not only did the company utilise their athletes in a stand out campaign to promote their sale, but they also tricked a number of celebrities into doing cameos for a ‘Jim Shark’s birthday (there is no Jim Shark and it’s not their birthday).
This unique marketing technique helped achieve free promotion from some top names for just a few hundred pounds, not to mention being a great laugh for their customers. As well as this, they also had up to 70% off products with an extra 20% off everything. A great campaign from the marketing team at GymShark!
John Lewis:
The variety of products which John Lewis sells make them a popular contender when it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Staying in check with their company’s branding, some of John Lewis’s biggest deals of the day came from popular tech companies such as Apple and Dyson – creating deals you could not find on the brands’ own websites.
From Apple Airpods Pro (£329 to £185) to Nespresso Coffee Machines (£679 to £499.95), the discounts were endless. A definite favourite of ours.
Nike:
It’s not common to be able to secure big deals from sportswear giant Nike.This year however, site-wide, Nike was offering 25% off their products with the code GAME21.
To claim the discount, all you needed to do was sign up to become a NIKE member on their website. This membership scheme is a great marketing tool used by many companies to allow further promotion post Black Friday.
Pretty Little Thing:
Pretty Little Thing did not hold back this year with a campaign that claimed customers could receive 100% off selected products. Yes, you read it right, customers were able to pick up clothing items for free.
The catch being, the items were limited at one item per customer and stocks were very limited. However, free clothes are only free if you don’t get lured into buying anything else while on site with other various discounts on all products.
Despite sounding like a fantastic deal, the multi million pound fashion company has been met with backlash on social media regarding whether or not this extravagant campaign is at all ethical.
Have your black friday say:
What marketing campaigns drawn you in this Black Friday? Let us know in the comments.