However, a well-developed relationship between your marketplace and sellers also plays a key role. What if sellers find it more convenient to leave and sell on their own because your marketplace doesn’t meet their needs?

There is no one-size-fits-all way to prevent this from happening, but it also makes no sense to create additional hurdles in organizing critical business processes. Therefore, the most important thing your eCommerce resource should ensure is a transparent and flexible financial relationship with sellers.

In this article, we will discuss how the logic of financial transactions affects the interaction between the marketplace and vendors.

Table of Contents

• Marketplace Commissions
• Marketplace Split Payments
• Marketplace Payouts
• Commission per Transaction
• Membership
• Pay per Placement
• Commission for Client Generation
• Freemium
• Featuring

The Logic Behind Marketplace Payments

So, marketplace refers to an eCommerce platform where:

• Sellers display information about a product or service.
• Buyers see information about the product or service, can make a purchase and payment online.

Within this platform marketplace payments cover communication of funds between sellers and the marketplace. This communication begins after the seller signs a contract with the site. Most marketplaces work with sellers under an agency agreement. This means that the marketplace can perform actions on behalf of the seller. Such actions can be:

• Product sales: Sellers gain access to a marketplace with numerous potential buyers and selling tools. 
• Promoting goods on the platform. Marketplaces can promote sellers’ goods through banners, ads, and sales.
• Goods storage. Sellers can store goods in their own warehouse (see, e.g., storage options in Dublin) or use fulfillment services.
• Delivery. Often marketplaces take care of shipping and delivery, sometimes partnering with the best fulfillment companies to ensure faster logistics.

Let’s take a look at what payment features a marketplace can use to deploy the most convenient relationships with vendors.

% Marketplace Commissions

Marketplaces charge sellers a commission for the goods or services sold. This commission covers the cost of the services that the marketplace provides to the seller, as described above.

Commissions can be:

• Fixed—paid per transaction, per period of product display and so on.
• Variable—depends on the total amount of the transaction or the amount of goods sold.
• Combined fixed and variable commission. 

Typically, the process of charging the commission takes place after buyers make a purchase on the marketplace. Depending on the option selected, the marketplace deducts its commission from the payment and pays the remaining amount to the seller or service provider.

Marketplace Split Payments

Essentially, marketplaces work with a large number of sellers, which means that shoppers add products from different sellers to their shopping carts as part of a single purchase. As a marketplace owner, when you receive payment for a purchase that includes items from multiple sellers, you need to calculate the commission for each seller separately. Then distribute the remaining funds among all the sellers.

Most marketplaces work with this type of payment, so the technical side is particularly important. You can set up these payments manually, which is one of two options. You can also connect automatic split payments using Stripe Connect or PayPal Commerce Platform, which allow you to automate the distribution of funds to each seller and deduct the necessary commission automatically.

What it looks like in CS-Cart. CS-Cart Multi-Vendor supports both Stripe Connect and PayPal Commerce Platform and is designed to help eCommerce businesses make the cash flow transparent and easy. Cash flow management, accounting, role assignment between sellers and much more are available for marketplace admins.

Setting up Stripe Connect in CS-Cart Multi-Vendor

We will talk about the different features that can be relevant for different types of marketplace-seller relationships further.

Marketplace Payouts

Marketplaces can also use a payment feature that goes from the marketplace to the seller’s bank account within a certain period of time. In this case, the marketplace is relieved of the need to pre-calculate the commission per transaction, and instead assigns a weekly or monthly (or other contractually agreed upon) schedule of total payments. In addition, sellers can request a manual payout. Many platforms additionally offer QR code payments, making it easier for sellers to receive funds quickly and securely.

In this way, the marketplace keeps a seller’s balance, which increases as revenue for sales is received. Sellers can keep the funds and withdraw to their bank accounts whenever it suits them.

Ways of Organizing Monetary Relations with Vendors

The choice of monetary relations for a marketplace should be made carefully, considering the balance of interests for each side. In this case, you are interested not only in how to make money, but also in organizing a system where sellers can profitably sell and buyers can conveniently buy.

There are several basic models of monetary relations that you can apply to your marketplace.

#1 Commission per Transaction

Summary: marketplace automatically receives all funds from paid orders. Distribution of money to sellers provided manually or with the help of automation tools.

The seller lists their product on your marketplace, and buyers decide to make a purchase. So, when do you, as the marketplace owner, become part of this process? It happens when the payment is made. At that point, you receive a commission—a percentage that covers your service fees for providing the platform, handling delivery, and other related services.

You can choose from whom to collect the commission: only from the seller, only from the buyer (specify in the payment window as additional funds or immediately include it in the cost of goods), or from both participants of the transaction at the same time.

This approach satisfies the interests of sellers, who do not have to pay you until they receive their first revenue. And you, as the marketplace owner, retain full control over all cash flows.

What it looks like in CS-Cart. By default in CS-Cart Multi-Vendor, all cash flows automatically go to the owner of the marketplace. In this case, sellers see only their part of the order, even if the buyer paid for the order from several sellers at once. 

The marketplace owner then must deduct the commission and pass the remaining funds to the sellers. The Accounting page helps with account keeping and automating this process.

Two scenarios are available in this format:

• Marketplace transfers funds outside the platform upon receiving a request to transfer a certain amount from sellers. 
• Marketplace sets up payments by withdrawing money from its balance in favor of sellers.

You can automate and speed up the distribution of money to sellers using Direct Customer-to-Vendor Payments feature in CS-Cart.

1. Sellers create their own payment methods.
2. Seller create their own promotions.
3. At checkout, the customer pays each seller separately.
4. Sellers receive the full amount of money for the order directly. 

If the seller does not create their payment method, the marketplace’s default payment methods will be presented in the ordering page instead. In this case, the funds will go to the marketplace account, and the owner should transfer them to the seller.

4. Marketplace commissions are marked as the seller’s unpaid payouts, which the seller is obliged to pay.

This feature offers sellers more convenience: they can choose preferred payment options, receive payment for orders faster (without waiting for the marketplace), and create promotions to boost sales with their target audience.

However, commission per transaction model is not suitable for all marketplaces. Your business should take into account such cases as:

• If sellers have a negative balance from which you can’t take a commission, you will have to contact them and resolve the situation by yourself.

In CS-Cart Multi-Vendor, you can manually customize the statuses of sellers. For example, by changing the status to Pending, you will limit the seller’s options, and their products will fall off the storefront.

• If your marketplace is focused on selling expensive or luxury items, a commission solution will not meet the needs of your sellers. More expensive goods mean significantly higher commissions, especially if they are large items or luxury goods that require special delivery conditions. Therefore, sellers are not interested in giving away a large part of their funds. They will be more satisfied working with their own resources.

• If your marketplace offers more than just selling physical goods—such as providing listings, offering items for rent or exchange, or working within the P2P eCommerce segment—charging transaction fees may not be ideal. This is because users could bypass your platform for future transactions, and completed transactions might be inconsistent. In such cases, charging sellers for listing their goods can be a more effective approach, as we’ll discuss below.

Commission per transaction scenario is used by such major eCommerce players as eBay and Fiverr.

#2 Membership

Summary: A marketplace charges a recurring fee for sellers to list or display their goods on its platform. This model is supported by automation tools to streamline the process.

The membership model requires that sellers or all users of a marketplace pay a set amount of money on a regular basis for access to the site or for the opportunity to find new customers and showcase goods.

Unlike commission, this option is suitable for marketplaces that specialize in selling high-priced goods. Buyers will only find membership convenient if you offer goods or services they can use on a regular basis.

What it looks like in CS-Cart. You can deploy this approach in CS-Cart Multi-Vendor using Vendor Plans, which helps with the accounting. Vendor Plans allows you to create plans for sellers with different settings:

• You can set up multiple subscription options for each vendor plan, with costs varying by payment frequency. For instance, sellers can choose a monthly plan, an annual plan, or even a one-time listing on your marketplace.
• Vendor plans let you define specific terms for sellers, such as limits on the number of products, allowable categories, and maximum revenue. As sellers see the potential for higher sales on your marketplace, they’ll be motivated to upgrade to higher plans.
• You manage the marketplace’s cash flow by setting the commission amount and payment frequency. You can also decide whether to include shipping and taxes in the commission or handle these separately.
• CS-Cart Multi-Vendor offers tools to calculate each product’s share in an order and apply commission automatically. This is useful when commissions include shipping costs or discounts are applied to the total order.
• Automated seller account creation allows buyers to become sellers easily; you simply need to approve the account. This feature streamlines processes for marketplaces with many sellers.

This feature doesn’t automate money distribution but simplifies accounting by recording one-time and recurring payments, along with commissions per order. All payment and commission information is automatically recorded on the Accounting page.

In eCommerce, the membership model can be seen in marketplaces such as Venuu. It is usually free for customers, but requires a paid subscription for sellers. 

Sometimes, marketplaces start by charging membership fees, and later switch to a per-transaction commission model once the commission automation system is fully developed.

The main nuance of this approach is the correct targeting of the marketplace: sellers will not pay for placement on a platform where they may not even find buyers, and buyers will not be interested in a marketplace with a small number of sellers. 

Typically, new marketplaces solve this problem with a marketing campaign, offering large discounts during the first few months to give sellers time to build their audience.

#3 Pay per Placement

Summary: A marketplace receives payment from a seller for listing or placement per item.

Marketplaces that aggregate a large number of listings are characterized by a direct pay-per-listing model. This works in cases where sellers are willing to pay the marketplace in exchange for access to a large audience.

What it looks like in CS-Cart. This model can also be implemented using Vendor Plans. CS-Cart Multi-Vendor allows you to deploy a fixed one-time fee plan, where approved sellers will be charged a commission only for placing a product in a specific category. This could be accomplished using the Vendors Plans control panel.

Pay per placement model is also applied in the B2B segment. For example, the marketplace for buying and selling construction and agricultural equipment Mascus. Sellers are not interested in long-term relationships with the platform, and commission per transaction would be too high. Sellers are willing to sell only a few pieces of equipment, which makes payment for placement a more favorable option.

For a marketplace, the key focus is to attract a large number of sellers who will consistently list new products. This requires positioning your platform as the most profitable and convenient choice for sellers to showcase their products.

#4 Commission for Client Generation

Summary: A marketplace is a link between the doer and the customer, taking a commission for the completed transaction.

In this eCommerce business format, the definitions change a bit because the seller is the doer and the buyer is the customer. This model is often applied in a service marketplace, where users look for providers who can offer them the services they need. Marketplaces charge a commission for being the link between the two parties, i.e. for the transaction.

Upwork is a well-known example of a platform where users can hire specialists for various tasks. In some cases, a membership fee option is also added, allowing users to purchase an unlimited package for posting services or submitting proposals.

In this case, a marketplace is focused on long-term cooperation, which means it uses flexible management tools and payment options. This is also the most profitable side. If the platform meets the needs of all customers, the marketplace will receive an influx of customers, as well as the trust of professionals who will post their services more often.

Keep in mind, however, that the marketplace should implement additional control measures. It is the provider’s responsibility to pay the required commission to the marketplace, as they often won’t receive new orders until previous commissions are settled. To avoid this limitation, providers sometimes attempt to contact clients directly, bypassing the platform.

And although the risk of working with debtors is common for any marketplace, this specific approach requires additional measures to automate the processing of such cases.

What it looks like in CS-Cart. Vendor-to-Admin Payments in CS-Cart Multi-Vendor will help you arrange work with debtors. How it happens:

• The marketplace owner sets the maximum size of the debt and the time allotted for its repayment. While this provides a basic framework for peer-to-peer lending, it lacks the comprehensive structure of a formal debt consolidation program, which typically combines multiple debts into a single, managed payment plan with a clear path to becoming debt-free.
• By default, the minimum amount and the time period are already pre-set in the settings. But you can set your own values for individual vendor plans.
• If the balance drops below the minimum, sellers start receiving warnings to pay the debt.
• Sellers get an opportunity to replenish their account on the marketplace in the allotted time frame.

If the maturity date of the debt has been missed, the seller is getting Suspended status. Marketplace owner can set this status manually, as well as decide what measures will be imposed on the seller with this status:

• Hiding the debtor’s goods or services from the platform, as well as the store page or user’s profile.
• Blocking the debtor’s administration panel, leaving only the option to pay the debt.
• Combined options.

At the same time, the feature automates and facilitates the process of debt repayment without any difficulties. Sellers only need to select the amount of the recharge and click the “Refill Balance” button to restore their store and goods on the marketplace. 

The Vendor-to-Admin Payments feature also includes the ability to automatically disable (or delete) suspended seller accounts. In this case, the seller loses access to the account completely if it’s been “dead” for a long time, or if the overdue payment period has exceeded the maximum value.

#5 Freemium

Summary: Sellers can use the marketplace basic functions for free, and if needed, pay for advanced features. A commission is charged per transaction.

This type of relationship between a marketplace and sellers consists of using the basic features of the service for free and paying for advanced features if desired. In a P2P marketplace, where users both buy and sell directly to each other, it’s important to minimize platform interference in transactions to maintain trust. The main source of revenue for the marketplace is the commission for a completed sale transaction.

This is most evident in C2C models such as Peerby. This is a marketplace where visitors can rent or sell used items. As an additional paid service, Peerby offers delivery and insurance if the item is damaged or lost in transit. 

Of course, this format can attract many more potential sellers, but in this case, the paid features must appear genuinely valuable. Additionally, from a technical perspective, this would require implementing several scenarios.

What it looks like in CS-Cart. Freemium model can also be implemented by Vendor Plans in the CS-Cart Multi-Vendor solution. You can distribute vendor roles and corresponding features starting from the minimum in the free version. If sellers want to conduct more transactions, organize their microstores and get additional services, they can switch to a more advanced plan.

#6 Featuring

Summary: A Marketplace offers sellers to place their goods in a more favorable position for a certain commission.

This feature is more than just an add-on; it plays a major role in the financial relationship between sellers and the marketplace. It allows sellers to pay for premium visibility, placing their product or service in prominent spots such as the homepage, curated collections, or top search results.

Many marketplaces, including Amazon and Etsy, use this approach. They generate revenue not only from transaction fees but also by selling premium display space on their platforms. For instance, the Finnish marketplace Häätori relies primarily on this model, earning revenue by allowing sellers to boost the visibility of their ads for used items instead of charging transaction fees.

This model can be effective because the ads are tailored to users actively searching for specific products. However, frequent or overly intrusive ads may annoy some buyers.

What it looks like in CS-Cart. If you want to place product selections from specific sellers on the homepage or prioritize them over other categories, this option is available in CS-Cart Multi-Vendor by default. Use the layout editor to add blocks with custom set of products or sellers to the home page or any other page of the website.

Build Your Monetary Relations with Vendors

The financial relationship with vendors is one of the most critical and complex aspects of running a marketplace. A vendor management checklist can help you ensure you’re not missing important operational or compliance steps in these relationships. As seen in the examples above, marketplaces often need to integrate processes for accounting, managing seller privileges, and calculating commissions. The setup for working with sellers also varies based on factors like niche, strategic focus, and business model.

The most common approach is a commission-per-transaction model, where the marketplace earns a percentage of each transaction. Many entrepreneurs look for an eBay clone solution to replicate its business model while adding their own unique features. However, incorporating additional models can attract more sellers by making it easier and more beneficial for them to work on your platform, fostering long-term partnerships.

Striking a balance between seller needs and buyer benefits is essential. Focus on collaborating with sellers who can contribute to your revenue growth. To set effective commission rates, unit economics can be helpful, allowing you to calculate the average revenue per customer. To determine your break-even point, subtract customer acquisition costs and order fulfillment expenses from this revenue.

Keep in mind that features for managing vendor relationships can often be combined. If you’d like to experiment with cash flow management in a marketplace, try our free demo. You’ll get 14 days to explore a fully functional marketplace and identify the best setup for your business.

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This year the first Friday after Thanksgiving falls on November 29. From that day, the holiday shopping season will not only test eCommerce businesses’ competitiveness, but also give them the opportunity to stand out to their clients. With a carefully designed strategy, you can earn almost one month’s worth of revenue, increase sales, promote your brand and expand your customer base.

In this article, you will learn how to prepare for Black Friday based on the experience of major eCommerce players.

Trends to Consider For Black Friday Promo

Holiday shopping season is covering more and more iconic days, from Black Friday to Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday sales. Let’s take a look at the statistics following these days.

Mobile Shopping

Throughout the holidays, online shopping is preferred by 43% of users, among which 51.1% are mobile users and 48.9% are desktop ones. 

Product Category Focus

One of the most popular categories of goods is clothing and electronics. At the same time, many buyers leave the purchase of large household appliances just on Black Friday, expecting a significant discount.

The main expenditure is on non-food products: accessories, cosmetics, health goods, household items and other categories, most often not included in the list of essential things for daily use. Which is also defined by Black Friday focus as an opportunity to choose gifts for holidays for yourself and your closest ones. Black Friday deals give more reasons to approach the purchase less consciously and spend a little more money just on the whim.

Audience Shifting

Another notable statistic is that Gen Z is currently one of the most active groups of buyers during Black Friday sales. While in 2022 the percentage was equally shared between Gen Z and Millennials at 79%, by 2023 the number of Millennials buyers decreased to 75% and Gen Z increased to 83%.

Attitude Towards Black Friday

However, about 57% of online shoppers believe that Black Friday is mostly a scam. People do prefer good offers, but they don’t support Black Friday tradition in general. This, in turn, has shaped another trend, which we will talk about later. 

In the meantime, let’s conclude that Black Friday is indeed the biggest major event during the holiday season. During this time the eCommerce industry has developed certain patterns of work with marketing campaigns, as well as tools to boost sales.

Black Friday Checklist: How Not to Leave Your Business in the Red

What does preparation for Black Friday look like for an eCommerce store? For a physical store, this could be presented by brightly colored advertising banners. But in a digital showcase you need to think about how to “wrap” the promo for eCommerce customers. 

But even before that, it is important to prepare well. So we at CS-Cart have gathered our clients’ experience and examples from big industry players, compiling a Black Friday checklist for you.

Analyze Statistics of the Past Years

It all starts with planning, and given Black Friday format you need to plan your discount offers. 

Try to collect as much data as possible about your past years’ sales—what did users pay the most attention to? What products do they add to their favorites but hesitate to buy?

Collect information about user behavior in your location and niche: what product categories are in demand? What is the average order value?

If you’re operating an omnichannel business, collect aggregated analytics across all types and areas of your business. Depending on the type of a product, the data can vary greatly.

You can analyze such statistics in Google Trends. Besides, not limited to the internal data of your business, but also examine the demand for the products of your niche. Enter a keyword query related to a certain product and see how popular it was.

Evaluate the Discounts You Can Offer

Of course, you need to look at your business opportunities sensibly. Evaluate your product range—what products or services are you willing to discount? How generous can this offer be?

Meanwhile, competitors are not sitting idle either, especially during Black Friday sales. Think about what additional enticing offers you can give to your customers. It could be:

• Free shipping
• A gift for purchases over a certain amount
• An additional discount for a higher check amount
• Promo codes for discounts after Black Friday

Prepare Your Resources

No matter how enticing the advertisements may be, customers make their buying decision the moment they visit your online store or marketplace. So the obvious things to do in the preparation stage are:

• To inform your customers about Black Friday: the start and end date, maximum discounts, additional promotions and offers
• To conduct load testing that will show how your resource copes with the increased number of unique visitors. At the time of Black Friday sale it is most to be expected
• To set prepared visuals for Black Friday

Home page style that highlights Black Friday deals through a bright design for this event:

Header page banner that redirects the user from all the pages on your site or marketplace to a section with discounts dedicated to Black Friday:

Promotional page, more often a separate landing page with a countdown timer to the start of Black Friday, which will then redirect users to your main resource:

Email marketing campaigns or a newsletter sign-up form can help your business expand your customer base just in time for Black Friday

Place a newsletter sign-up form on your resource—offer this to customers along with an exclusive Black Friday deal for those who sign up, thus leaving the “hook” for a reason to subscribe to your regular email newsletter.

Work with SMM advertising and design vise, play with your product visuals, change your slogan or get on the wave of a current trend

Retargeting banners will direct users who have already interacted with your brand once. Displaying relevant ads with the most profitable offers in a contextual media network is one of the most powerful tools. The main thing is not to forget to implement data collection for retargeting on your site to see how it works for you.

Consider Force Majeure

Things can go wrong at the most crucial moment. Fortunately, we can learn from the most common mistakes.

• Problem: Employees were unprepared for the increased workload during Black Friday.
• Solution: Hold a general team meeting before the date. Make it clear that they’re sure to face a lot of work during Black Friday. At this time, everything is of high importance: the maintenance of marketing campaigns, the correct operation of your resource, the timely response of technical support in case of problems, and so on.

• Problem: A force majeure has occurred, but no one understands whose responsibility it was.
• Solution: Provide solutions for unforeseen circumstances in advance, as well as assign responsibility, so as not to waste time on lengthy coordination during the time of Black Friday.

• Problem: Operators don’t have time to process requests.
• Solution: In this case, set up a chat-bot or automatic processing of requests where no employee assistance is needed. As a last resort and depending on the size of your business, allow for the possibility that you may need additional employees.

• Problem: Key products are ranking low or not selling at all. 
• Solution: It may be worth changing keyword queries in the product text or using “plan B”—pre-thought types of offers with different product categories.

• Problem: There is no clear understanding. Are we ready or not? 
• Solution: Checklists come to the rescue! Finally, make sure that there is enough product in stock, your eCommerce resource is working smoothly and has been load tested, employees are aware of their responsibilities and increased workload.

Think About Aftermath

The critical loads of your resources are behind, users have ordered the needed products, everything worked just fine! But it’s too early to celebrate success, now it’s time to:

• Make sure to disable the advertising campaign without automatic stopping
• Remove Black Friday ads and bring back the previous prices
• Replace the entire Black Friday design with a regular one

And most importantly: analyze your data, for example, using Google Analytics. Make a detailed report, draw conclusions on the results of the day. This information will be extremely useful to you next year.

Successful Approaches of Big Players You Shouldn’t Feel Ashamed to Repeat

During the Black Friday deals, thousands of eCommerce websites compete for the consumer’s attention. Big players come up with new ideas and aspire to try unique approaches to Black Friday promotions almost every year. Let’s take a look at some examples of creative decisions you can adopt for your business.

Amazon’s Live Black Friday Deals

What it’s about: The store launches a live broadcast, demonstrating the product’s advantages and usefulness. Highlighted products can be ordered directly on the banner below the broadcast.

Well, why not engage with consumers in a live streaming format? It’s not the first year Amazon has held live broadcasts timed with Black Friday sales.

In a cozy atmosphere, a representatives of the company demonstrate goods with exclusive discounts. They talk about the convenience and show how well they can look in the environment of your home. They also communicate with chat and can answer some questions. 

Lingerie brand MeUndies included a similar format, but held an entire party on Facebook Live, which was a great solution during the lockdown period. That event included a DJ and dance contests, and the more people came to the party, the bigger the discount on products became.

Swatch’s Example of Exclusive Offers Instead of Discounts

What it’s about: Some brands, due to the company’s values, prefer to avoid the topic of discounts, emphasizing exclusive offers. The limited nature of such promotions sometimes attracts the attention of customers more than favorable offers.

The holiday season isn’t always about discounts and plenty of goods on the checkout page. Sometimes people want to buy things for themselves that they wouldn’t have allowed at any other time. That’s why the approach to Black Friday promotions can change too.

For example, the aesthetics and values of luxury brands do not allow them to work with discounts. But they often come up with unexpected solutions in the form of exclusive products timed to coincide with the date.

With that in mind, Swatch released a collection of watches with limited edition designs special for Black Friday.

Barnes&Noble bookstore provides discounts, but all book lovers wait for their Black Friday deals for something else entirely. During this period, the store sells exclusive titles signed by the authors themselves. 

Sephora’s Work With a Loyal Audience

What it’s about: Black Friday is not only about attracting new customers, but also rewarding existing customer experience.

Thus, cosmetics brand Sephora launched the Beauty Insider program back in 2007, and in 2016 released the third level of access Rewards Bazaar—an exclusive inner store for members of the loyalty program. Customers were able to redeem shopping bonuses for limited edition cosmetics.

Rewards Bazaar shows exclusive discounts and offers every Tuesday and Thursday, and on Black Friday their number increases several times, as well as the list of limited edition cosmetics available for purchase.

Moreover, loyal customers can take free makeup lessons from beauty consultants and become part of an online brand’s community. 

This approach to clients gives a sense of belonging and keeps customers engaged, while being easy enough to deploy in your eCommerce resources as well.

Walmart’s Use of Social Media

What it’s about: Use social media as a powerful marketing tool to complement your Black Friday advertising campaign.

In the current times, popularity on social media means a lot as the the audience’s focus has shifted to getting quick information in one place. No wonder brands are rolling out their marketing campaigns on TikTok or other apps.

Walmart is remembered for this approach, launching a marketing campaign called Unwrap the Deals in 2020. Using special filter users could get an exclusive discount and sometimes even a product as a gift. Then go to the Walmart website and immediately place an order on their deal. 

The success of the campaign was tremendous, raising the engagement rate by 18.4% and the hashtag was viewed more than 5.5 billion times. 

Target is Here to Create a Holiday Mood

What it’s about: Instead of pushing your discounts, frame them as an act of assisting. Understanding your audience helps promote your Black Friday offers just as much as flashy discount reminders.

We have talked so much about Black Friday discounts that there is a risk of forgetting—Black Friday is still the season when online shopping should feel especially festive. That’s why themed solutions can successfully and concisely complement your advertising campaign.

Retail company Target, which has both physical store locations as well as an eCommerce website and a marketplace, launched a gift guide idea. A simple but thoughtful solution: users could choose a gift suitable for a child of a certain age right away on the website.

This way, the brand helps parents or other family members not to waste time in searches among thousands of offers, but to find the right toy or gift within an organized section. A great way for a company to demonstrate best deals concurrently with caring for the customer and their time.

National Geographic Offers Extended Black Friday Offers

What it’s about: Sometimes people don’t have time to buy the needed items on Black Friday. Why not build an advertising campaign with long-lasting discounts even after the end of the sale date?

Though Black Friday is supposed to launch the best deals right at the moment, you shouldn’t urge your buyers too hard. Which means another way of showing care is not to run out of offers on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Why not think about latecomer customers?

For example, National Geographic, an American pay television network, uses this marketing strategy, providing a discount on their print products, as well as special editions on DVD, travel gear, merch and so on.

Some brands add a last-chance timer, signaling most clearly when Black Friday discounts are coming to an end. Others use this method in conjunction with an exclusive offer for loyal customers who have signed up for the newsletter or who are part of the brand’s community of VIP customers.

Anti-Trends by IKEA and Patagonia

What it’s about: If using anti-trends aligns with your company’s values, you can make a great Black Friday ad campaign out of it. As well as a bold statement to a potentially new audience.

We mentioned above that the Black Friday tradition is not appreciated by all shoppers. Largely due to the unconscious consumption as well as environmental damage. After all, it is the holiday season that encourages consumers to unreasonably use plastic packaging and throw away a huge amount of old things.

A kind of Black Friday anti-trend was supported by the company IKEA with the hashtag #buybackfriday, encouraging users to sell them unwanted furniture. In return, the brand paid 50% of the original cost as a coupon, turning such trade-in into an entire Black Friday marketing strategy.

Accessories and footwear brand Allbird broke the whole idea of Black Friday by raising its prices by £1. Why? Using these kinds of eco-friendly marketing strategies, the company called for “break traditions, not the planet”, paying attention to drastic climate change problems. The company donated all proceeds to Fridays For Future, a movement against global warming.

Clothing brand Patagonia is widely known for their refusal to follow Black Friday marketing campaigns. The company started down the path of eco-friendliness back in 2011 by putting a jacket on sale with the caption “Don’t buy this jacket”. Such unconventional and daring creativity generated proceeds via the best donation software for nonprofits to organizations that deal with ecological problems.

On their website, the brand says they are doing business to save the planet. And urges customers to slow down on unconscious consumption by buying second-hand things, renting and repairing what they already have. And if people do choose goods, it should be of high quality and be able to last for a long time. The company adheres to this approach to this day, which becomes more relevant every year.

How The Verge Attracted Attention with a Surprise

What it’s about: Like the anti-trends, an unconventional approach to a marketing campaign also makes a statement during Black Friday. Sometimes one unusual action is enough to attract attention.

Holiday shoppers love surprises! Mystery boxes concept is nothing new, but it is still widely used and loved by audiences. The Verge, a website whose theme is computer hardware, took it all the way up and did a Black Bag giveaway in honor of Black Friday. This fancy backpack was filled with hardware, gadgets, and other tech goods worth hundreds of dollars. Needless to say, there were plenty of people eager to get their hands on the coveted backpack.

Especially considering that anyone who signed up for the company’s account could win the coveted mystery backpack.

How to Make the Most of Black Friday?

Of course, no one would be flattered by a single discount offer anymore. Black Friday can be a great opportunity to show the best side of your business: demonstrate your character, values and creative solutions, whether you go against trends or know how to work well with them. Especially if you use a prolonged advertising strategy for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

If you’re just trying your hand at marketing campaigns, play up the latest trends or world-famous favorites: memes, creatives, mascots.

Most importantly, don’t forget that misleading is strictly forbidden! Black Friday can be a tricky reason to think about such tactics. For example, most users are sure that brands on the eve of the date artificially raise prices to then also artificially reduce them. If you are caught doing something like this, the brand’s reputation can no longer be saved.

Brighten up your offer with free shipping, quality service and additional offers. And don’t forget to analyze statistics!

We at CS-Cart will gladly share life hacks and case studies of our clients who have already gotten the most out of Black Friday sales using CS-Cart. Write to us and we will answer all your questions!

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