American shoppers spent a record $5 billion on Black Friday last week. That’s a 16.9% increase in dollars spent online compared to Black Friday in 2016. Amazon, with its multitude of brands and deals across every category, claimed nearly 50% of those sales. Cyber Monday hit a new record of $6.59 billion in sales, making it the largest U.S. online sales day ever.
It’s tempting to give Amazon much of the credit here, and there’s no question that many consumers perceive Amazon offers the best prices. But it would be a mistake to think that price alone drives every purchase. Consumers look first for the brands that they know and trust… brands they have a relationship with. And while consumers will always look for the best deal, research has shown that they are also willing to pay higher prices for their preferred brands.
Of course distribution is important and Amazon has no peer when it comes to being the pre-eminent online retail channel for any and every imaginable consumer product. But the brands that will win the sales race this season will have these three things in common:
- They have established a strong, loyal relationship with their customers that’s built on a deep understanding of who their customers are and what’s most important to them.
- They have, over time, clearly and repeatedly communicated their unique brand proposition in a way that powerfully resonates with and reinforces the brand’s relationship with the customer.
- They consistently offer products that meet/exceed their customers’ expectations and deliver on the brand promise.
If you want to build the kind of brand relationship that will keep your customers from chasing after the newest shiny product at the cheapest price, we can help. We’ve been building strong brand relationships for our clients for over 20 years, and we know how to define what matters most to your customers and how to communicate it powerfully across all channels.
