Although Black Friday and Cyber Monday are a few months away, strategizing how to optimize your sales early is essential. Here are a few metrics you can track early to predict shopping trends and the best deals to offer during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. 

Sellthrough Rate

The sellthrough rate measures how quickly your business sells your inventory.

To calculate this, you can divide the units sold by the quantity on hand at the beginning of a period (recommended a month).

It’s essential to keep track of this for the months before BFCM to ensure you have enough stock for the extra demand of this period. If you have a low sellthrough rate, you may be fine having the same amount of inventory as a regular month on hand. However, if it is high, you will want a sufficient amount of extra inventory. 

Average Order Value

The average order value measures the average amount of money customers spend per transaction in a certain period.

To find this, calculate the total revenue ÷ number of orders.

Tracking this may give you insights into the most successful deals or discounts you can offer. It will also help you predict demand and inventory alongside the sellthrough rate while making sure you are not overstocking.

Customer Retention Rate

Understanding your customers’ purchasing patterns is important – Is it a one-off, or do they return repeatedly? If they keep coming back, when or what do they keep repurchasing?

Knowing these metrics can help define the best BFCM strategies– whether it’s for email subscribers or paid ads on Amazon. Tracking your customer retention rate can help recognize the value of customers you acquire during specific sales periods. You can filter your audience into different groups with different needs to serve targeted content to different audience segments. 

Cart abandonment rate

The average cart abandonment across the Internet is relatively high, at around 70% (Hotjar). There are various reasons for this, some on the buyer’s side and some on the seller’s. It may mean there are user experience issues; in this case, you want to make sure those are solved well before Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Customers always want a seamless checkout process, various payment options, and transparent costs. Working on these technical issues can help with cart abandonment. PRO TIP: Expand your marketing strategies based on cart abandonment and incentivize customers for returning to their card.

By closely monitoring these metrics in advance of Black Friday & Cyber Monday, you can optimize your strategies to meet increased demand, improve customer experience, and boost overall sales. Start tracking today to watch your efforts pay off during the busiest shopping days of the year!