The orders didn't explode, but the ads did! This Black Friday is the worst

Black Friday is here, have you received a large number of orders?

After waiting for a long time, this year's Black Friday is finally here. Many sellers have been waiting for months just to "explode orders in one fell swoop" on this day . But from the current perspective, the sales of sellers on this year's Black Friday event do not seem optimistic. In the past, screenshots of various explosive orders have long been flooded in industry exchange groups, WeChat Moments, social media and forums, but this year, there has been no screenshots, and it is a bit unbelievable. So quiet that one seller joked: "I have been waiting, waiting for your good news!"

Deathly silent, this year's Black Friday is silent

As we all know, most of the sales of cross-border e-commerce sellers come from the fourth quarter, or multiple festivals in the fourth quarter. And the performance of many categories of the platform also relies on the festivals from Black Friday to Christmas to support half of the performance.

However, this year's Black Friday, one of the highlights, was a flop.

Yesterday, sellers were offering various kinds of worship. Although my brother-in-law had stepped down as CEO of Amazon earlier , he was still put on the altar by sellers this year, praying for a boom in sales on Black Friday.

In fact, Amazon Europe’s Black Friday event started as early as November 19th, Beijing time . But the sellers’ feedback was as follows:

“——Has Black Friday started yet? Why is it so quiet? The order volume is even lower than usual;

——There was no festive atmosphere at all, just a deathly silence;

——At this time of year in previous years, I would post screenshots with the caption “Sales have exploded, increased x times, and I’m still waiting, waiting for your good news.”

——Orders are booming! Orders are booming! Usually we get 2 orders in 5 days, but today we got 1 order in 1 day, which is 2.5 times the order volume;

——Orders didn’t explode, but ads did. Ads exploded three times as much as usual, but orders plummeted to half.”

Some people may say that, like the Double 11 in China , many people wait until Black Friday to buy things. But today, countries such as Japan and the United Kingdom have entered the 26th, which is the real Black Friday. The following are the feedbacks from these sellers:

"——I feel like Black Friday is just someone else's Black Friday. Is there anyone like me? I've been using F5 for so long;

——After staying up all night, I felt like my Black Friday was a waste. The orders for new products were dismal, and even the discount ads during the peak season didn’t bring as many orders as usual. It was a failure.

——9 stores, all of them are only 1/3 of the usual, worse than yesterday;

——After working like a tiger, he looked back and stood there, seeing the order, and shed sad tears. "

Of course, not all sellers are so bleak, and a small number of sellers have also seen a surge in orders. For example, one seller excitedly said that his friend sold out 2,700 stocks of a link in just a few hours .

However, at present, most sellers are just running for the same. It seems that those who "bathed and burned incense" before Black Friday and "were so nervous that they didn't know whether to sleep at night" were wrong after all...

The event has started but the goods are still floating on the sea. This Black Friday has many problems.

Every year, holiday sales are accompanied by various problems, and this year is no exception. Among them, out of stock is one of the most troublesome problems for sellers. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, logistics congestion has become a problem that sellers have to face all the time. Sometimes, even if various delivery plans are made, the goods are still stuck on the road.

Many sellers were out of stock on Black Friday this year. They signed up for flash sales, discounts and other activities and made all preparations for the battle, but at the critical moment, something went wrong. One seller said helplessly: "Black Friday has begun, but the goods are still floating on the sea, and all the main products are out of stock." However, even if the goods arrive at the port smoothly, it is not all worry-free. One seller said that Black Friday has arrived, but the goods are not on the shelves because the goods were sent to ONT8, which has a serious warehouse outage.

Others have been left behind, so these sellers can only be outsiders. Someone joked: "Someone told me that his Halloween products are still floating on the sea, and those who missed out can only become the goods for next year's Black Friday."

What makes sellers regret missing Black Friday is not only the congested logistics, but also a notification from the platform. Yesterday, when Black Friday was just around the corner, a seller complained that their French site received a sales manipulation notification and all European sites were suspended. "The account is new, we confirmed that there was no violation of regulations, this is definitely a misjudgment."

In fact, there are quite a few sellers whose accounts were blocked before Black Friday this year. One of them received an email in the middle of the night saying his account was blocked because he had bought items twice. He was so anxious that he asked multiple service providers but none of them would accept his appeal.

In addition to these major problems, there are also some sporadic problems. For example, some sellers said that when they submitted the Black Friday online discount, they found that some SKUs were marked as prohibited from display, and the reason was that this product had been marked according to Amazon's internal policy. Other sellers said that they did not have editing permissions for the "About this artwork" column in the "Product Description" column in the backend, and opened a case saying that they needed to contact the brand's service provider, but the other party's efficiency was very slow during Black Friday.

After defending logistics, defend the platform, and after releasing the platform, defend competitors. Yes, this year's Black Friday, internal circulation is also inseparable. Some sellers said that their competitors are still at 35% CODE, and estimated that their profits are 0. Not making money is fine, but some sellers want to sell at a loss.

"-- 0 profit is relatively merciful. What I see are all loss-making sales, all kinds of 9.99, 8.99, which is outrageous. After calculating Amazon's commission and delivery fees, there is no return.

——My competitor’s prices are lower than mine, and his member-only discounts are bigger than mine. I can barely understand these, but what I can’t understand is that he also has coupons;

——My competitor’s product, which I thought was losing money at $19.99, has now dropped to $9.99.”

Can the highly anticipated American site help sellers make a comeback?

The Japanese and European sites are already in a bad state. Judging from the overall feedback from sellers now, the order volume is poor, not only not as good as usual, but also showing a downward trend; it is quiet and there is no sense of participation ...

Therefore, sellers have high hopes for the United States as a major market. Black Friday is the craziest shopping day of the year for Americans. On that day, local shopping malls are crowded with people, and online sales are also in full swing.

At 4 pm Beijing time today , the US West Coast also entered Black Friday. Will the US allow sellers to fight back?

The editor believes that sales on the US site will be better than those on the Japanese and European sites, but there is unlikely to be a big explosion.

First of all, Amazon's Black Friday event started at midnight on November 25th, local time in the United States (that is, 4 pm yesterday Beijing time), but judging from today's feedback, not many sellers said that they had a huge order or a significant increase in sales. One seller said helplessly: "I can only comfort myself that they are on Thanksgiving, eating turkey, and have no time to buy things online."

Secondly, on Reddit (an American forum) which became popular during the epidemic , someone launched an anti-Black Friday campaign in the "Antiwork" section.

"They can't fire us all. General strike on Black Friday November 26th! No work! No productivity! No shopping!" reads one Black Friday blackout flyer.

A post asking subscribers to brainstorm ideas has garnered 12,000 likes, while another post asking people to organize, turn off their phones and spend time with their families this Black Friday has garnered 68,000 likes.

Every year, Black Friday attracts the attention of many sellers. Most people focus on the number of orders, but a few people focus on product selection. One seller said that every year, Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday Prime Day are good opportunities for product selection, and they can choose many suitable products from the deals to develop and improve. Therefore, sellers who don’t have explosive orders should not be discouraged. Look at the problem from a different angle, and maybe the sales will be better in the future.

Black Friday

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Meiya Station