What was once viewed as a mad US import has become a consumer staple in the run-up to Christmas both online and in-store – are your inboxes prepared for the Black Friday masses?
Black Friday is no longer a panicked in-store dash over a single day for sales but an extensive retail extravaganza and prime opportunity for consumers to snag a bargain in the run-up to the holiday season. This year, 77% of Black Friday shoppers intend to take part in the event online and with Amazon recently announcing that Black Friday will last up to 10 days for them, online retailers have ample opportunity to get involved.
This Black Friday spending is on the up, with over half of consumers planning to spend £150 or more. Due to the year-on-year hype and increase in spending trend, retailers are increasingly becoming more appealing targets to hackers, who will hope to take advantage of customers ready to make a quick purchase for a steal of a deal, when in actual fact, it’s the scammers who will be stealing their money or data. In a post-GDPR world, it is the retailer’s responsibility to ensure their customers’ data is protected and they can incur large fines of up to 4% of their annual turnover should they fall victim to a breach that compromises this data. Where retailers are already some of the most vulnerable targets for fraud, suffering the highest number of data breaches out of all sectors of the economy (17%), it is important for them to deploy safety measures for the busiest shopping period of the year.
Plan to be protected
The increased amount of consumers that Black Friday will bring online should encourage retailers to take a look at what methods of protection they have in place, and if they don’t already have an organization-wide security plan, now is the time to be drawing one up. Knowing where data is stored, how it is protected and the way the company operates online means that if an inconsistency does occur it can be spotted immediately.
Deliver more marketing campaigns
At a time of year where more consumers than ever flock online to find a bargain, it is essential that retailers are prepared and able to make the most those who are looking to spend. One way to do this is by ensuring that marketing emails sent to consumers with news of discounts and offers are safely delivered into the customer’s inbox. While the junk folder was designed to catch phishing emails and spam, for retailers who don’t use email verification protocols, they too could find themselves landing in amongst the trash.
Email verification boosts reputation
Retailers can improve their sender reputation and ensure deliverability by implementing globally-recognized authentication protocols such as DMARC. Verification methods work alongside tools implemented by consumers’ email providers to ensure messages land safely within the inbox and are shown to the receiver to be from a legitimate sender. By using DMARC retailers can rest assured that their domain names are protected and any hacker impersonating the brand will be blocked, as opposed to the retailers themselves. This protects a retailer’s brand reputation and also contributes to maintaining a good online dialogue with their customers.
Black Friday is a prime opportunity for retailers and with the proper security measures in place, the festive period should be a prosperous one. Protecting your domain, your consumers’ inboxes, and ensuring 100% deliverability means that Black Friday can be successful both for your bottom line and your and consumers’ bank balances.
If you’re interested in learning more about DMARC check out our website, or you can read the full retail white paper here.
*Stats taken from Red Sift retail white paper.