Retaining Customers to Share in the White Friday Revenue Pie

White Friday marketing strategies in the Middle East can be perfectly replicated across the globe through Black Friday and Christmas shopping frenzies.

According to a study by Majid Al Futtaim, retail revenues in the United Arab Emirates grew 13% year-on-year in 2023 following an impressive resistance to global and regional inflation. And in April this year, the President of Dubai Chambers conveyed to local media a bullish outlook for the country’s retail sector – a CAGR of 3.7%, to become an almost US$75-billion industry by 2028.

At least some of this growth can be attributed to the UAE retail calendar, which includes events like Dubai Shopping Festival and the upcoming White Friday. Attractive deals, intense marketing, and aggressive investments in paid user acquisition make it an intense time for brands looking to capture consumers’ dirhams.

This year, UAE retail businesses will face shifts in strategy from competitors looking to outmanoeuvre the market. Leading ecommerce platforms will adjust their mobile marketing approaches, pivoting from mass acquisition to embracing existing customers in an attempt to cement their loyalty and inspire them to shop during the White weekend. Smaller businesses will have to follow suit.

The New Trends

If they follow western trends, brands like Sharaf DG, Noon, and LetsTango will have already engaged in a marketing push for installs in off-peak months – capitalising on lower cost-per-install (CPI) and cost-per-acquisition (CPA) in preparation for White Friday.

Such trends have been driven by a desire to ease budget pressures, so worldwide we are seeing retailers’ campaigns being spread out more throughout the year. This leaves more resources and budget to spare for the more intensive peak shopping periods.

Driving app installs in the months leading up to the peak shopping period gives marketing teams more time to cultivate relationships with consumers and prime them for White Friday messages. The blanketing of these messages need not be as intense as in previous years allowing businesses to lessen the impact of higher seasonal costs in advertising.

So, what does White Friday preparation look like for a typical UAE marketing team? The savvy ones will have begun months earlier. They will have already agreed that the days of laser-focus on a four-day window are gone. Their efforts will have started with app install campaigns outside of seasonal peaks, taking advantage of lower ad rates, lower CPIs, and lower CPAs.

They will have built a user base already, so their preparation will have shifted from acquisition to retention and re-engagement. All of this is the natural reaction to competing platforms’ decisions to strengthen their relationships with their existing users. In other words, it is a self-perpetuating trend.

One strategy that brands must prioritise when re-engaging with users is to target those who have previously uninstalled apps or disengaged following initial interaction. Retailers now have access to a range of technologies that will allow them to dazzle consumers by individualising their outreach messages and personalising incentives. Targeted ads will also be a significant element in going back to one-and-done customers and converting them into sources of repeat business.

Primed and Ready

Having built a sizable customer base, everything that follows is about preparing them for White Friday sprees. The larger platforms are focused on retention, so this is a critical chance for younger, smaller players to keep their users engaged so that by the time White Friday dawns, they are suitably primed.

To share in the White Friday revenue pie, again, it is more fruitful to prime the users one has rather than seek to convert new customers during peak-period frenzies. Also, if the brand converts shoppers ahead of the four-day extravaganza, this smooths out demand spikes and leads to reduced strain on the logistics function.

The data shows us that consumers are shopping at different times now, in advance of holiday blitzes. The apps that serve them must be optimised for reactive, personalised experiences for the sake of retention. Necessary enhancements should also be implemented as early as possible to increase the chances of capturing the hearts and minds of the early-installing public.

AppsFlyer data shows almost 60% of customers who make a first purchase go on to become repeat buyers. Events like White Friday can therefore have impacts on profitability that last well beyond the festival period and form a solid foundation for the following year’s edition.

Hence the critical need to distinguish between prospective and existing customers. White Friday is a highway to a loyal customer base. By sifting out potential customers for separate campaigns that push them to make that critical first purchase, brands draw up a new strategy that fits the trends we are seeing. Targeted offers, when framed in the right way, can dazzle new customers and make them feel understood and valued – great motivators for purchasing.

Deal or No Deal

Loyal customers should be aptly nurtured, perhaps with early-access passes to White Friday deals. Perks like these strengthen relationships and make repeat buyers feel prioritised – further incentive to remain loyal, not only during sales seasons.

White Friday, then, is no longer solely about mass acquisition. It should be a celebration of existing customers, and a reward for their ongoing engagement. And those rewards go both ways, with existing customers moving closer to brand ambassadorship with every deal granted. So White Friday, for both retailer and customer, is the gift that keeps on giving.