Retail Hacks by Arricano: Black Friday in Prospekt shopping mall: fast communications and queen’s gambit

Olena Obukhivska, Communications Director of Arricano: The attributes of a classic “Black Friday” are always excitement, discounts and queues. This is such a pompous day that it doesn’t require any additional marketing or PR. Buyers both in Ukraine and in other countries wait for it, are sufficiently aware of prices and prepare for a shopping hunt.

Change of focus in the formula “hype-discounts-queues”

This year, the main task for brands of shopping malls and retail in the formula “hype-discounts-queues” for “Black Friday” had to be changed somewhat. First, eliminate the queues. Instead, provide social distance. And second, the hype from “Black Friday” shall be “extended” for the entire working week. Because the weekend quarantine prevented the extension of “Friday” for a convenient Black Weekend.

That’s how arised the motivating slogan of Prospekt shopping mall: “Were you waiting for Black Friday? And Black Weekdays have come.”  We had to quickly launch a new communication service for customers, with a rethought perception that profitable shopping should be planned from Monday to Friday. Therefore, we had to segment customers according to the principle of the place of work – remotely/at home with a free schedule or in the office from 9:00 to 18:00. And, well, start the appropriate communication advising about planning a shopping trip.  After all, this directly affects the time opportunities of the buyer when they can come to the shopping mall.

Reaction to fair discounts

It is known that the Ukrainian consumer is quite picky and will not be immediately attracted by the slogan “70% sale”. Before they believe it, they will check it out. But this year, customers noted that discounts in the shopping mall’s stores were really fair. They wrote about this in the comments, personal messages and questionnaires of the draw. Our team was once again convinced that consumers are now knowledgeable, they track prices and are able to evaluate their benefits. And we helped them with this by offering a convenient online service – “Discount Navigator”, which aggregated all the discount offers in the stores of Prospekt shopping mall in order to get acquainted, mark what you need and immediately go to the planned retail brand. Such option also contributed to targeted offline shopping, taking into account the requirements of quarantine.

Checkmate on Black Friday

The atmosphere of a shopping mall is a sensory indicator that is almost impossible to measure with instruments and quantities. At the same time, the pleasant cozy atmosphere magnifies, attracting visitors again and again.

Well, the most anticipated moment on “Black Friday” was the drawing of a new iPhone 12 model from Eldorado. This means that participating in promotional trials for good luck adds drive, excitement and endorphins during shopping.