E-commerce: How to manage stock on Black Friday?

The importance of stock management on Black Friday

Stock management during the Black Friday period can be a challenge for e-Commerce businesses.

Considering the increase in online shopping by consumers and technological developments, it is essential to use systems that enable intelligent and efficient management in order to avoid stock-outs and constraints with customers during Black Friday and similar periods, when the fact that prices are more attractive promotes more demand and, consequently, a greater number of sales.

The next Black Friday is just around the corner and for many e-Commerce businesses it means high-volume sales opportunities. Coupled with this and potentially high revenues for brands, comes the challenge of managing stock properly in order to meet the high demand that exists at this time of year.

In general, efficient stock management is one of the fundamental processes for successful e-Commerce businesses. However, in promotional seasons, attention to efficient stock management must be doubled.

"63% of consumers are eager to take advantage of Black Friday promotions." Jornal Eco, Sapo

Forecasting demand on Black Friday

Demand forecasting is a fundamental process in terms of logistics and supply chain management, and is equally important when it comes to preparing your strategies for Black Friday 2023.

By analyzing sales from the previous year, historical data on business performance, market trends and customer behavior, you can more assertively forecast demand for products and stock requirements for the current year.

Demand forecasting allows for proper resource planning and serves as a basis for improving workflows. It makes it easier to coordinate with transport companies and suppliers, because by giving them updates on expected volumes you can ensure more efficient logistics operations during the Black Friday period.

Why should you use a management system to manage stock on Black Friday?

With digital commerce on the rise and technological developments, it is essential to use systems that enable intelligent and efficient management of business processes, including stock.

You need to know exactly which products and their quantities are in stock and what they need to be replaced. Any movement in stock must be recorded, whether it's the entry or sale of products.

To this end, a good alternative for facilitating stock management is to use a management system such as an ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), which is a good solution for recording product information, entering and exiting products and controlling the amount invested in stock, among other functions.

ERP supports process automation and also allows you to manage other areas of the business such as finance, human resources, production and supply chain.

After Black Friday, you should carry out a full evaluation and use the data gathered by the system to identify what worked well and what needs improvement. Through the insights gained, you are better able to refine your strategies and improve next year ahead of time.

How to manage the stock of an e-Commerce business?

M&A Digital specializes in technology, making it the ideal partner for improving management and enabling e-Commerce businesses to evolve. We provide consultancy in order to understand what is needed to eradicate flaws in processes and meet your brand's objectives.

Tailored to your business, we develop and implement management systems - such as ERPs, CRMs, CMSs - to improve business management. We integrate systems, whether with your current system or another system, via API, so that information can be cross-referenced to make workflows simpler and more optimized, as well as to enable monitoring and analysis of business activity.