Black Friday is around the corner
Black Friday is just around the corner. But with digital advertising costs set to soar and users facing more and more ads in the coming period, how can you stand out from the crowd?
First and foremost, we need to understand user behaviour related to Black Friday in recent years. In the past we saw a peak in conversions on Black Friday night and on the following Saturday, but over the last two years we have witnessed a significant change. The overall “discount” period has lengthened.
How to prepare advertising campaigns for Black Friday
We also see Black Friday-related searches the week before and the week after Black Friday itself. So start by thinking about a strategy that includes the period before, so-called “teasing,” with the actual launch on the Friday (Black Friday) but also covering the rest of the weekend.
Then, once you’ve identified your commercial offer and the underlying narrative, calculate the weight you want to invest in the brand and the performance campaigns.
We recommend allocating at least 25-30% of your Black Friday budget to spreading awareness that your brand is running Black Friday promotions. If, when creating your discount strategy, you decided the promotions could be an afterthought… nip that idea in the bud.
Your temptation or urge to “save/optimise” should be silenced by the knowledge that your brand is here for the long haul. Businesses without a brand have no value. And trust in your brand is built every day, with every customer and with every order. There are no shortcuts.
How to succeed when expanding into Hungary
We have put together additional advice and recommendations on foreign expansion. This time, our focus is on marketing activities aimed at our southern neighbours. Make sure you follow these five principles.
A human is more useful than a robot
Google Translate can be a great help at times, but it is almost useless when translating advertising texts and product descriptions into Hungarian. You are better off finding a marketing specialist who speaks the language.
Another great advantage of a skilled Hungarian specialist is that in addition to working on advertising campaigns, they can also find flaws in translations on the web. You would think that words like discount, sale, deal, special offer must be a piece of cake for machine translation, but the context of the offer and the product is key.
Mother’s Day comes earlier than in Slovakia
If your marketing plan includes a special strategy for Mother’s Day, keep in mind that in Hungary this day is celebrated one week earlier than in Slovakia, namely on the first Sunday in May.
We definitely recommend consulting the full calendar of holidays. It will come in handy not only when creating a communication plan, but also in understanding the statistics. A long weekend, just like the weather, drives demand and conversion rates. Expect it and the drop in conversions won’t surprise you.
In contrast, the working Saturdays that Hungarians have in November and December make for nice turnover.
Calculate your VAT
The standard VAT rate in Hungary stands at 27% for most products, the highest VAT rate of any EU country. On certain products the rate is lower (bread is 18%, books 5%, medicines and pharmaceuticals 5%).
If you want an initial price advantage, you can operate with Slovak VAT up to a certain annual turnover (HUF 12 million).
Tip: With the current rapidly changing situation (and inflation), it is important to keep an eye on up-to-date VAT rates in each country. Changes may be temporarily introduced for a short period of time. Poland reduced the VAT rate to 0% on selected goods and on fuel for a period of six months. At the same time, it is applying a reduced VAT rate of 8%. Source: Podnikajte.sk
Watch out for penalties on price comparison sites
Similar to Heureka in Slovakia, Hungary has its own comparison sites. The most famous are Árukereső.hu, ÁrGép.hu, and Olcsóbbat.hu. However, if you are not a VAT payer, you can easily be penalised by these local comparison sites and end up with worse positioning.
A new feature of Árukereső.hu is automatic bidding via XML feed . Until now, out of all price comparison engines, only Heureka had allowed it.
Pay attention to visuals, UX and speed
- A visually polished and optimised online store page will set you apart from your competitors. You can also outdo many Hungarian online stores by visually differentiating yourself in advertising campaigns.
- Facebook ads and posts with emojis perform better than those without them.
- Local competitors have a Hungarian registered office address, and possibly a distribution centre as well as a brick-and-mortar shop. You might not be able to boast about this when you first launch an online store in Hungary.
Generally, if you have a significant disadvantage compared to the competition, you have to make up for it several times over elsewhere. Good UX design and a fast website is the first step.
What does Black Friday in Romania look like?
Expansion into Romania has inspired several Slovak online stores. We help many companies with marketing and PPC campaigns in Romania. See our case studies with online stores Eyerim, Waragod, Factcool, IRISIMO, and ZAJO Design.
Romania has its surprises
Romanian Black Friday begins on 16th of November, which is when it was introduced by Emag.ro.
Many Romanians save up solely for this purpose.
Romanian customers follow on average up to 8 online stores from which they intend to buy.
Recommendations for the Romanian market
- Prepare a landing page for Black Friday and you will achieve better results.
- Start your promotions sooner than everyone else so you can place yourself amongst the afore-mentioned “8 online stores“.
Are you looking to take your online store to Romania? Jump on the rolling e-commerce expansion train and read more about this fast-growing country.
Do you want to expand into Hungary or Romania?
Are you worried about spending your budget on expansion? Growing beyond your borders is not an expense; it’s an investment that will pay you back many times over.
With experienced marketing professionals by your side, you have a great chance of making it big. Get in touch and let us help you and your online store break through abroad. Then, once you’ve determined your business proposition, but also the story behind it, calculate the weight you want to invest in branding and performance.
The recommendation is to allocate at least 30% of your Black Friday budget to create awareness.
If you need help with marketing, finance or even expansion, let us know. We have experience with different segments and many of our partners operate in 10+ countries.
