Black Friday tips for retailers
The annual Black Friday event has reached our shores and it’s well and truly here to stay. With the dawn of internet shopping has come greater choice, and that means Irish retailers need to be globally competitive in order to secure those all-important pre-Christmas sales.
Black Friday will fall on 25th November in 2022. It traditionally occurs on the Friday after thanksgiving in the United States, and marks the first shopping day of the Christmas season. It’s a day that shoppers will be on the lookout for serious bargains, so make sure you don’t get left behind for the shopping rush.
Retailers will generally offer their best reductions and promotional offers on this day. Even in Ireland, some stores will decide to open very early in the morning and stay open late at night.
It’s a good day for Irish retail businesses to kick off their own Christmas shopping season, and entice some of those early seasonal shoppers.
Here are our hot tips for making the most of Black Friday.
Start Early
Go through your inventory in advance. This is the perfect time to have a clear out and tidy up your stock room. Pull out those ‘last in line’ singular products, returned items, demo goods, and even incomplete stock items. Label them up and reduce their cost to create interest and get them moved out of your way, making space for new lines.
Additionally, Black Friday sales aren’t always limited to black Friday. Plenty of retailers are getting ahead of the curve by starting their sale offers early. You might also decide to extend your offers beyond black Friday itself, right through the weekend and into Cyber Monday.
Get Organised
Hopefully, your Black Friday will be busy, so make sure you are well prepared. Have your shop clean and the floor space clear and clutter free. Get your stock out of packing boxes and easily accessible. Check all your equipment in advance to make sure everything is working properly; this includes making sure your website is current and up to speed. There’s nothing that puts a shopper off faster than a slow website.
Use your EPOS system to check your reports from this time last year. This will give you more information about things like your most popular items, average customer spend, and busiest periods. Use this to help you decide if the right items are on sales and prominent, and that you have enough staff rostered at peak times.
Have enough bags and stationary ordered and ready. Prepare your Christmas playlist to help get your shoppers in the right frame of mind.
Arrive in store early on the day to prepare, giving yourself time to deal with any unforeseen circumstances, and makes sure you can open on time.
Visual is important
Create a Black Friday display area with some prominent and colourful sale signage, and get all of your best deals in this space. Communicate urgency in your language to encourage quick decisions, use phrases like ‘limited deal!’, ‘last one left!’, and ‘selling fast!’
Get some signage outside your shop too, so shoppers know there are bargains to be found in your store.
You may find it helpful to create black Friday packages – deal sets or hampers – to clear out more of your related stock items faster.
Don’t Forget Your Website
Many people want the discounted offers of Black Friday, but want nothing to do with the expected early morning mayhem, so they will be hoping to nab some bargains online.
Don’t forget to update your website and extend your selected offers to your online store. Add some promotional banners and use a Black Friday discount code at the checkout to keep it simple.
Be Personal
Contact your mailing list of loyalty program customers to let them know what you’re planning for the event, and even offer them a little extra for their loyalty. Extended access, discount codes, multibuy deals, or extra loyalty points are just some of the ideas you could use.
Get Social
Get on to your social media channels, e.g. Facebook and Instagram, to share your Black Friday promotions. Not only will this remind your customers that you have great deals on, but you can also use this to get more likes, shares, and followers.
Offer discount codes and online competitions to generate interest and get the word out. You might consider a paid promotion at this time, to increase your reach even further.
Know Your Numbers
Everyone will be looking for a bargain, but make a plan in advance when it comes to discounting and stick to it. Loss leader products are fine, but do your homework. Check your reports and expenses to be sure your discounting is manageable, and know exactly how your your bottom line figures will be affected.
Be Competitive
Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing, to make sure you are offering the best deals around.
Customers are expecting exceptional offers today, so make sure your most prominent discounts are giving at least 20% off. Be creative with your promotions. Consider offering further discounts with multi buys, adding a free gift, or giving future discount coupons to spend in store before Christmas, to encourage return customers.
It’s a good opportunity to cross sell and up sell too, while shoppers are in the mood to spend on your sale items.
Policy
Decide on your price match and return policies in advance, and state them clearly to avoid any issues later on. Some retailers will offer extended return or exchange periods until after Christmas, or price matching within a specified time period.
Whatever you choose, make sure your policies are clear to your customers at the time of their purchase.
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Retail Solutions is a market leading EPOS provider with over 25 years of business experience. Our leading sectors are convenience stores, supermarkets, forecourts, pharmacies and coffee shops.
We are dedicated to providing your store with the most up to date & reliable point of sale hardware and software management tools, to help you manage your business effectively.
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About the author:
Susan McGuire is originally from London, United Kingdom, and has now lived in Galway, Ireland, for 15 years. She has been with Retail Solutions for almost 7 of those, and during that time has enjoyed various roles within the areas of Maintenance, Finance, & Marketing. You can follow her on LinkedIn!
