Black Friday Business - How to Brace for Black Friday
Black Friday is one of North America’s biggest shopping events of the year, where people are ready, willing, and able to shop and are looking to spend money. The next question is, how do you leverage this opportunity?
To best prepare for this monstrosity of an event, this article focuses on 3 aspects:
- A Black Friday Success - Inlighten
- Black Friday Strategies
- The History of Black Friday
A Black Friday Success - Inlighten
Fashion Zone company Inlighten killed the game last year, making over $75,000 during their Black Friday promotions. Watch their story on how they achieved this success.
Black Friday Strategies
Knowing what a big deal Black Friday now is, here are a few strategies to best help you and your business maximize this monstrous opportunity:
1. Black Friday starts way before.
People know Black Friday is coming, and start planning their budgets long before the day. To make sure your company is in their consideration set, make sure you start communicating with your customers early. Everything from early access codes for discounts, add to calendar options for customers to remind them of your sale, and social media promotion of what your Black Friday sale is going to be will help in keeping your brand top of mind.
2. Email marketing still wins.
According to Custora, a customer-analytics software, 25.1% of sales during Black Friday still originate from email marketing, which makes it the biggest driver for Black Friday sales. Email marketing your is a long time tried-and-tested strategy to grow, engage, and activate your customers to get them in your company’s funnel. Consider offering more than just Black Friday deals, such as a discount code for a future non-sale purchase.
3. Cancelling Black Friday?
Caution: this tactic can work for you, depending on your product. Companies such as Away have positioned their products as high quality with great value. It’s not just a one day thing for Way, as getting a perfect product at the perfect price has been made into an everyday thing.
4. Build a new Black Friday meaning.
Black Friday doesn’t have to just mean buying more, more, and more! Companies such as KOTN use sales from Black Friday to support their initiative to build schools, and Everlane’s Black Friday Fund will donate to not-for-profit organizations aligned with the company’s brand. This can be an opportunity for your company to build a story of not simply shopping, but of positive social responsibility.
The History of Black Friday
There are multiple origin stories of Black Friday, but the story that we’ve heard most is that it originated from the United States in the 19th century when retail stores decided that holiday shopping would start after thanksgiving, and that the collective bunch would not promote until the Friday after the holiday.
Back then when shops recorded their accounting by hand, profits were noted in black and losses in red. Shops were mainly in the red for most of the year, but then later “went into the black” the day after Thanksgiving due to the start of the holiday sales period.
Nowadays, it’s still known as the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season, and has become one of the busiest shopping days of the year. We’ve all heard the horror stories of people getting injured, trampled in stores, and employees getting hurt by customers.
Looking into the future, many shoppers are now going mainly online to skip waiting in lines at brick-and-mortar stores. The rising trend of sustainability and sustainable consumption will impact Black Friday, as some retailers such as Marks and Spencer have decided not to participate. Trends such as #BuyNothingDay has also come into effect, and initiatives such as #BlueFriday, presented by United By Blue where consumers are encouraged to participate in a Blue Friday DIY clean up are working to change the meaning of the day.