As an entrepreneur with a new business, one of the most important things you’ll learn is how you can take advantage of well-established sales holidays. Possibly the most well-known sales holiday is Black Friday. Preparing for your business’s first Black Friday doesn’t have to be difficult; even though it may seem confusing, there are only a few things you really need to keep in mind. Here’s how you can get your business ready for Black Friday.
1. Decide On An Angle For Your Black Friday Sales
Do you have a specific concept that you want to use for your Black Friday sales? Sure, you can certainly just offer a couple incredible deals, but if you want to theme your Black Friday sales, you might be able to entice more people. Perhaps you can discount specific types of products, offer a discount at certain times of day, or craft a thematically appropriate percentage discount.
2. Plan Out Your Business’s Black Friday Schedule
As the name suggests, Black Friday has historically been a one-day deal held on the Friday after Thanksgiving. However, it doesn’t necessarily have to be just that. Many well-known businesses have chosen to offer Black Friday sales all throughout the weekend after Thanksgiving, sometimes including Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday.
3. Balance Online-Only And In-Person Deals
If you have a physical storefront, you’re going to want to make sure you’re balancing your online and in- person deals. Ideally, you don’t want people swarming your physical storefront, especially not with the threat of COVID-19 still hanging over many people’s heads. Instead, offer ample reason for people to come into your store as well as reason for people to stay home and order online.
4. Create A Dedicated Website Section For Black Friday Deals
One great way to maximize your Black Friday returns is to make sure your Black Friday deals are as obvious as possible. When people first visit your website, they should immediately be able to find your Black Friday deals. If they can’t find those deals pretty quickly, they’re liable to click off, resulting in lost sales.
5. Assume That You’ll Need More Shipping Time
During any time that includes a high volume of sales, you should assume that shipping time will be negatively impacted, but Black Friday 2020 may be even more so. Most postal services have started to warn customers that Black Friday 2020 will include a number of postal delays. Make sure you express that delivery on Black Friday orders may take longer than usual.
6. Test All Your Checkout Processes
Before you go through with your Black Friday sales, you’ll want to test the checkout processes to make sure they’re able to stand up to a significant amount of orders. You should test both in-person and online processes to ensure that they can handle many orders at once. Testing early can help you work out any of the issues you might otherwise experience.
Conclusion
As a new business, you’re going to notice some issues during Black Friday. There’s no way you can prepare for every possible concern that might arise during Black Friday. However, if you’re able to prepare as much as possible, you’ll be able to benefit dramatically from Black Friday sales and you’ll be able to make your business even better to get even more out of next year’s Black Friday season.
