Black Friday Tips for your Small Business
Photo by Eva Schaap on Unsplash
Black Friday, the day when consumers are willing to spend more money than they usually would (because let’s face it, don’t we spend more money on black Friday?) is finally here. This is the one day when your customer wants to achieve their out-of-budget goal. This year, companies aren’t just looking to make an immediate, once-off sale, they’re playing for keeps! If you’re thinking of putting some of your products on sale this Friday, you might be inspired by these game-changers:
Retail: Woolworths
Woolworths, one of the largest retailers of fashion, beauty, homeware and food, has assigned different discount rates to their products in sets. They have, for example, a 30% off of Phillips personal care products only for online shoppers. Aim: to encourage their customer to shop mostly online. They also have a Get 3 items for the price of 2 on WBeauty products, promoting the Woolies beauty brand.
Finance: ABSA
Financial institutions haven’t always been open to the idea of a Black Friday in the past. It seems, however, that this is no longer the case as the banking sector has started to warm up to this. ABSA is offering double cashback to its ABSA rewards members on two conditions: 1. They use their Absa bank card to shop and 2. they take part in their Absa Advantage, the bank’s in-app education platform to learn how to ‘bank smarter’. So the offer basically encourages non-members to opt-in for the rewards programme; to take part in the financial education they’re offering and to spend more, all in one promotion!
To me, these small nudges are quite intelligent and I believe that a small business owner can learn from these and customise them to fit their business model.
Having said this;
Remember that the whole point of a Black Friday from your perspective as a business owner is, ultimately, to improve sales. Your competition’s Black Friday deals should not put pressure on you to do the same. Do not participate in a Black Friday unless your business is beyond reasonable doubt, absolutely ready for it.
Funny story:
In 2019, at one of the smaller malls in Gauteng, Pick ‘n Pay had an unbeatable Black Friday sale. Another grocery shop in the same mall did not put anything on sale. The queue at Pick ‘n Pay was so long that other shoppers, went to shop at this other slighty pricey shop. Both shops ended up having really long queues. Both saw increased sales. Everybody won!
