“One of the major issues that you need to be aware of with rebates is that customers can easily get used to them. This should be avoided at all costs as it will ultimately make customers more inclined to challenge the price of your products.”
There’s no doubt about the fact that Black Friday can be a stressful time for many store owners. With consumer expectations high, everyone is rushing to get their sales and businesses ready for an increased influx of traffic, sales, orders to fulfill, and support requests. It’s a lot to handle, but now is the time to prepare so you aren’t left scrambling in the days leading up to holiday or trying to put out fires once the sales are announced. Get your retail business ready for Black Friday with a few of our top strategies for making it a successful sales event.
High rebates vs. no rebates
One of the major issues that you need to be aware of with rebates is that customers can easily get used to them. This should be avoided at all costs as it will ultimately make customers more inclined to challenge the price of your products.
When a Black Friday rebate is too high: It could cause a massive influx of returns (by customers who recently purchased the product(s)).
- Low sales in the weeks leading up to the holiday season.
- Unnecessary logistical issues due to high demand in a very short period of time. If the logistical operations and customer service aren’t equipped to handle this peak in requests, that could carry on into the holiday season—ultimately causing more damage than the short-term sales would justify.
If there is no need to get rid of access stock (clean out the warehouse), big rebates should generally be avoided. Instead, package deals (more on those below) are a better way to deal with Black Friday than rebates.
Use affiliate marketing (scarcely)
For those new to the affiliate marketing game, it involves earning a commission by promoting a product or service made by another retailer or advertiser. It is a monetization model where an affiliate partner, which is you, is rewarded a payout for providing a specific result to the retailer or advertiser.
When executed properly, this performance-based opportunity can go from side hustle to profitable online business idea by netting you a healthy income. But be careful, it can hurt contribution margins if done too much.
Use package deals to raise average order value (AOV) instead of steep discounts on single products
It’s so much easier to get customers to purchase more than one item when they already come pre-bundled together— and when they come in at a better price point. When offered jointly, the perceived value of your products will be increased, and visitors will be enticed to add more value to their cart before checking out. Take a look at the following client examples:
- Sonoro: Sell an expensive radio and throw in a smaller one for the bathroom (open the customer up to the idea of using multiple different devices from your product offering in their home).
- Vegdog: Order 2x 12kb bags of dog food and get five dog treats (snacks) on top. This promotes new products and lets the customers try new things.
Clear out low margin, high inventory-bulky products first
Having too much inventory is generally high on the list of things retailers should avoid. In addition to taking up precious backroom or shelf space, surplus stock ties up capital and can keep you from re-investing in your business or buying things you actually need.
A final word on Black Friday
Ultimately it is essential to treat Black Friday as a one-off, albeit very important, event. The most important time of the year in retailing is the holiday shopping season—which starts on Black Friday. Over 20% of annual retail sales occur between Black Friday and Christmas. This season includes Cyber Monday, the biggest day of the year for online deals. So although you should certainly capitalize on this critical time of year—you shouldn’t count on high customer lifetime value for Black Friday customers; first sale profitability is key.
When it comes to crafting a customized Black Friday strategy, be it for online, in-store, or both—we are here to help. Get in touch to speak with one of our experts about fine-tuning the right approach to your Black Friday promotion.
