October and early November is the perfect time to prepare for Black Friday. Although it may be easy to think of Black Friday as a sale for big-box stores, there is a great opportunity for small business and campus stores as well. With the right preparation and planning, Black Friday doesn’t have to be hard.
Here are some tips for getting ready for Black Friday in your store.
Do some pampering
No, we aren’t talking about getting pampering for yourself (although a spa day can certainly help you de-stress leading up to Black Friday). Your store should be cleaned thoroughly in the weeks leading up to the big sale. You want to look as new as possible, so clean light fixtures, boxes, tags, bags, and floors.
This is a great time to make any needed repairs and replace all lights. Maybe consider repainting to freshen up your space as well.
Make space
If all goes well, you will have several shoppers on Black Friday and they’ll most likely need more space to shop than normally. Open up your floor so that there is room for a larger crowd of customers that way people don’t feel too crowded or uncomfortable.
Hard-to-sell Items
The Retail Doctor notes four types of merchandise that you can put out for Black Friday that you may normally struggle to sell. Customers are seeking deals on Black Friday so cut down the price on these items you can’t get rid of and people may get them.
“The Orphans” – these are the items that were left behind, maybe because the market moved on or it is an older model.
“The Misfits” – these are products that get stuck on shelves because they may be missing a piece or were a demo product.
“The Returns” – these are items that weren’t returned on time and you can no longer get credit.
“The Dogs” – these products may be in the wrong color, wrong price, etc.
Go through your store, find these items, and make bargain sections.
How will you be getting ready for Black Friday?
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