It’s Not Too Late: How to Prepare for Black Friday in Record Time
Black Friday to Cyber Monday is one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. And it’s coming up soon — November 23, 2018 to be exact. Is your brand prepared?
In the rush between Halloween and getting ready for the holiday season, it may have slipped through the cracks. That’s okay! We’re here to help.
We have your guide to last-minute Black Friday preparation for manufacturers. Here’s what you can do right up to the day:
- Secure a Temporary Syndicate Team Blitz Coverage
One of the hardest parts of getting your brand ready for Black Friday, or any busy shopping day, is making sure your product is on the shelf. You may require more people to get to every location and check that your brand is being represented properly.
Consider coordinating blitz coverage through a support company. For instance, at Storesupport, our teams are trained to help manufacturers get their product out. We provide coverage of hard-to-get-to areas throughout the country and can turn it around fast.
This can help give you the support you need to ensure your products have the best selling potential during this busy time.
- Make Sure Your Stock is in Order
If you get anticipate lot of sales during on the Black Friday weekend, the last thing you want is for the locations selling your products to run out of stock.
If you haven’t done an inventory check, do one now. See what is missing and what is needed. Are there any items that are traditionally big sellers? If so, make sure they are in stores.
This is particularly important if you haven’t heard from your buyers. It’s worth your while to call and check in on their inventory levels. They may have gotten busy and forgotten to place an order.
- Plan a Sale
One of the most enticing aspects of Black Friday for shoppers are the deep discounts you can find. If you haven’t done so already, pick a promotion to hold over the day, or even the weekend.
This doesn’t have to be complicated. You could pick:
- Select several big sellers and determine a discount.
- See if any of your retailers have issued a sale on their merchandise that you can tap into.
- Consider a brand-wide promotion, like saving the tax.
- Provide free shipping on your e-commerce store sites.
Some retailers may also find it helpful if you can recommend a product (or products) to go on sale. That will make their processes easier.
- Plan Product Displays
Once you know what will be for sale, make sure it is visible. If you are able to pull together signage, your team (or a Storesupport syndicate team) can make sure it gets into stores. You want to make sure that your discounted items stand out.
You also want to make sure that all of your inventory isn’t left in the stockroom. Is your product on the shelf? Are the products labelled and priced correctly? With retailers busier during this time of year, it can be easy for these details to fall through.
If you don’t have the resources to check these details, consider working with an outside verifier to help with the in-store merchandising.
- Advertise Online
Back before the Internet, it took far longer to advertise sales. Things like printing flyers and taking out newspaper ads cost valuable time that you may not have.
But there is another promotional tool at your disposal — your digital presence. If you have a website, advertise your sale front and centre. Post about the deals on your social media pages talking about where consumers can find your products on sale in-store. Perhaps write a blog about all of the discounts that will be available.
If you have an email list, send out a newsletter to your subscribers.
And if you have an e-commerce store, don’t forget to make sure you have online sales in addition to in-store ones. Cyber Monday is nearly as popular as Black Friday.
Even if you’ve done nothing yet to prepare for Black Friday, it’s not too late. Storesupport Canada can help. We offer in-store merchandising, rapid response solutions, and more.
Get in contact today. Call 1-877-421-5081 or visit www.storesupport.ca.
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