Prepare yourself for the biggest shopping holiday of the year.
We’ve seen it year in and year out: Black Friday (and its “sibling holiday” Cyber Monday) is a hectic time in the retail world. Small and big shops alike need to be prepared to accommodate the deluge of customers who will be availing themselves of huge discounts. It’s a great opportunity though for new businesses to get themselves in the game and boost their earnings.
That’s why we came up with this article to help out both online and brick-and-mortar shops to survive Black Friday 2021.
Take the opportunity to introduce new designs as well as slow-moving items to shoppers
Did you know that 30% of retail sales in a year happen between Black Friday and Christmas? This means the following days and weeks would be the perfect time to pump your jewelry business’ merchandise release.
Whether you get your stocks from suppliers or you make jewelry on your own, Black Friday is a great time to introduce new products to the shop.
Be generous with your Black Friday/Cyber Monday discounts
Shoppers expect huge bargains during the two shopping holidays so be prepared to give them what they want. Look at your stocks to see the pricing offers you can give to each. Another thing that you can give away to your customers as treats are bundled sale items. Again, study your merchandise to see which items you can combine to serve as your bundled offers.
Prepare shopping guides in the days leading up to the event
Along with boosting your shop’s merchandise releases, you need to also find a way to let people know about the new products you plan on displaying that day. This can be done with the publishing of shopping guides. This can come in the form of articles, videos, and or photos to serve as Black Friday teasers.
Be prepared to release them in the days leading up to the shopping holidays, so be ready to take lots of photos, videos, and have your merchandise and their jewelry display stands in their best condition so they can look great in your promotions.
Boost your email newsletters with content about the shopping holiday
The content you put out for Black Friday needs to be spread out far and wide so it’s time to also pump up your marketing output online. You can start with your newsletter’s mailing list. Entice your newsletter subscribers with eye-catching subject lines and content that highlights what they can expect for Black Friday, as well as Cyber Monday (if you’re doing both days). It’s important to highlight the products you will be offering, plus the discounts and give-aways they can expect. Shoppers love discount coupons so this is also a great opportunity to share codes and vouchers that they can use to get even bigger savings when the event(s) happen.
To gain even more subscribers, you can simply use pop-ups on your website to encourage people to sign up for your newsletter. The key here is to come up with good visuals, plus an enticing copy that includes a hard-to-resist CTA button.
Update your banners with Black Friday announcements
Pop-ups are just the beginning. You can also start promoting the shopping holiday with website banners. Place them in high-traffic pages such as your homepage so that they’re easily seen by old and new visitors alike. You can also dedicate entirely new pages for the products you will be highlighting for Black Friday as well as the promos and discounts you will be offering to the shoppers.
At the same time, you should also have your in-store banners and other signages up and ready to advertise the event.
Experiment with your promos
If there are marketing strategies you haven’t tried out yet then now’s the time to do so. Have you given TikTok or Instagram stories a try? They’re worth giving a shot especially if you already have a sizeable following in those communities. How about going old school like giving out flyers in-store or going on your local media to make the announcements? Perhaps a combination of online and offline promotions could work? Look into how your regular customers consume their content and start promoting on their preferred platforms.
Revisit your shop’s point-of-sale system
With the technology available for retail today, there’s no reason for you to limit your shop’s payment options. Check to see that your existing ones are working as they should and if additional sources are needed then those need to be set up right away. Cashless options are especially helpful as people are encouraged to use them to minimize contact between individuals.
Get your staff ready for the day with refreshers
It won’t hurt to give your staff a run-through of the day before everything becomes too chaotic to manage. This is especially true for brick-and-mortar jewelry shops, but even online-only shops may also need extra hands to help with social media marketing and website orders in the days leading up to Black Friday.
Along with refreshers, your store interiors will need a little sprucing up as well. Window displays need to be updated while the store’s jewel displayers such as your necklace display stands, ring risers, and bracelet T-bars need to be touched up and cleaned up as doing so will enhance the look of your jewelry merchandise. If they need to be replaced with new ones then it’s time to have someone in the staff purchase new ones.
Lastly, anyone who works in retail knows that Black Friday and Cyber Monday are high-pressure dates so it’s best to prepare the staff ahead of time with a pep talk to help them prepare mentally and physically for the day. As both dates happen around an important holiday, your business needs to be ready for back-ups and plan Bs should there be people who won’t be able to work on the day.
