As the countdown to the holiday season begins, crazy crowds of shoppers will start to make an appearance. This is the busiest time of the year for small businesses, but also the most profitable. To be as successful as possible, here are some Black Friday tips for small businesses.
Plan Ahead
The first tactic your small business should complete ahead of the Black Friday madness is to plan everything out. Decide which products you want to put on sale, how long the sale will last, and how to make customers aware of these good deals. If you come up with a game plan, you’ll be able to maximize your profits during the biggest shopping holiday of the year.
Promote Your Deals
Social media is the best way to promote your Black Friday deals—it’s a quick and easy way to alert customers of deals. Leading up to Black Friday, develop a social media strategy and execute it to grab consumers’ attention before they start shopping. Additionally, think about offering exclusive deals people can only find on your social media profiles.
Employ Extra Staff
Black Friday has a reputation of summoning large crowds in malls and shopping centers across the country. The best possible way to prepare for this swarm of people is to have extra staff on hand for the occasion. Put out job postings months in advance to ensure you have enough people to keep operations running as smoothly as possible.
Decorate and Organize the Store
Aside from social media, another way to spread awareness for your business’s Black Friday deals is to decorate and organize your store. The best approach is to use
color-coding tactics—this will increase the odds of consumers noticing your store’s Black Friday deals. Consider using warmer colors, such as red, on signs and displays as research shows this color scheme grabs customers’ attention.
Don’t Compete with Big Business
Our final Black Friday tip for small businesses is to avoid competing with big corporations such as Walmart, Target, and Best Buy. Big businesses tend to dominate Black Friday as they have the resources to offer perks such as opening late in the evening on Thanksgiving. However, this doesn’t mean your small business still can’t capitalize on the ultimate holiday shopping season. Instead, do what is best for your business and take advantage of the areas you can. For instance, small businesses should highlight unique and rare items that you cannot typically find at major US retailers to stand apart from the pack.