It’s that time of the year where retail giants, such as Checkers, and Takealot, are already encouraging shoppers to subscribe to their mailing lists to receive Black Friday deals, promising even bigger and better discounts than they did last year.
Last year payment provider PayFast processed a massive 370% increase in sales transactions and 450% increase in the gross value for Black Friday compared to a normal busy day like payday. We also know that this year is likely to be even bigger.
If you don’t want to miss out on the biggest sales day of the year then now is the time to circle the 23rd of November in your calendar and kick your planning into gear…
To make sure you’re ready for one of the craziest shopping days in South Africa, we’ve put together some tips to maximise your sales over the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend.
Use these tips to make sure you get to take full advantage of this bumper sales period.
1. Plan your strategy
While Black Friday may very well be the day that breaks the Internet due to the unexpected volume of sales, it is still only one day in the year. Be aware that many shrewd shoppers use Black Friday and Cyber Monday to secure Christmas gifts at reduced prices. So while it can be great for acquiring new customers and clearing large amounts of stock, you must make sure it makes sense for your profit margin.
Getting New Customers & Keeping Them
If you plan to use this day to acquire new customers think about how you will make sure they come back:
Do they get a discount on their next purchase?
Do you get their contact details so that you can continue marketing to them?
Whatever your retention plan is, have it well planned beforehand.
Clearing Stock
If you plan to use this day to clear a large amount of stock it is worth looking at what stock you can get at reduced rates by purchasing early/ in larger quantities. It is also a great time to clear old stock by offering discounts to customers already on your database.
Choosing Your Deals
Because this may impact your Christmas sales negatively, choose your Black Friday deals carefully. Although you may be tempted to heavily discount as many items as you possibly can to increase overall sales, remember that not everybody is driven purely by discounts.
Black Friday could be the perfect opportunity to separate the deal-seekers from the value-seekers by mixing and matching heavily discounted offers with exclusive offers that may cost a little more.
Optimising Your Store
Plan your store or website layout to allow customers to see both. Using a mix of both on promotional materials will give customers a good idea of what to expect.
Those who choose the exclusive offers that cost a little more are the ones you could target for Christmas promotions at higher prices as they are most likely to respond.
2. Plan your marketing
It’s a good idea to take some time to think about how you can most efficiently get your Black Friday offering to market:
How and when will you get the word out to your current customers?
How and when will you be targeting new customers?
Look out for our upcoming mailer that covers marketing strategies for retailers with budgets of any size.
3. Purchase the inventory you need – starting now.
In order to take advantage of the big increase in retail in November, you need to ensure you have enough stock on hand. Stock delays, fuel price increases and backlogs will be roadblocks if you don;t start planning immediately for this years, year end fervour. Retailers such as Takealot.com generally suggest that you hold 2.5 times the amount of stock in November than you required in June.
If you need finance in order to bolster your stock levels you can access up to R1m through Lula within 24 hours to get you on the right track. Lula’s online paperless application process only takes 8 minutes and you will be assisted by helpful humans. Why not apply today to know how much finance you can access over the period?
4. Boost your sales even further through Takealot Marketplace
Many businesses make use of online marketplaces as a way to boost their sales over the festive season. Takealot Marketplace lets you access the biggest local e-commerce audience and also provides cost-efficient fulfilment to customers in South Africa. Apply today: https://www.takealot.com/sell
The festive season is little over 8 weeks away, so time is ticking. Make this year in trade, one to remember.
