How Australian Retailers can make the most of this American import that seems to be here to stay.

What consumer doesn't like a great sale before Christmas so they can get great gifts on sale.

But given that we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, some of us wonder why on earth we are running Black Friday sales. And is it really that good for Australian retailers? Especially given that consumers are in a happy buying mood before Christmas and are happy to spend at RRP to get that much wanted Christmas gift.

So, here is a little look into the origins of Black Friday, and some suggestions for how you can take advantage of it to increase your Pre-Christmas sales, without losing margin unnecessarily.

Where "Black Friday" came from

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and essentially triggers the start of the Christmas shopping season in the US.

You know how you have to wait until one holiday is over before you start advertising the next one..... Well, basically while we let loose 1 November on our Christmas promos, the US has to wait a whole other month.

And they kick off with a bang with major sales across many stores. 

While the use of the word "black" usually signals the commemeration of a tragedy of some kind, but that isn't necessarily the case with Black Friday. Having said that there has been a number of deaths in the US linked to the craziness of Black Friday shoppers (eeekk right!).

"....... a popular explanation [of the name Black Friday] became that this day represented the point in the year when retailers begin to turn a profit, thus going from being "in the red" to being "in the black". - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_(shopping)

Sounds good to me! But sometimes the crazy levels of discounting that we sees makes me wondering if this is altogether true.

So how do we take advantage of Black Friday

We have a summer brand that sells well at this time of year. The idea of giving away margin unnecessarily in the middle of our peak season is not a wise one for our family-run business and it's ongoing viability. So every year I resist the trend! But this year a wise biz-friend had a great suggestion.

You don't need to run a store-wide sale to participate in the Black Friday rush. You can just run a great offer on a selected range of products. Products that have been slow to move. Products that are being discontinued.

Another idea is to offer a discount on an "entry product" - a product that if people use and fall in love with they will want other products in your range that are the "next step" in the process after your entry product.

Now that I say it, it sounds simple, a no brainer. People come to your website and check out the promotion that you have, then even if they don't buy your discounted product, they have been introduced to your store and it's products in a way that might see them buy, or come back later and buy.

So the discount needs to be significant enough to cut through the crazy discounts being offered, but you don't need to have a storewide discount!

And we can help

If you are an approved stockist of one of our brands, we have sent you an email about some products that we are running special offers on so you can stock up on these in time for Black Friday. That way you can offer these products at a discount as part of your Black Friday promotion and still make full normal margin percentages on them.

Not a stockist yet? You are welcome to apply to stock our Babiators and Baby Loves Sleep brands in your store - register your interest here and our sales team will be in touch.