As the busiest time of the year creeps closer, sellers start preparing in advance for what’s to come. This includes sales, promotions, holiday products and marketing the business. Since we gave vendors tips for selling Halloween products in our last issue, now is the time to focus on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, where you can really up the ante and bring in new customers.
Gurjit Sandhu, Senior Marketing Manager at Yes Marketing, says it’s important to start marketing your business early in the holiday season. In 2018, consumers were seen shopping for the season early in Q4, which means the best time to start marketing your products is now. Here are some ways to ensure your business is fully prepared for all the traffic:
It’s All About the Deal
There’s only one reason consumers do most of their shopping on Black Friday weekend: because of all the amazing deals and discounts. In order to make your booth stand out from the rest, you have to come up with a promotion that will really spark interest and draw customers to you.
Whether this means sending out an email to all of your customers or handing out flyers and coupons when they visit, it’s important to get the message out there. Yes Marketing reported that deals with a dollar amount off received the highest conversion rates from consumers.
More Is More
Throw tablecloths on all of your tables and use that unseen space underneath for extra product storage. Black Friday and Small Business Saturday are going to be so busy, you aren’t going to want to worry about where you put that extra box of something, so make sure to utilize as much extra storage as possible.
That being said, don’t write off products where the packaging is slightly damaged or may be missing some parts. Customers are shopping on this busy weekend for good deals, so stamp a sale sticker on those products and put them on a separate table or display where they can be seen. You’d be surprised to see how many consumers are willing to buy slightly damaged products for a good price.
Reduce The Customer Service Burden
As much as customer service is drilled into the brain of every seller, it can become difficult to manage during this busy time. Especially if you don’t have staff hired to help run your booth, it can be hard for one person to help all the surrounding customers.
Make your booth user friendly by putting out multiple sizes for clothing, offering try-on samples for perfumes or lotions, or label everything clearly so customers know what each product is and does. You can also offer product demos from a TV or laptop set up with a video of a certain product being used. This frees you up to help other customers, while those interested in said product can see how it is used.
Show ‘Em Some Love
Provide incentives for those customers shopping from you to keep them coming back even after your Black Friday and Small Business Saturday sales. For example, you can email them a coupon if they sign up for your newsletter, or put present them with a coupon after their purchase for a discount on a later date. It’s almost guaranteed that consumers aren’t finished with all of their holiday purchases after this crazy weekend, so remind them to come back to you for the rest of the items on their checklist.