Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest shopping days for online retailers and consumers. Both holiday seasons offer ample opportunities for small business owners to drive in more customers and generate more sales. Savvy online retailers usually plan to take advantage of these two days to increase sales. As an online merchant, you need the best Black Friday ideas for small businesses. Fortunately for you, in this article, you can learn the top 10 Black Friday ideas for small businesses.
The interesting thing about Black Friday is that any small business, like yours, can generate a massive increase in sales with minimal effort. This is because around 55% of consumers all over the world prepare to visit stores on Black Friday or/and Cyber Monday. With just a few heads on and implementation, you can capitalize on the frenzy and reap bountifully on the next Black Friday. Before we explore the top Black Friday ideas for your small business, let us briefly discuss Black Friday history.
Introducing Black Friday
Black Friday is traditionally seen as the beginning of the holiday shopping season. It started in the United States as a tradition where items are sold at huge discounts and bargains. On this day, both online and offline can expect a gigantic crowd of shoppers and a substantial increase in sales. Black Friday falls on the first Friday after Thanksgiving and since 2000 it has earned a reputation of being the biggest shopping day of the year – busier than the Saturday before Xmas. Being the busiest shopping day of the year makes Black Friday a perfect time for boosting sales. You too can boost your sales and generate more traffic in this year’s Black Friday event.
Top Ten Black Friday Ideas For Small Businesses
According to SaleCycle, Black Friday online sales reached $7.4 billion in 2019 – surpassing all previous records. With our Black Friday tips and marketing ideas, your small business can get a piece of the pie this holiday season.
1. Create a gift guide
As the name implies, a gift guide curates and highlights your hot products or best deals. It gives a sense of direction to first-time customers shopping for Black Friday gift ideas during the holiday season. Gift guides are effective especially when they contain search phrases that potential buyers might search for example, “15 Amazing Leather Watches for Men”, “8 Leather Watch Gifts for Her”. After highlighting your Black Friday event ideas, you should consider writing a blog post explaining the features of those products. To drive more traffic, feature your gift guide on your homepage or any other visible part of your site. Sharing your gift guide on social media can attract new customers while email marketing can be a great way to have existing customers share the guide with family, friends, and loved ones ahead of the holiday season.
2. Buy more to save more
This is one of the best Black Friday advertising ideas that can help you maximize profits. By offering huge discounts, customers will be encouraged to buy more in your store. Introducing games in your store also make sense. Winners will receive rewards ranging from free shipping to gift cards, etc. This will also make visitors spend more time which will, in turn, increase the Average Order Value of their shopping carts.
3. Build anticipation early
Early to bed implies rising early. To ward off competition as a small business can be very challenging but planning will put you ahead of the competition. To get the best out of the holiday season, you must generate awareness early. Don’t wait until the week before Black Friday 2021 to start taking action. If holiday shoppers eagerly anticipate Black Friday Christmas ideas, why shouldn’t you? Outline your plans, make market research on trending products, curate products, come up with game-changing marketing strategies are essential things to work on at least 2 months before Black Friday.
4. Leverage hashtags
When thinking of the best Black Friday event ideas, you should think of adding Black Friday-enabled hashtags to your social media posts and campaigns. Whether you are posting on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, or Twitter, take advantage of popular Black Friday hashtags including #BlackFriday, #CyberMonday, #OnlineSales2021, #BlackFriday2021, #BlackFridaySales, #BlackFridayDeals, #BlackFridayUSA, etc. For small business owners dealing with a specific niche, streamlining your hashtags to appeal to your demographic can be a smart idea. The benefit of using hashtags during the holiday season is to reach customers who are searching [via search engines and social media] for deals relating to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
5. Hourly deals
Hourly deals are exciting in that they create a sense of urgency. A typical example is to offer 1, 2, or 3 hours flash sales on heavily discounted products. Statistics show a higher clickthrough rate on hourly deals. Also, try offering a general discount on all products, say 39% off, on a few products on an hourly basis. To get the best result, promote hourly deals on social media and even via email marketing.
6. Free gifts on every purchase
If you want to boost sales this Black Friday 2021, then add an extra incentive to purchase. Who doesn’t want a free gift? Offering a free gift after a purchase is a great way to show how much you value your customers. To get the best result, be flexible and have numerous options for customers to choose their own free gift. Another way is to add a mystery gift to the option. Mysterious [unknown gifts] can create a sense of suspense and excitement which is certain to entice shoppers. Here are some recommendations of free gifts you might want to include in your Black Friday gift ideas:
- A piece of jewelry when they buy any women’s fashion items
- Free pouch when they purchase a Bluetooth ear pod
- A free cufflink when they buy a shirt
NOTE: The free gift should cost only a fraction of your profit, not too much. Also, free gifts don’t incur a shipping fee. Anyway, that is why it is free, right.
7. Explore SMS marketing
Who says SMS is old, think again. Sending emails is no doubt an effective form of marketing Black Friday shirt ideas but SMS rocks too. Once you can create a list [which is the hardest part], then you can explore a goldmine that boasts around 98% open rates.
8. Consider bundling your products
If you are wondering how you can drive sales during Black Friday 2021, consider creating bundles of your products. Here’s what it’s like to bundle products. For only $99, you can get a Bluetooth ear pod, a mini drone, and an OTG device. The drone alone costs $85, so the other packages make the deal mouthwatering. Find out what and what products you can bundle to make sweat deals for your customers. Just make sure they are closely related items.
9. Look beyond Black Friday, extend sales until Cyber Monday
Extending your Black Friday sales through Cyber Monday is an effective Black Friday advertising idea. It allows you more opportunities to drive more traffic and make more money. However, you need to channel your efforts on Black Friday since it is the main day for you to offer great deals on your products. Follow it up with Saturday super deals, Sunday boom sales, and then Cyber Monday.
10. Dropshipping
Do you want to partake in Black Friday 2021 but don’t have an inventory? Dropshipping can be a great idea. What is dropshipping? It is an online business model that allows you to sell without buying inventory, owning/renting a warehouse, or shipping orders. The basic things you need are an online store, the right product, and a reliable dropshipping supplier. After a customer places an order in your store, you push the order details to your dropship supplier who fulfills the order directly to your customer’s address. Can you sell without owning stocking a product this holiday season? Yes, with the dropshipping business model.
Wherever you are operating, a trustworthy dropshipping supplier can deliver to your customers without hassle. But the challenge is finding a reliable dropship partner can be difficult; some are not reliable while others charge outrageous service fees. After diligent research and careful examinations, we’ve found the SaleYee dropship platform to be professional, reliable, and trustworthy.
SaleYee is a global dropshipping and wholesale platform dedicated to making online retailers sell and earn online without stress. SaleYee offers high-quality products and professional services. At SaleYee, you will find over 30, 000 profitable SKUs that can give you a huge profit margin. You can easily integrate the SaleYee platform with top eCommerce sites like Amazon, eBay, Shopify, Walmart, Wish, etc. Check out some exclusive features of the SaleYee platform:
- Over 30,000 profitable SKUs from different niches
- Up to 630,000+ sq.m. local warehouses
- Fast & free delivery
- Impeccable customer service 24/7
- Free membership – no subscription needed
- Huge discounts on many products
- Up to 3-Month after-sales period
You can get started for free; no membership fee, no hidden charges – just sign up and start importing your products right away.
Conclusion
Every business, both small and big, is looking to take advantage of Black Friday 2021. You shouldn’t be left out; be a partaker of this year’s frenzy. With our unique Black Friday marketing strategies and promotion ideas, your small business can smoothly drive more traffic and sales during the largest shopping season of the year. No matter what product you sell, offer mouthwatering deals to make this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping season the best.
