Enjoying High Sales Numbers Post-Black Friday

Welcome to Black Friday! For many Canadian retailers, today is a day that started with long line ups outside of their front doors for hours before opening. It’s a yearly tradition that many a consumer participate in so that they can enjoy buying popular items at significantly slashed prices.

Here’s hoping you’re enjoying a very successful Black Friday so far! But here’s also hoping that once today is over, your store continues to enjoy high sales throughout the holiday shopping season. Having put in so much preparation for today, many retailers may have overlooked the fact that there are many more holiday shopping days left. And, of course, there are steps that need to be taken in order to enjoy high sales numbers post-Black Friday.

Get ready for Cyber Monday.

Most retailers won’t limit their Black Friday discounts to today alone. Their customers will enjoy lower prices all weekend long. The weekend, however, culminates with Cyber Monday – the online equivalent of today. As we pointed out in Monday’s blog, it’s vital that your online store is able to handle the additional web traffic. As Margot da Cunha reveals on WordStream.com, online sales are predicted to grow by 15 percent this year.

“The fact that sales are predicted to grow online this holiday season does NOT mean that you should slack off in terms of planning,” she warns, “In fact, more sales will likely mean more competition, so making sure to get ahead of your competitors and plan your online campaigns early is critical. I apologize that your present requires work, but this work will be well worth the return if you are smart about prepping for the holiday rush.”

Be sure to order enough inventory for the rest of the season.

Many retailers stock up in order to satisfy the high demands that are commonplace on Black Friday. It’s important, however, to ensure that there are plenty of products available in the weeks following Black Friday, leading up to Christmas. You don’t want to get caught in a situation where you have to put up “out of stock” signs. Customers will likely leave and never come back.

“Make sure the store has plenty of bags, gift wrap, cash register tape, ribbons/ink, gift certificates and all the necessary office supplies,” reminds Shari Waters on TheBalanceSMB.com, “Examine inventory levels. Review the open-to-buy plan, inspect the store\’s budget and reorder any impulse items and other top sellers to capitalize on the extra exposure. Check the currency in the cash registers and determine how much petty cash you should keep on hand.”

You may have to stock up on staff as well.

With an expected increase in customers, it only makes sense to ensure that your place of business has enough employees to handle the rush. Black Friday won’t be the only day when your store is busy. To maximize your customer service levels, hire and schedule seasonal employees to work the floor.

“Train the new staff well before the season begins,” advises Waters, “Be sure to schedule enough employees during peak periods. As the number of people who walk in goes up, it is important these new customers don\’t take all of your attention away from the regular customers.”

And don’t forget to put your gift cards on clear display! For more information about the electronic gift card solution offered by Canadian POS, call us at 1-877-748-2884 or email us at info@localhost.