A small store can take part in Black Friday without cutting every price. Offer gift sets, free shipping or a bonus with orders, give subscribers early access, and promote what customers already want.

Seventeen days to go

Black Friday is on November 23. Over the next two weeks, inboxes will fill with offers of large discounts on everything.

Large retailers plan that weekend months ahead with their suppliers, and their volume absorbs the cost.

A small store selling things it makes or chooses carefully usually cannot match them, and does not need to. People shopping that weekend are looking for gifts and reasons to buy, not only for the lowest price.

There are ways to take part that cost far less than a sitewide discount, and several suit a small store better.

What a sitewide discount costs

A discount comes straight off the margin, and on a product with a modest margin it can take most of it.

It also goes to every customer, including the regulars who would have paid full price anyway, and it teaches them to wait for the next sale.

And it competes on the one thing a small store is weakest at. A customer choosing on price alone will find something cheaper elsewhere that weekend.

Offers that are not discounts

The first does the most for the least. A gift buyer in late November is not hunting for a discount; they are hunting for an answer to what to give, and a ready-made set is that answer.

Gift sets

Put three or four products that belong together into one box: a starter set, a sampler, a set for a particular kind of person.

Price the set fairly against its contents, but it need not be much cheaper. Its value is in the choosing and the packaging, which the customer would otherwise do themselves.

Give each set its own page with a clear photograph, what is inside, and who it suits. A plain name, such as the starter box, is easier to choose than a clever one.

Sets also help with stock. They are a good home for a product that sells slowly on its own.

Free shipping or a bonus

Shipping is the charge customers resent most, so removing it for a weekend can feel more generous than a modest discount.

Work out what it will cost first, from last year's orders and where they went. Free shipping to remote parts of the country can cost more than the margin on a small order.

A bonus with every order is cheaper still: a sample of a new product, a small extra, a card with a recipe or care tips. It costs you its wholesale value, and the customer receives it as a gift.

Early access for subscribers

Email subscribers are the customers most likely to buy, and Black Friday is a chance to give them something that costs nothing: being first.

Send them the gift sets or the limited run a day early, on the Thursday, with a link that works before the general announcement.

Say in the email why they are getting it first. It reminds them why they subscribed, and gives anyone who joins that week a reason to.

Keep the promise exactly. If subscribers are told they get first pick, the products should not appear on social media before they do.

Promote what people already want

Every store has products customers ask for by name: the best-seller, the one that sold out last December, the restock people wrote in about.

The Black Friday email does not have to announce a sale. Back in stock, ready to give, the last day to order for Christmas: these are reasons to buy that cost the store nothing.

Put the best-sellers at the top of the home page that weekend, and make sure each is one tap from the email.

A worked example

A small jerky maker sells online and at two farmers' markets, from a commercial kitchen, with a dozen flavours and a loyal following.

Last year it took a large discount off everything for the weekend. The orders came, mostly from regulars who would have bought anyway, and on many of them what was left barely covered the packaging.

This year its prices stay put. It has made three gift boxes: a sampler, a hot flavours box and a large box for serious fans, each with its own page and photographs.

Subscribers see the boxes on the Thursday. Every order that weekend includes a bag of a new flavour, and shipping is free above an amount just over the usual order.

The weekend email leads with the boxes and the last day to order for Christmas, not with a price. The owner will judge the weekend by what is left after costs, not by the number of orders.

Keeping the offers honest

Offers that are not discounts still make claims, and they should be true.

If a gift set shows what its contents cost separately, use the prices you actually charge.

If an offer is for subscribers only, do not open it to everyone the same morning. If the bonus runs out, say so on the site.

The counter-case

Some stores should discount. Seasonal stock that will not sell in January, or a line being dropped, may be better cleared at a lower price that weekend.

A store with healthy margins and a habit of one genuine sale a year can run it without teaching anyone to wait.

But a sitewide discount should be a decision with numbers behind it, not a reflex because every inbox is shouting. For most small stores, sets, shipping, a bonus and early access cost less and suit the business better.

Before the weekend

  1. Work out the margin on your best-sellers.
  2. Build two or three gift sets with their own pages.
  3. Cost the free shipping before announcing it.
  4. Choose a bonus that costs little to add.
  5. Give subscribers a day of early access.
  6. Put best-sellers at the top of the home page.
  7. Check the stock of everything you will promote.

Step five is the one that pays after the weekend as well. Subscribers treated as first in line stay on the list, and the list is what a small store can still use in January.

For a store whose products cost nothing to ship or restock, the choices look different again, as covered in selling digital downloads from a small site.

Frequently asked questions

Does a small store need Black Friday discounts?

No. It can take part with gift sets, free shipping, a bonus with orders, early access for subscribers, and by promoting the products customers already ask for.

Why avoid a sitewide discount?

It comes straight off the margin, goes to regulars who would have paid full price, teaches customers to wait for sales, and competes on price, where small stores are weakest.

What makes a good gift set?

Three or four products that belong together, priced fairly, with a plain name, a clear photograph, and a list of what is inside and who it suits.

Is free shipping worth offering for the weekend?

Often, because shipping is the charge customers resent most. Work out what it will cost from last year's orders first, especially for remote destinations.

How does early access for subscribers work?

Subscribers get the sets or limited products a day before everyone else, by email, with a note explaining why. Nothing should appear on social media before them.

When does a real sale make sense?

For seasonal stock that will not sell in January, a line being dropped, or a store with healthy margins that runs one genuine sale a year.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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