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2019's Black Friday Discussion... What Are You Up To?

MJ DeMarco

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Some questions as 2019's Black Friday approaches...

How are you preparing?
Are you having any specials?
How was your Black Friday weekend, including cyber Monday?
Any special insights compared to prior years?

Let's hear it!
 
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GPM

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I plan on standing in line for like 8 hours (6 of which is before the store opens) in order to save $45 on some random electronic device that I will probably leave in the box. (I forgot to write that this is sarcasm. I thought that was an obvious point, but I guess not...)

No business plans. I guess I am pissed that everyone is not going to be taking work seriously. I have a hard enough time getting some of these folks on the line during a normal week, let alone 'Merica's special holiday of all specials.
 
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Bearcorp

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Black Friday's become the biggest weekend in our business calendar, a lot of planning with marketing and stock control has gone into this year's, as well as adding 2 staff members since last years sale.

I have noticed, with the Friday being so late in the month, and also with shoppers becoming more and more accustomed to the sales that companies are running "pre" Black Friday sales, or starting them early.
 
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biophase

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I was going to run a special, but after calculating the potential sales based on previous sales. I would run out of stock probably 3/4 through the day. And what was worse was that I wouldn't have any stock to sell for the next 10 days. So I sort of messed up my inventory calculation this year. So no BF sale on one of my stores.

My other store, I use BF to clear out slow moving stuff and cost usually. Selling it on BF makes it look like you are doing a huge 50% off sale, vs clearance.
 

Raoul Duke

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I plan on standing in line for like 8 hours (6 of which is before the store opens) in order to save $45 on some random electronic device that I will probably leave in the box.

No business plans. I guess I am pissed that everyone is not going to be taking work seriously. I have a hard enough time getting some of these folks on the line during a normal week, let alone 'Merica's special holiday of all specials.

The mediocrity... runs deep, with this one.
 

AFMKelvin

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I bought a $80 tent this weekend. I called off from work Friday. I'll arrive at Wal Mart at 9 PM Thanksgiving day and I'll be camping out all night. They have a Modern Warfare and PS4 bundle for only $200. I might even get me a Nintendo Switch while I'm at it. I'll probadly use my credit card for the Switch though.
 
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GigMistress

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Thanks for posting this. I was just musing today about the viability/value of Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions in B2B. I won't be selling until sometime in the June-September range, so this is just long-term thinking triggered by the season. Interested to hear whether anyone in the B2B space participates/has success with this type of promotion.
 

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Starting tomorrow night, Monday, I will go to WalMart and stock up on the drinks my grandson likes (only place I can find them). Then I will stay away from every store except Kroger until mid January. I just got back from Kroger (midnight is when I shop there) and no one is usually in the store except me. Business as usual, no changes anywhere.
 
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broswoodwork

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I'm embarrassed to admit, I'm at capacity through New Years, so nothing special for promotions. I haven't even been able to turn the paid advertising back on since late September.

Scale... I'm working on it.
 

ZF Lee

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Saw some good Udemy courses, especially Lex's stuff, on great discounts.

Also lots of sales materials flowing thru my emails to study...
 

lunga ngcobo

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Some questions as 2019's Black Friday approaches...

How are you preparing?
Are you having any specials?
How was your Black Friday weekend, including cyber Monday?
Any special insights compared to prior years?

Let's hear it!
I'll probably be working on my business or reading... :smile2:
 
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WillHurtDontCare

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Black Friday's become the biggest weekend in our business calendar, a lot of planning with marketing and stock control has gone into this year's, as well as adding 2 staff members since last years sale.

I have noticed, with the Friday being so late in the month, and also with shoppers becoming more and more accustomed to the sales that companies are running "pre" Black Friday sales, or starting them early.

I know on the surface level the hype surrounding Black Friday seems to be about shopping & finding "deals", but I think that the truth is even more depressing than that.

People aren't camping out at Best Buy just to save money on a TV, but to feel like they are part of a festival. It's a big event where there are a lot of people out and a lot of energy in the air - those are the real appeals. It's not a coincidence that major religions have their calendars covered with various holidays.

You can make points about personal accountability and whatnot, but I'd say that a staggering amount of people live monotonous lives and have little to look forward to. Black Friday, even if just a cheap commercial festival, is still a festival & something to get excited about.
 

AllenCrawley

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We've been planning our BFCM weekend and December promos for a couple of months.

We did a pre-Black Friday promo that ends at midnight tonight. One week ago, we sent an invite to our email list to join our early-bird tribe. We launched that promo on Friday last week. Only those that opted into our early bird list received those emails. Basically, it gave them our best Cyber Monday discount a week early. This was not shared with anyone outside of the early bird tribe. This promo has done very well for us.

Thanksgiving day we start our Black Friday sale. Our email campaign will be aggressive and we'll also use Messenger and SMS.

How do you infuse excitement and continued sales after the BFCM mayhem? We'll launch new products and special bundles the following week in December. We also have a few special promos we'll leak out leading up to the shipping deadlines.

Edit to add:
This year was the first year we methodically planned out Q4 campaigns and we expect great returns from the effort. The previous Q4s we kinda winged it taking for granted that sales would naturally come. They do but with planning and prep you can crush it.
 
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Bearcorp

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How do you infuse excitement and continued sales after the BFCM mayhem? We'll launch new products and special bundles the following week in December. We also have a few special promos we'll leak out leading up to the shipping deadlines.

We’ve learnt our lessons from previous years and will be doing the same in the lead up to Christmas.

I'm embarrassed to admit, I'm at capacity through New Years, so nothing special for promotions. I haven't even been able to turn the paid advertising back on since late September.

Scale... I'm working on it.

Nothing to be embarrassed about it’s good to be at capacity! Black Friday, like other sales periods isn’t going anywhere, keep building and growing before worry about catching these waves. For the first 2 years of business I didn’t even know what Black Friday was, last year our campaign was aggressive but stock was low, we’ve done a better job managing the build up to this years.
 

MoreVolume

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Have a 42% off sale
My emailing list has almost doubled since last year so im hoping that the sales will be double
Advertising on Twitter and IG as usual
 
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AFMKelvin

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I know on the surface level the hype surrounding Black Friday seems to be about shopping & finding "deals", but I think that the truth is even more depressing than that.

People aren't camping out at Best Buy just to save money on a TV, but to feel like they are part of a festival. It's a big event where there are a lot of people out and a lot of energy in the air - those are the real appeals. It's not a coincidence that major religions have their calendars covered with various holidays.

You can make points about personal accountability and whatnot, but I'd say that a staggering amount of people live monotonous lives and have little to look forward to. Black Friday, even if just a cheap commercial festival, is still a festival & something to get excited about.
Sad but true. There's no bonding culture in the US.

Everyone has their own car, cubicle, phone, social media profiles, and their own room at home. We spend too much time by ourselves and if were with a group of friends we stick with them and make no contact with other people while out and about.

Religious festivals have been replaced by corporate events. Black Friday and Even Christmas was turned into a corporate event now. Sports teams and merchandise is the common shared experience of people around the country.

We forget that we're social animals. And that we need group activities throughout the year to stay healthy and positive.
 

Royce2

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A thing I noticed among some "big brands" is a big banner saying "Black Friday Prices NOW!"
very catchy for an average consumer.
 

Itzemp3

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Great Q! Write more content for our website, and also social media linking to our affiliated products. And engage with our mailing list to let them know. Some really great deals coming up, and I think people will get some cool stuff if they buy now.

Yet, from a purchasing perspective, it's a no from me. Other than that, I hope everyone has a cracking time and makes a ton of sales too.
 
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PizzaOnTheRoof

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Probably just walk around Walmart and Best Buy
 
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D

DeletedUser0287

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For the business, plan on never running a sale. Creating that high value perception. Only way a person can get a discount is initial sign up of newsletter.

For me personally, I might just look on Amazon on bit.
 

Imgal

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Business - current offering doesn't really fit a Black Friday offer so nothing happening there. I may do something in the New Year to kickstart my shift out of day to day client work and a focus on consulting and coaching.

Personally I was going to avoid it but then my laptop died this morning!
 

MJ DeMarco

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Well my inbox this morning was jammed packed with all kinds of offers, might be better to email a black friday offer on a Saturday, or wait to Sunday from the Cybermonday.
 
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msufan

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Well my inbox this morning was jammed packed with all kinds of offers, might be better to email a black friday offer on a Saturday, or wait to Sunday from the Cybermonday.
Any particular offers that really stood out in terms of (A) the marketing quality or (B) the deal itself?
 

MJ DeMarco

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Any particular offers that really stood out in terms of (A) the marketing quality or (B) the deal itself?

I haven't looked (or deleted) them yet. Just saw the huge number and closed it, LOL. But I'll report if anything strikes me as interesting, definitely will make for an interesting study!
 

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