Black Friday. A friday just like any other day of the year – except it’s not. Ever since the birth of the concept in 2005, Black Friday has been the most busy shopping day in the U.S. However, the swells of the ‘shopping holiday’ have spread to the rest of the world, and today it is a major event in the global retail calendar.
With hordes of customers competing to get their hands on the best offers, it is up to the retailers to be prepared for the big row. You know that Black Friday is not like any other shopping holiday. It’s all about great offers and big shopping, and naturally your store- and campaign set-up for Black Friday should match these expectations.
You know that one of the big challenges in preparing all stores for a sales campaign is to actually make sure, the campaign itself is fully implemented throughout the chain. Store fronts, displays, counters and price tags all need to be visually corresponding from store to store.
Now, heading into the swarm of expectant customers, we introduce the four official stages of ‘Black Friday readiness’:
#1. "We have a world-class concept lined up this year. Every store and employee is prepped and ready to break all sales records."
#2. "We are looking forward to Black Friday. Our employees have received a brief on this year’s concept, so everything should be in place for Friday."
#3. "We are probably not quite there yet. We have many stores, but expect our area managers to quality control and sign off on every store individually."
#4. "What is Black Friday?"
Improving retail readiness with mobile checklists
Major retail events like Black Friday will bring along heavy footfall and sky-high customer expectations. Most retailers will welcome the footfall. However, for geographical reasons, many of them will struggle to secure their brand in all stores prior to the big show and, as a consequence, reduce the likeliness of matching the expectations of their customers.
While some may accept this paradox as “the nature of retail”, others decide to eliminate the problem with digital checklists and automised task management.
By utilising mobile reporting between HQ and stores, management is empowered in rolling out campaigns without having to worry about the 20% of stores that will fail to comply with campaign guidelines.
The advantages of effective chain reporting and monitoring does not only apply to the period leading up to major sales campaigns. By consistently collecting all data in a central system, management is able to benchmark regional and local execution of individual campaigns to constantly refine and align current as well as future sales activities.
So with one of the most important dates in the retail calendar coming up - where are you on the Black Friday Readiness Scale?
Or more importantly, where could you be? >>
