Each retail holiday has a different sales focal point from the others. As every business is vying for the sale of the season, they are kicking off earlier and running sales longer (called the Christmas Creep), sometimes up to 3 days before the actual sale day and a week after.
Will your sales do better if you advertise for one sale over the other? Let’s see… While many names in the business are promoting “Pawn Friday” and explaining to Pawnbrokers why they shouldn’t put themselves in the same buy box as retailers for Black Friday, I say, “Are you CRAZY???” By nature, your prices are cheaper than retailers! Why would you NOT take advantage of promoting your sales and layaways until Christmas on BLACK FRIDAY?
Many people can’t afford retail and come to you naturally, why shy away from that business? Pawn Friday is a nice idea, but why try to compete with Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, and Green Monday? When does it all become too much?
Here’s what you need to know
BLACK FRIDAY: Be there or be square. People wait in line for what they believe will be the deal of the century! There may be online sales but stores typically advertise in-store only for the real deals. This is a GREAT opportunity to drive foot traffic into your shop.
WHAT TO ADVERTISE: Flash Sales, Door Busters, Individual Product Deals, and Brand specific deals.
DATE: Friday, November 24, 2017 (May begin Mon- Wed prior to Friday and run up to a week after.)
MOST POPULAR SALES: Electronics, Large Appliances, Movies, Music & Books and don’t forget…
GUN STORES: Shoppers flocked to gun stores on Black Friday, the biggest day of the year for gun sales last year – Black Friday weapon sales were not driven by the Christmas spirit since gun laws in many states prohibit buying guns for someone else. These sales were driven by sharp discounts.
WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE: Black Friday 2016 generated $1.2 billion. Mobile shopping set a new record with $3.34 billion spent online. That’s $5.27 billion if you include the shopping done on actual Thanksgiving day!
CYBER MONDAY: The biggest online shopping day of the year is 14 days before Christmas and is primarily comprised of more website and storewide sales rather than brand-specific deals.
DATE: Monday, November 27, 2017 (Can begin as early as Saturday the 25th and extend seven days or longer)
MOST POPULAR SALES: Clothing, Shoes, Beauty Products, Toys, Small Appliances and Electronics
WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE: Cyber Monday 2016, yielded $3.45 billion in sales, a new online record. 1/2 of all Cyber Monday sales happen while people are logging in from work.
GREEN MONDAY: Not as dramatic as Black Friday but again, some solid good deals. Green Monday is traditionally the 2nd Monday of December. On this day, most major retailers start sales online at midnight.
DATE: Monday, 11th December 2017
MOST POPULAR SALES: TV – Laptop – Tablet
WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE: Green Monday 2016 yielded $1.62 billion U.S. dollars.
Hot Items for 2017
Electronics– iPad, notebooks, chrome books, 4k TVs, Xbox One bundles & Xbox One X, Sony Play Stations 4 slim & Pro, Nintendo Switch, Fitbits, Charger2, Blu-ray players, Star Wars merchandise
Streaming – Streaming sticks — like the Roku Express, Amazon Fire TV stick, and Chromecast — in the $20 to $25 range
- Apple TV 4K is unlikely to see discounts; previous-gen 32GB Apple TV for under $100
- Current-generation Fire TV under $65
- Roku Ultra for under $70
- Chromecast Ultra for under $40
Toys- Hatchimals , Disney Prince Little People song palace, Star Wars figurines, Step 2 modern cook kitchen, Vtech Kidi Jamz studio, ANYTHING Paw Patrol, Fingerlings, Fur Real Roarin Tyler (the playful tiger), Barbie Dream Horse, Zoom N Crawl Monster, LittleBits Star Wars Droid Inventor Kit, Imaginext DC Super Friends Batman Batbot Xtreme,Disney/Pixar Cars 3 Ultimate Florida Speedway, Mickey and the Roadster Racers Transforming Hot Rod Mickey, Disney Junior Doc McStuffins Baby All in One Nursery
Clothing- Where to shop: Big names like Gap, H&M, Macy’s and Target usually, 25% to 50% off on clothing. Sitewide sales are big for clothing sites. In the past, most big-name retailers have settled around the 40-percent-off mark over the years. Popular online clothing and accessory retailers have offered 30% off in the past. But plenty of big names went up to 50% sitewide in 2016. We don’t expect much higher this year. But, if you need to get something pricey, such as a winter coat or high-end boots, 30% to 50% off could save you a lot.
Here’s what to take away
- Brick and mortar chains that closed on Thanksgiving did not lose any business in 2016 if they had a robust online presence. Consumers were perfectly happy shopping online on Thanksgiving Day.
- Ecommerce will continue to take revenue share away from brick-and-mortar stores for holiday shopping.
- Mobile devices are becoming the holiday-shopping method of choice and the mobile share of sales will almost certainly grow.
