Boutiques on Black Friday

Boutiques on Black Friday

In the retail world, the Friday after Thanksgiving is called Black Friday.  On this day, retail businesses hope to financially go from being in the red to in the black.  This is when a lot of businesses turn a profit for the first time of the year.  Retail stores and boutiques can make around 70% of their profit for the year between Thanksgiving and New Years.

Black Friday marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season and is an exciting time for retailers.  Advertising has made Black Friday a very popular shopping day all over the country.  You will see Santa arrive in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade marking the beginning of the Christmas season.  Preparing your boutique or retail store for a big Black Friday event could really pay off and start your year-end season off right.

Make sure that you plan your event out right in order to stay competitive.  Your competitors may be opening their doors as early as 4:00 AM to let shoppers in.  Advertise heavily for a couple of weeks before the event.  Feature hot items and offer amazing deals on things that people are really after.  They will only go to a few stores on Black Friday, so you really have to draw them in.

Make sure that you communicate a lot of details with your customers and the public.  Most shoppers will know exactly what they are buying and how much they are going to pay before they leave the house on Black Friday.  You may want to hold off on putting out specific prices until a couple of days before the event to make sure that your competitors don't see your price and simply undercut it.

Boutiques may be competing with bigger department stores, but you will have more unique gifts, so make sure that you really push them.  You can even benefit from some of the larger department store traffic if you're located within the vicinity.  Use outdoor or window displays to attract attention and lure customers over.

Using slatwall inside of your boutique is also a great way to show customers what you have.  They can see slatwall displays from far away and can quickly scan the store to see what grabs their interest.  Use slatwall accessories to feature certain items and draw their curious eyes to different areas of the store.

When Black Friday is over, don't forget about Cyber Monday.  Many people avoid the crowds and do their shopping online after the Thanksgiving weekend is over.  Let your customers know about Cyber Monday and keep the holiday shopping going.