After Thanksgiving comes the excitement of the Friday following this joyous holiday. Black Friday is one of the most anticipated days for many shoppers in America. On Black Friday most products go on sale, products online and in-person at the shops. Businesses and shoppers alike benefit from this shopping tradition.
Businesses have to do many things in order to prepare for the annual “shopping spree.” Mestiza New York is a fashion company based in New York City. Louisa Retcher, the brains behind the operation, helps to decide and manage the markdowns for the company’s clothing. There is a lot of effort put into organizing the sales, and also a lot of strategy when carrying them out. Retcher comments on this saying, “Black Friday is all about getting out of the red and into the black.” This refers to the profit and loss a company generates. She continues to explain, “when you’re losing money you’re in the red, and need to do something to be profitable, otherwise known as being in the black.” In order for businesses to use this massive shopping day to turn around their profit margin, a strong marketing strategy is very important. People who are incharge of the financial sector of a business have to make sure any decision they make when it comes to those markdowns is beneficial to the company.
However, markdowns aren’t the only thing businesses need to do when it comes to compiling a marketing strategy for Black Friday as Retcher comments, “Black Friday isn’t just about taking markdowns or offering discounts. It’s also about having a marketing strategy to pull the customers in. Every other brand is discounting so you have to figure out how you are going to stand out amongst your competition.” On Black Friday, almost every business has huge sales, so that means that businesses need to make markdowns and advertisements that appeal to everybody to make them stand out among all the others. This makes sure that their company benefits from the sale and that more people shop there. Retcher goes on to talk about how Mestiza advertises for Black Friday: “We plan ahead and make a calendar of all the emails and texts we are going to send along with a social media strategy.” There is a lot of preparation needed in advance to launch something for Black Friday; in fact, Mestiza starts its advertisement process in July — and it isn’t easy.
Black Friday has the potential to greatly benefit a business. Retcher explains from the customer’s perspective that “it’s an opportunity to give your customers a deal — new customers will be more likely to try your brand if they have a decent discount and old customers who love the product can stock up!” While giving the business an ability to get more customers and sell more products, the sale helps customers explore new businesses to shop at, with a cheaper price. Black Friday draws in many new customers for businesses, as they are attracted by the opportunity to buy items that are on sale but may learn of a new company to love as a result. The more people buy from businesses, the more attention is drawn to the business. This helps businesses rise financially and in consume base.
The 2023 sales from Black Friday have come to a close, but they will be back in 2024, frequently lasting for about a week around that sacred Friday. Customers won’t see these kinds of sales at any other time of year.
