Happy Black Friday! You may have started your holiday shopping yesterday on Thanksgiving or a few months early. 39% of shoppers began shopping before the end of October. But for those that kick off their holiday shopping on Black Friday, let’s just say that your days of deals and discounts are numbered.

Compared to last year, Thanksgiving fell on Nov. 22 and left 33 shopping days until Christmas. This year, Thanksgiving fell on Nov. 28, which limits the shopping season 27 days. This may mean crunch-time for consumers, as it gives them six fewer days to shop. But for retailers, you should have a different perspective.

The short shopping shouldn’t necessarily dictate your sales. It should actually give you the opportunity to get more creative in your promotional and marketing methods. Some ideas may include the following:

  1. Start sales earlier. Target and other retailers are already beginning to roll out heavy discounts.
  2. Use the most effective communication strategies to reach your customers. Almost 78% of retailers plan to increase customer communications, while 62% will send holiday-specific emails, texts, and social posts. Another 62% of respondents agree that social media influencer campaigns are becoming an important marketing channel.
  3. A short shopping season does not mean short-staff. Make sure your store is equipped with additional personnel to handle to rush of customers.
  4. Freebies are a great way to relieve some of the stress your customers may be experiencing while shopping. A free sample is a nice way to reflect the season of giving. 
  5. Take advantage of Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday as well. If you are a brick and mortar shop, you can still be active on Cyber Monday by sending your customers emails with coupons to use in-store. 

These are just a few ideas to profit during this holiday season. We have quite a few other ideas as well on our website which includes exciting contests and promotions!