Black Friday promotion ideas for retailers

Black Friday is a staple of the global retail calendar. Year-to-year, its promotions draw in digital and physical crowds into the tens of millions, turning over revenue into the billions. 

Despite the New York Times 2023 report that “Black Friday isn’t what it used to be,” the data tells us a different story: Black Friday sales are increasing, and retailers can’t afford to miss out.

In this article, we’ll cover the significance of Black Friday, its current state, ideas for making irresistible offers, and strategies for retailers looking to make their Black Friday efforts heard.

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Why Black Friday matters

Black Friday is more than just a day of sales: It’s a date permanently placed in our calendars that we look forward to and plan our shopping strategies around. Since its 1950s beginning, it’s become a tradition. 

Retailers know this, often saving their best sales strategies for the wave of Black Friday shoppers. 

A brief history of Black Friday

While Black Friday technically started in the 1950s, you can trace its origins slightly before that.

1869: The term "Black Friday" is first associated with a financial crisis, specifically the crash of the U.S. gold market on September 24. This crash was precipitated by Jay Gould and Jim Fisk who attempted to corner the gold market. 

1939: During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt — aiming to boost the economy — moved Thanksgiving from the last to the fourth Thursday in November, thereby extending the Christmas shopping season.

1950s: Police officers in Philadelphia began using "Black Friday" to refer to the congested streets filled with shoppers and tourists the day after Thanksgiving, which also coincided with the annual Army-Navy football game.

1961: Retailers and city officials in Philadelphia attempt to rebrand the hectic shopping day from "Black Friday" to "Big Friday" to avoid the negative connotations associated with the term, but the effort fails to change the popular usage.

1966: "Black Friday" is used in an advertisement in The American Philatelist magazine, marking one of the first uses of the term in a retail context.

1980s: The term "Black Friday" becomes commonly recognized across the United States as the day after Thanksgiving, known for significant retail sales and marking the unofficial start of the holiday shopping season.

1990s: Retailers start to link Black Friday to the idea of stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” referring to the accounting practice of recording profits in black ink and losses in red ink.

2010: Amazon introduces Black Friday sales to the UK, bringing the concept of post-Thanksgiving discounts to an international audience.

Black Friday’s impact on sales

The last Black Friday sale saw just short of $300 billion globally. Interestingly, the way that shoppers are engaging with Black Friday is changing compared to its history that we just detailed: Approximately 134 million of the previous Black Friday sales took place online, while around 121 million were in-store. 

What began as a local shopping phenomenon has evolved into a global retail tradition for consumers and opportunity for retailers. Approximately 200 million Americans shopped during Black Friday and Cyber Week in 2023, representing about 60% of the U.S. population. Moreover, the average consumer expenditure on holiday-related items during the Thanksgiving weekend was $321.41.

Retailers who adopt smart, audience-specific Black Friday marketing strategies to promote their efforts ultimately win more sales. 

Creating irresistible Black Friday offers

The Black Friday strategy you adopt will ultimately depend on your unique business positioning and customer base. 

Consider how the following popular Black Friday ideas can fit into your business model and ultimately meet the holiday demands of your customer base. 

• Gift with purchase: Incorporating a gift with purchase can increase the appeal of a main item during Black Friday sales. Selecting gifts that complement the primary product ensures that the added item enhances the original purchase without overshadowing it. Moreover, by offering a free gift, you invoke the reciprocity principle: Customers are more likely to favorably speak of and engage with your business in appreciation for the gift they receive.

• Exclusive early access coupon codes/gift cards: Offering exclusive Black Friday coupon codes or gift cards to members or previous customers before the general public creates a sense of loyalty and rewards engagement. This strategy helps businesses manage demand by staggering shopper access and can drive early sales spikes.

• Flash sale: Consumers respond to urgency. Implementing a flash sale that lasts for a limited time period — such as an hour or until stock runs out— can create a sense of urgency and help drive sales. This tactic encourages quick decision-making and can effectively clear out inventory while driving traffic to your website or store during specific times. 

• Midnight madness: Starting sales at midnight can attract customers who enjoy the novelty of late-night shopping. This approach can differentiate your offerings from competitors who may start their sales at more traditional times, capturing the attention of night owls and those looking for the first pick on deals.

• Doorbuster deals: Introducing highly discounted items — think: Walmart — available in limited quantities can draw large crowds to your store or website. These deals, often on high-demand products, serve as a strong incentive for customers to visit early and potentially purchase more items once inside.

• Free shipping: Providing free shipping on all Black Friday orders can be a strong incentive for online shoppers to choose your business over competitors who charge for delivery. It’s common knowledge that consumers respond favorably to free shipping offers; in fact, 80% are willing to pay more if it means free shipping is involved. 

• Buy one, get one free (BOGO): This classic promotion encourages larger purchases by offering significant value on multiple items. It works well for inventory clearance and can help increase average order size, as customers feel they are getting more for their money. It also works well because it’s familiar — the vast majority of consumers already recognize its value without further persuasion. 

Strategies for making your Black Friday offers heard

Retailers have one not-to-be-overlooked advantage: Shoppers are going to take them up on their offers whether they promote their Black Friday deals or not. However, that’s not to say that all retailers perform equally due to the increased traffic — quite the opposite.

Retailers who adopt smart, audience-specific marketing strategies to promote their Black Friday efforts ultimately win more sales. 

Here are a few to consider. 

Social media marketing 

There are two primary categories of social media marketing:

1. Organic digital marketing: This is where you don’t pay to boost your Black Friday marketing campaign, instead relying on social media algorithms to place it in front of your audience. If your business is already well established with a large follower base, organic marketing is optimal as you’re able to push your marketing strategy without additional overhead. Organic marketers also tend to focus more on quality, as the reach of their posts relies on user engagement and the natural spread through shares, likes, and comments. 

2. Paid digital marketing: That’s not to say that paid marketing doesn’t focus on quality, also — but the approach is different. Paid marketing is where you pay a platform or medium for the promotion of your Black Friday marketing campaign to specific audiences. Examples include Meta ads, LinkedIn ads, Google ads, and others. With paid ads, you can direct exactly who your ad is consumed by, segmenting your audience — depending on the platform — based on age, location, interests, behaviors, and more. 

Most companies adopt both customer engagement strategies for their Black Friday sales efforts. For example, companies tend to have a steady stream of pre-planned organic content while pushing paid marketing ads at the same time. Consider this hypothetical example for how this may look:

Organic: Two weeks prior to Black Friday, our hypothetical company may post daily at 7pm on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter about specific product highlights. Each of the highlighted products will be discounted when it comes time for Black Friday, and the company informs readers of this in each description. 

Paid: Alongside the daily routine of organic posts, our hypothetical company has two paid marketing campaigns running: The first is an Instagram ad that is situated on reels only, targeted toward their target audience (18-24 year olds based in LA), with the campaign objective set to “engagement.” The second is a YouTube non-skippable ad that displays their various discounted products, targeted toward the same audience as their Instagram paid ad. Both campaigns started two weeks prior to Black Friday with a daily spend of $100 per day. 

As you consider your Black Friday marketing strategy, consider what platforms your potential customers/audience is on, how much you’re willing to spend, the types of content your audience already engages with, and the goals you aim to achieve through your campaign.

Email marketing 

Some say that email marketing is an old marketing method, but that’s not true: 1 in 2 people make monthly purchases via email marketing, and that number only increases when it comes to Black Friday campaign strategies. 

We advise that you take the two following factors into consideration:

1. Local email marketing laws: Depending on where your business is based, you may be subject to laws that restrict the types of emails you can send and require you to obtain consent from recipients before sending marketing emails. Across all jurisdictions, you’ll need to ensure that you provide subscribers the option to unsubscribe. 

2. Spam: A large amount of promotional material goes to spam. To avoid this, look to personalize your emails by segmenting your audience, maintaining a clean and engaged subscriber list, and ensuring your content provides value.

As a starting point for your Black Friday email campaign, consider a 1-week-out drip feed: Reach out to your subscriber base with daily emails that provide detailed previews of specific promotions, ensuring each message caters to the preferences of different customer segments. 

You can take this one step further by creating automatic triggers based on how recipients interact with your drip feed to adjust the subsequent emails they receive. For example, if a subscriber clicks on a specific product link, your next email to them can include more information or special offers related to that product. Alternatively, if they haven't opened a few consecutive emails, you might send a special Black Friday discount code to re-engage them.

In-store promotions 

In-store promotions are a requirement for brick-and-mortar stores looking to leverage Black Friday traffic. Consider the following:

• Themed store layouts: Design your store with engaging themes that resonate with Black Friday excitement, such as "Midnight Madness" or "Holiday Countdown." This not only makes the shopping experience more novel but can also guide customers through different zones by emphasizing deals on specific product categories.

• Product showcases: Highlight key products with special demonstrations or featured placements at the front of the store. Consider using dynamic signage and spotlighting to draw attention to these items. 

• Interactive experiences: Set up interactive stations where customers can try products firsthand. This hands-on approach can significantly boost the general interest of foot traffic, while also facilitating a sense of personal connection to individual products as consumers try products for themselves. 

SMS

Among the various Black Friday campaign ideas, particularly those with the primary objectives of promotion/brand awareness, SMS marketing is a tried-and-true method for retailers to directly engage with previous and potential customers. 

With SMS, retailers can communicate their Black Friday deals through an avenue with a high open and engagement rate. Businesses will typically leverage SMS for the communication of a specific Black Friday special deal, rather than using it for broader messaging or less time-sensitive promotions. 

Boost your Black Friday sales with Sekure Payment Experts 

To ensure that your retail operations maximize sales, consider the transaction processes that you’re offering and whether or not they facilitate a seamless, low-touch customer experience. 

Here are a few questions to ask:

• Are we meeting the demand of online shoppers by offering a seamless eCommerce experience?

• Should we offer mobile payment options for in-store purchases, for the sake of line busting and offering a quicker checkout experience?

• How can we streamline the in-store transaction process to reduce queues and ultimately enhance customer satisfaction — considering that many consumers are willing to drop their purchase if it means not waiting for a long time in line? 

• For both eCommerce and in-store payment transactions, what POS system do we need to meet our needs, and how can we leverage those POS analytics to better inform our Black Friday strategy? 

By partnering with a Sekure Payment Expert, you can gain answers to each of these questions. Our Payment Experts can pair you with the optimal eCommerce and in-store payment solution to meet your specific retail needs. 

That way, you can navigate the upcoming Black Friday sale with a highly effective, low-cost POS system, knowing that customers will experience seamless transactions, low wait times, and positive shopping experiences. 
Learn more about Sekure’s POS solutions for retailers.