Black Friday is Bad for Business

Every year, the day after American Thanksgiving, consumers flock to retail stores to shop and take advantage of deep discounts and promotions, fondly referred to as Black Friday.  These once a year promotions have now migrated into the week before Black Friday (everyone wants to get a head start) and have invaded your inbox with online promotions too.

The actual origins of Black Friday might surprise you though. Black Friday is known to be the day of the year where retailers actually start to turn a profit, otherwise known as operating in the black.

In retail, it is commonly known that 20-40% of annual sales for small to midsize retailers take place in the last two months of the year.  It is also widely known by consumers that Black Friday discounts are worth waiting for.

Black Friday teaches your buyers to wait for the best deal of the year. It also conditions business owners to believe that the only way to get volume sales is through deep discounting.

Neither of these things are good for your business.

While you’re being inundated with Black Friday offers by everyone and their dog, I want to encourage you to ask yourself two key questions:

1. Are you training your consumers to wait for deep discounting on your products or services?

2. Are you generating the profits you need in your business on a monthly basis?

Don’t get caught up in the Black Friday mayhem, instead ask yourself, how can I create a successful, sustainable and profitable business that doesn’t require one day (or week) of the year, with deep discounts to survive.

Don’t be like everyone else.  Being like everyone else is boring.

Leave me a comment and let me know if you participate in and love Black Friday sales, or if you’re like me and avoid the chaos altogether.