How to Prepare Your Small Business for Black Friday: 4 Last-Minute Tips

November has almost begun, and holiday garlands and ornaments will soon an appearance at Macy's flagship store in New York's Herald Square. What will soon serve as the backdrop for the company's annual Thanksgiving Day parade will also greet the store's rush of holiday shoppers on Black Friday this year. As big-name retailers like Macy's make final preparations for this year's holiday shopping season, some small businesses might be wondering what necessary measures they should take.

For those that have yet to put a holiday shopping plan together, it's not too late. Black Friday may be right around the corner, but a few key preparations can still make for a successful holiday sales season.

Tips to prepare your small businesses for Black Friday

Black Friday is a huge moneymaker for businesses of all sizes, but this year's holiday season is expected to pose interesting challenges for small businesses. The most important measures small businesses can take to circumvent these challenges are:

1. Start your holiday marketing now

One of the most important measures you can take to ensure a successful holiday season is to start your marketing campaigns ASAP. Many customers are starting their holiday shopping early in an attempt to find the best deals.

Retailers like Target and Walmart announced their Black Friday promotions as early as October, so you should get a jump on your business's holiday marketing if you want to be competitive.

2. Offer in-person shopping appointments

During the pandemic, many businesses adopted in-person shopping appointments as a way to control the flow of traffic in brick-and-mortar stores. This strategy is one you may want to consider continuing or implementing for the first time as it allows for a calmer, more personalized shopping experience.

Amid the inevitable chaos of Black Friday shopping, offering shopping appointments may offer a nice change of pace—and peace of mind—for your in-person customers. Point-of-sale (POS) systems like Shopify and Lightspeed have an appointment scheduling feature built into the broader platform. Or, you might consider adopting a stand-alone scheduling software application. If your current system does not support in-person appointments, it may be worthwhile to switch to a new vendor.

3. Communicate shipping cutoffs

Managing customer expectations with delivery timelines is essential to creating a smooth holiday shopping season even after Black Friday has passed. Look at the shipping carriers you use. Most carriers have already announced how long customers should expect packages to arrive during the holiday rush, as well as key deadlines for guaranteed delivery by specific dates.

Add a few extra business days for padding, and communicate the shipping schedule to your customers with strict cutoff dates for new orders. It's possible that orders placed after these deadlines will still arrive in time for the holidays, but it's usually best to under-promise and over-deliver.

4. Prioritize online sales strategies

Online holiday spending is expected to be around $1.58 trillion this year, according to Deloitte, with the Black Friday weekend forecast to bring in as much as $75 billion. With so many people shopping from home, it's imperative that your business has a strategic online presence.

If you don't have an e-commerce platform in place already, it's not too late, and with the right tools, you can get a new online store up and running in a few days. Once your store is set up, you can implement a holiday shopping strategy with compelling discounts and freebies that will attract customers and close sales. (For a good overview on how to do this, check out this informative, step-by-step guide: How to Start an Online Store.)

Expect Black Friday challenges

Black Friday is expected to bring challenges for small businesses. Despite cooling inflation, consumers are still being more cautious with spending, and shipping disruptions may affect some retailers' supply.

There are many uncertainties about this year's holiday shopping season, but one thing is for sure: it's going to be a bumpy ride. Following these last-minute tips to prepare your small business for Black Friday will help. Small businesses should focus on driving their online presence and aligning customer expectations to help the end-of-the-year rush go as smoothly as possible.

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