Black Friday 2018 - updated for #fakediscounts

Black Friday is coming! It’s all over social media. Offers..deals...discounts – argh!!!

So what is Kids Bee Happy doing for Black Friday? Well firstly let me tell what we’re not doing.

MASSIVE HUGE BIG DISCOUNTS!

It’s time to go all Donald Trump – #fakediscounts

We’re not doing big headline massive grabbing discounts, and we’d like to advise you that you shouldn’t be doing this really either – and here’s why. When you see those offers that say 70% off its important to remember that it actually means 70% of the very expensive price that was charged for a few days in only a few of their stores – rather than 70% of the actual real price that most consumers would have bought it at over the last few months.

Top Tip – As you’re selling a good product at a very fair price all of the time, if you do the silly discounts, you’ll be selling for no profit. So don’t be worried that you haven’t got a big Black Friday massive discount – tell your customers that instead you choose to offer good value for money prices all year round rather than hike your prices, and then give fake discounts.

TOP SECRET DEALS!!

We’re not doing top secret, confidential, not telling you til midnight on Thursday deals because these don’t help anyone. Everyone knows that the last payday before Christmas tends to have a lot of expectation on it anyway, and so keeping everything secret, and not letting people plan or prepare, doesn’t really help anyone. So, we will be telling you what our offers will be and they will be valid for a week, so that you time to decide that you want to take advantage of them – or not.

UNIQUE ITEMS!!!

For 'unique items' – you should read “some really weird brand that no-one’s ever heard of, but if we stick it online – reduced down from an artificially stupid high price, people will think that it’s an “exclusive” item rather than something that’s been left over in one of our wholesalers warehouses for a few years." – so yeah – we’re not doing those either.

ONLY 5 AVAILABLE!!!! GRAB YOURS FAST!!!!!

Having only a few of these deals available to only a tiny number of customers means that the majority of customers wont get the deal. Now that’s not very fair. And not very nice. It might create a panic, but the majority of your customers will be left out. Not the way to make your customers feel appreciated and wanted. So, the products that we have discounts on will have lots of stocks, so that lots of consultants can take advantage of them if they wish.

BIG TICKET ITEMS!!!!!!

We know from past experience that actually consultants like to spread their purchases over the year, to stock up quietly and bit by bit as they need it and to match their purchases with their sales. So our offers will be on a few small ranges, on things that will actually help your business grow.

So what SHOULD I do?

Firstly please, remember that Black Friday is 90% marketing gimmick, and that all those big companies aren’t really giving away all those products for nothing. Make sure that when you’re setting your own discounts and offers (and please don’t feel that you have to) remember to check your prices and make sure that you are still making a profit.

Secondly, remember that this year, Black Friday doesn’t fall on that month end Payday Friday, so if your customers are all spent out and waiting for payday, giving them huge discounts and special offers (at minimal, if any, profit to yourself) the week before payday – probably won’t help or please them that much.

GETTING HEARD AMONGST THE NOISE

Companies such as Apple, Amazon, Argos, PC World, Debenhams, B&Q, Tesco, Asda etc throw the whole kitchen sink in when it comes to marketing around Black Friday. They spend millions (yes millions) of pounds around those few days in getting your customers onto their websites. They will fill their Facebook feeds with sponsored adverts, competitions, offers, and anything else that they can think of to get in front of them. They will be messaging them through Facebook Messenger, Email and WhatsApp. They will putting ads on buses and newspapers, and literally anything else that they can think of.

And on top of that, the news channels will be full of pictures of people queuing up, and talking about the amount of money that’s been spent, and we’re almost pretty much guaranteed that the TSB’s online banking system will crash too.

So ask yourself – are your customers likely to see YOUR offers in amongst all that noise?

Don’t you think that your customers would really rather more appreciate your offers and discounts on any other day than the same day that everyone else is screaming at them?

SPECIAL OFFERS DON'T NEED TO BE PRICE CUTS - OFFER SOMETHING SPECIAL INSTEAD

Getting something that’s special, or rare, or not usually available is truly a special offer. Getting something that’s normally available for a 20% discount, well that’s not really that special at all. Have a think about what you can do instead of cutting prices, that makes the experience “special” in the real sense of the word. Why not work with a new partner? The perfect excuse – have a “Escape from Black Friday” party at a local cafe, or, have a “E-shop in peace” party at a (same?) local cafe that’s got really good wifi, so that mums can spend a couple of hours trawling through the online sales whilst enjoying a latte and their kids are occupied.