Black(out) Friday
Black Friday originated in the United States to mark the start of the Christmas shopping season but over the past decade it has exploded globally and is one of the busiest shopping day of the year. Pretty much every retailer that takes part in Black Friday promotes highly discounted offers in order to attract more customers.
With the cost of living crisis, news of higher taxes, businesses failing and making redundancies it feels like this year there is more pressure than ever before on businesses to take part in Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday.
However, Black Friday is not right for every brand. We’ll discuss why and what alternatives are to Black Friday that could be a better fit for your brand.
It can cheapen the brand
This is particularly true for luxury brands. Offering big discounts can change the customer’s perception of your brand. It may make them think the product is not worth the full price or profit margins were too large to begin with.
It’s difficult to cut through the noise
Huge brands will have had Black Friday and Cyber Monday in their Christmas marketing strategy and have been planning it for most of the year, with large media spend. As more and more businesses feel the pressure to take part it can be increasingly difficult for SMBs to cut through the noise and compete with the ad spend of larger brands.
This can mean any budget that is committed to Black Friday events will not get the desired traction and can lead to wasted budget.Does not fit with company ethics
The premise of Black Friday is to encourage mass consumption and, by now, we’re all aware of the global environmental effects this type of consumption has.
If your brand promotes ethical qualities and champions making more conscious and sustainable choices then taking part in Black Friday could feel hypocritical to your customers and alienate them from your brand.
It’s best to stick to your values and find a more creative alternative than following the crowd.
Alternatives to Black Friday
Give Back
There’s a lot going on in the world at the moment so there’s plenty of initiatives to give back to and help charities to achieve their mission that little bit quicker.
There are so many ways to execute this Black Friday alternative but it’s important to find a cause and execution that’s right for your business. Some examples include:
^ Donate a percentage of profits from one particular product or from all your products
^ Put your charity partner front and centre and encourage your customers to donate
^ Create a buy one, gift one initiative where customers can choose to donate the value of their order to your chosen charity.
Last year, maternity brand, and B Corp, Isabella Oliver donated 100% of their profits to two charities that were closely aligned to their own values. They launched this on Black Friday and ran it for a week with #ShopToSupport.
Patagonia is another brand renowned for putting forward an ethical alternative to Black Friday. Last year they ran a Give a Damn campaign, encouraging their customers to find and donate to a grassroots environmental group from a list on their website.
2. Encourage shopping small & ethical
This year Small Business Saturday is on 3rd December and will be celebrating it’s 10th anniversary in the UK. It’s a great initiative to encourage consumers to shop local and support small businesses in their communities.
You can get involved by hosting an in-store or online event, use social media to share your small business story and the impact shopping local has on the community.
Small Business Saturday is an online directory supporting over 5 million small businesses. You can register online and get access to Small Business logos, marketing packs and increase your visibility by getting featured on their social media.
3. Slowvember
Part of the issues with Black Friday is the limited time frame the deals are available for. This leads customers into a frenzy and feeling they have to buy more and buy quickly without mindfully thinking if this is something they need or actually want.
Upcircle is a sustainable and ethical skincare brand. Last year they ran a Slowvember campaign to encourage customers to make better choices and not feel rushed to make a purchase. They ran promotions each Friday running up to Black Friday.
The Ordinary, another skincare brand, is also championing the Slowvember campaign. For 2 years they have run a 23% off discount across all products to prevent a frenzy and encourage customers to shop consciously and live life in the slow lane.
Black Friday does not need to be the only answer to gain visibility and sales this winter. Finding an alternative and creative way to communicate your brand and values is likely to resonate more with your customers and cut through the noise.
We’d love to hear from you if you’ve seen alternative Black Friday campaigns this year.
Get in touch with us if you want more advice on ways to gain brand visibility and market share.