Black Friday is quickly approaching, meaning it’s time to prepare your store. Make sure you have looked at your successes and shortcomings from last year, have a clear plan laid out before the day, have a clear supply chain, you’ve updated your website and a smartphone app and you’ve hired and trained temporary help before the day comes. This will help ensure that things run smoothly on the biggest retail day of the year.

1. How to Prepare Your Store for Black Friday
Thanksgiving is right around the corner. If you own a store though, you’re probably looking at
the day immediately following Thanksgiving; the holy grail of shopping days - Black Friday. With
Black Friday just a few short weeks away, it’s time to step it into gear and really start prepping.
You’ve likely ordered all of your extra merchandise and decided on a majority of the deals you
will be offering, but there is still a lot left to do. Here are some tips to help you be prepared for
that Friday rush when it comes.
Look at your totals, sales, staff schedule, organization and stock from last year’s Black
Friday. This is one of the best things you can do to get a game plan for this year since
you can set yourself up to repeat your successes and correct your mistakes. If you found
last year that things moved slowly because you didn’t have enough workers present,
schedule more people to keep the flow moving this year, or if you found that displays got
knocked over because they were in a bad spot, move them this year. History doesn’t
have to repeat itself if you look back and learn from your mistakes.
Research items and styles that are trending this season. For instance, every retailer
stocked Tickle Me Elmo when it was popular, and last year there were Keurig coffee
machines on every shelf. Make sure you have a good stock of those popular items, as
they will most likely be your best sellers.
Placement is key. Make sure you sketch out a plan before you begin laying out your
wholesale tops, dresses and other Black Holiday merchandise. We recommend you
rearrange your store so that the hotter items are further back in your store and there are
impulse buy items in front of them. Drawing from our earlier example, put the Keurig
machines a few rows behind the soft blankets, pillows, and DVD’s. You also want to
make sure you have indicated a very long, easy-to-follow line path for customers to fill
when they are checking out.
Get an app for your store and update your website. Many customers are using their
smart phones or laptops to conduct pre shopping. They now want to know what your

2. sales are and what your stock looks like before devoting hours of their time to browsing
and waiting in line.
Train your employees so that they can efficiently keep your shelves stocked on Friday.
Your supply line needs to be clear and easy to maintain, or you will fall severely behind
on the profit you plan to make. Make sure you also contact your wholesaler to ensure
you have enough wholesale women’s clothing, cheap clothes for men, and other apparel
items to put on the shelves. Your employees can’t stock the shelves if they have nothing
to display.
You may want to consider hiring part time workers to help out on that day. If you do, you will
need to hire them now so that you have time to take them through orientation, training and such.
Temporary help can be huge on Black Friday, since often a lot of the work lies in picking items
up off the floor once they’ve fallen, directing customers and other menial tasks.
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