A look at the effects of Black Friday, Sales and Promotions have on retail environments, customers and displays

1. Dealing with an in-store
problem like Black Friday.
The impact on the store, retail standards
and brand equity.

2. Bl ack Fri day 2015

3. • Shoppers spent more than £3.3 billion over Black Friday weekend
• Black Friday was the UK’s biggest day for online retail ever
• Supermarket Asda announced that it would not take part in Black Friday
2015 sighting ‘shopper fatigue’ towards one-day sales events – the
retailer credited with first bringing the one-day sales event to the UK
• In the US, outdoor retailer REI closed its 147 stores on Black Friday
promoting instead its #OptOutside campaign. More than 1 million
shoppers chose to do just that
• Black Friday 2016 felt much more restrained and ‘grown up’ than in
previous years
Bl ack Fri day 2015 - Revi ew

4. • Marks & Spencer
- Black Friday POS was displayed prominently
- Finding the products on offer proved difficult
- POS was dispersed throughout the store only ‘suggesting’ discounts
- No visible marking down of clothing at the point-of-purchase
• Boots
– Only gave a nod to Black Friday, with window posters and Black
Friday FSDUs deep in-store
Bl ack Fri day 2015 – Ret ai l er Revi ew

5. Bl ack Fri day 2015 – Ret ai l er Revi ew

6. Bl ack Fri day 2015 – Ret ai l er Revi ew

7. • Tesco
– Closed its doors overnight in order to prepare for Black Friday
– Doubled staffing levels
• Halfords
- Featured balloons, new entrance displays, posters, freestanding
display units, and lots of external POS.
Bl ack Fri day 2015 – Ret ai l er Revi ew

8. Bl ack Fri day 2015 – Ret ai l er Revi ew

9. Bl ack Fri day 2015 – Ret ai l er Revi ew

10. Driving high levels of
shopper spend with big in-
store promotions is
impressive
But at what cost?

11. Impact on the store

12. • Typically, processes (online and in-store) will fail ‘at peak’
• Operational vulnerabilities come to light
• Retail standards within the wider store must be maintained
• Some shoppers visit the store for routine shopper missions and have no
interest in sales event
• Brands outside of such events must remain unaffected
Impact on t he st ore

13. Impact on retail standards

14. • Lar ge scal e pr omot i onal r et ai l event s put a huge
st r ai n on pr omot i onal di spl ays and i n- st or e r esour ces
• Di spl ays must be ‘ r eset ’ qui ckl y post pr omot i on
• Fai l ur e t o do so can l eave di spl ays l ooked t i r ed and
unl oved
• Thi s l eads t o subst andar d r et ai l exper i ence
• And, ul t i mat el y… unhappy cust omer s
Impact on ret ai l st andards

15. Impact on brand equi t y

16. • During Black Friday 2015, retailers experienced problems online with at
least 15 retail websites suffering “some form of loss of service” on Black
Friday. They included big names like Tesco, Argos and John Lewis.
• Highly concentrated footfall in-store during big promotional events can
cause the customer experience to ‘crash’ too:
Impact on brand equi t y

17. • Promotional displays will be shopped, hard
• Shoppers can lay waste to retail standards
• Brand displays outside of promotional event are also shopped harder
• Poor retail standards in one area of the store can affect sales of
‘neighbouring’ brands
• Poor retail experience can impact negatively on overall brand perception
amongst shoppers
Impact on brand equi t y

18. Deal in success

19. Deal i n success

20. • Plan ahead
• Ensure sufficient resources are allocated to ‘landing’ the promotional
event successfully
• Limit the ‘bleed’ into other areas of the store
• Merchandising standards must not be compromised
• Remember: not everyone shopping in-store wants a bargain – the
shopping experience still matters
• Ensure brands not involved in the promotion are ‘shielded’
• Work to quickly put the store ‘back together again’ post-event
Top Ti ps: Deal i n success

21. • Better still… build compliance excellence into working practices – in
every store, every day (not just for one-off events)
• Maintain brand standards during high footfall periods
• Reduce shopper frustration
• Protect brand equity
• Improve the customer experience
• Maximise sales
Top Ti ps: Deal i n success

22. Thank you.