Compete With the Big Guys on Black Friday

National chains steal the headlines on Black Friday, one of the biggest shopping days of the year with door busters, loss leaders, and early store openings the day after Thanksgiving. To contend with the big box discounters on this year’s Black Friday, small businesses should learn from best strategies the chains use, leaving the stress, long lines and shoving to the superstores.
1. Leak your Black Friday ad to the media
Black Friday websites, bloggers and the mainstream media publish leaked Black Friday ad scans in November. These leaked ads are popular with consumers, who enjoy perusing the ads early, discussing the deals on forums, and setting their shopping plans for the big day.
While some retailers still threaten legal action against the sites leaking these scans, many of the largest merchants have now come to understand the value of free press. Walmart and Best Buy, two of the most popular Black Friday shopping destinations, both intentionally “leaked” their ads directly on their websites this season.
This year, identify which bloggers or local media sites might help you publicize your sales and send them your ad scan. While you’re at it, give them a news hook: ways shoppers can shop at local small businesses on Black Friday.
2. Offer door busters (even if you think you can’t afford it) 
It’s one of the oldest tricks in the book of big retail – offer an extremely limited supply of insanely discounted items on Black Friday to lure customers into the store. While your business might not want to participate in race-to-the-bottom pricing, consider slashing prices considerably on a few popular products. Remember that door busters are about marketing, not sales, so dip into your marketing budget to pay for the decreased profit margins on these items.
3. Open at a sane hour on Black Friday
Black Friday was firmly pushed into Thanksgiving in 2012 and store opening times continue to creep up this year, too. Kmart will open its doors at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving. Toys R Us opens later that day at 5 p.m. that day, with Walmart and Best Buy opening an hour later.
While these big box retailers have received some backlash from consumers and store employees, their stores will likely be crowded on Thanksgiving day. This is a good thing for small businesses – big box retailers can receive the negative press and foot traffic on Thanksgiving, leaving the actual day of Black Friday wide open. Try and capture an audience of recovering Thanksgiving shoppers (considering offering free coffee in your shop) and locals unimpressed with the big box chains.
Don’t forget, too, that the real reason for Black Friday’s genesis – the fact that millions of Americans have the day off work the Friday after Thanksgiving and nothing else to do but shop – hasn’t changed. Offer noteworthy value and let the Black Friday brand do the marketing for you.

Mobile Commerce Has Completely Exploded (Infographic)

Hang some mistletoe over you and your smartphone this holiday season.
Shopping for the holidays has increasingly become about spending quality time with our mobile devices. From 2011 to 2012, the number of minutes that consumers spent on retail mobile apps in the holiday month of December increased six-fold, according to the infographic below compiled by Sparked, a San Francisco-based social and mobile engagement platform.
Also, in the last six months, almost three in four shoppers have confessed to “showrooming,” meaning they examine a product in a retail store and then buy it online for a cheaper price.
And globally, while about half of U.S. Internet users shop on mobile, almost nine in 10 Japanese Internet users shop on their mobile phones.
Check out the infographic (below) for additional information about trends in mobile commerce, or m-commerce, this holiday season.
 

In Weak Shopping Environment, Cyber Monday Is Where It's At

Consumers continue to shift their shopping habits from stores to screens.

While the Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping period is expected to be pretty lackluster this year, one bright spot -- if you can call it that -- is that Cyber Monday is expected to clock double-digit growth numbers, according to a report from Los Angeles-based industry research firm, IBISWorld.

Cyber Monday, the first Monday after Thanksgiving, is expected to generate $1.8 billion in sales, a 13.1 percent increase over Cyber Monday spending in 2012. While that's down from the 21 percent growth seen last year, it continues to signal to retailers that online is where it's at. Cyber Monday sales have increased by double digits every year since 2010.

The growth in online shopping is more an indication of changing consumer behaviors than it is a sign of a robust shopping period, IBIS says. Also, while online sales are growing, consumers are still expected to spend almost eight times in stores on Black Friday what they are expected to spend on Cyber Monday online.

The day after Thanksgiving -- Black Friday -- is historically the unofficial start to the holiday shopping season and is expected to generate $13.6 billion in revenue, an increase of 3.9 percent over 2012, according to estimates from IBIS. That’s less than the 5.9 percent year-over-year increase in spending recorded in 2012.

Faced with a shorter period between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year than most years, retailers are opening their doors earlier and earlier. Big-box retailers including Wal-Mart, Macy’s and JC Penney will open Thanksgiving Day this year in an effort to lure in more foot traffic.