What do you think are the 3 most important things retailers must do for Black Friday?

Black Friday is the busiest and most important day in the retail business for at least the past 15 years in the US and gradually around the world.
As Black Friday in the last years represents a respectable percentage of the year’s revenue, retailers have tried to maximize the effect of this day, thus unofficially extending its duration from 1 day to 1 week and often to a couple of weeks, as today one can see: early Black Friday deals, first chance deals, weekly sales, daily offers, pre-Black Friday deals etc. (limited only by one’s imagination) with of course the pinnacle of the period always being Black Friday itself.
As it is known and can be easily understood, it’s the period of the most intense competition where the stakes are at their highest and no mistakes are allowed.
What can one do to achieve the best possible performance?
Unfortunately, there is no magic recipe, but… the road to success always has 2 main components, Planning & Execution (or Action).
 
Planning
First of all, don’t wait for the last moment to do the planning, it’s a guaranteed low performance.
Use historical data of at least the previous period that have to do with important KPIs such as traffic, sales, stock, own and competitor’s prices, conversion etc. as history tends to repeat itself, these will show you what worked, what didn’t, what were the problems, which products were in high demand, which is low, what were the price points that generated more sales, and what was the strategy of the competition.

Combining all the above, a detailed plan can be put together.

Last but not least, since retail is a team “sport” don’t forget to involve all parties/departments that play a part in the execution of the plan such as marketing, sales, purchasing, logistics etc.

Execution (or Action)
A plan is only as good as its execution.

Making it clear and transparent to all involved parties without unnecessary complexities will ensure that everyone understands his/her role and will be able to perform it on time.
Timing is of the essence and every delay during this period can be easily translated into a loss of revenue.

Don’t forget that you are not alone.

There are other competitors of yours who would most likely have performed the same steps as you have and will enter a “struggle” with you for sales, so there is a 3^rd component that must be added which is no other than Re-Action.

Re-Action
Good planning and good execution can end up meaning nothing if one doesn’t know what is happening around him, as his/her competition might have a more aggressive plan, a plan that counters the one drafted or reacts fast to their competition’s plan and offers.
A close eye must be always kept to the competition in terms of marketing communications, assortment, and availability, and of course prices.
It’s certain that your competitors will have some offers that will be more aggressive than yours, it’s also certain that they will try to counter your offers, especially the key ones. Competition reaction is to be expected and the question here is what will you do? How and how fast will you react? Will you manage to be on top of the game or will you remain an observer?
This is the most important element, as this is the one that ensures that the plan is executed promptly and readjusted where required in order to maintain or generate momentum and eventually achieve the optimal outcome.

To summarize, there are 3 main elements that you need to invest in for optimal performance during this period: Preparation, Action & Reaction.
Dedicate the required amount of time and attention to each one, treat each one with respect and importance and results will come.

Alex Kakouratos, Chief Operating Officer @ TGN