Thrift's Secret Black Friday Weapon
Plan now to win big, it'll be here before you know it.
Why talk about Black Friday in July? If you start preparing now you can win big!
The last place people think of on Black Friday is a thrift store. They are going for the shiny new thing at a crazy price. Is that all?
I spent a decade working in those big boxes, spending weeks preparing, would nearly be trampled when I unlocked the doors at some ridiculous hour, be screamed at because we didn’t have enough of that one hot item. It is a unique day on the retail calendar.
They bought the 70” TV for $99, because, why not?
Working in thrift we tried for years to get people in our doors that day. Some of our stores were adjacent to the same big boxes I used to work at. We would watch streams of cars pull in and out and sigh.
In thrift we would buy closeouts of new goods and price them as loss leaders, we would promote who we are, and run extra donated goods promotions to maybe get a few people in.
Nothing worked until we looked at it from a Black Friday shopper’s perspective.
What are they really looking for, besides the couple of crazy items?
We decided they were looking for different and unusual gifts worth more than it looked like they paid for them. People want to look like they broke the bank without spending much.
Smart fashion-oriented thrift shoppers are experts at looking like a million bucks without spending like it. How do we translate that to a Black Friday mindset?
With few exceptions new, not used, seemed to be the key.
We boiled it down to Great deals on different but still new items. Gifting used goods, even nice stuff isn’t all that well accepted.
In grade school, my parents got me a clock radio for Christmas. It was used but worked fine. My Mom, apologetically said they bought it at a pawn shop. I was old enough to understand that was all they could afford. I kept it for years and years recognizing even that was a sacrifice.
Turns out the answer is crazy simple, it just takes some time and planning. It’s nowhere near the amount of work that goes into Halloween or Christmas thrift merchandising.
There is this constant trickle of NIB (new in the box) and NWT (new with tags) items in the donation stream. They tend to sell fast at a higher price. As random one-offs, they don’t have a lot of direct impact.
We tried something different.
Starting in July we set those NIB and NWT items aside. Everyone was surprised how much came in once we got started. By the end of October, we had Gaylords and pallets full. From our wealthiest to our poorest communities, plenty of new stuff showed up.
At the time I oversaw a dozen stores. As often happens with new initiatives, different managers embraced this idea at different levels, from token saving so they could say they were participating to all in, “I get it”.
We opened at our normal time on Black Friday, with some simple social media promotions and fliers that had been handed out a few days in advance. No big budget, just one-of-a-kind new stuff at great prices. I am sure we had a clever theme but I don’t recall it.
The store that won the day big time had gone all in, from saves to merchandising. The manager took a page out of the big boxes and merchandised tables and racks throughout the store. They had inventory to refill through the day, forcing people to stay or come back.
She created an exciting event throughout the store.
She did 4X her previous black friday record and that weekend also set a new record. The lip service-only store, well it was a normal black friday weekend. Most of the stores got it, planned, and participated well.
Overall the day was in there with our biggest discounted goods promotion days. And we sold everything at our regular prices! The average transaction was also off the charts.
One way I measure a win is when customers are calling friends and family to come in. There was a lot of that on that day.
The next year, everyone was 100% on board. No one wanted to be that guy, especially that guy from the first year.
In subsequent years we built on the theme, turning ourselves into a Black Friday destination.
Our key points:
Only items we would sell for $5 and above, the rest went to the floor right away.
We priced everything coming out of storage, not going in. The well-prepared stores had extra inventory ready to go to the floor that day and producers prepped more as needed.
Like the big boxes, we put extra effort into a good-looking store
We kept regular store hours, they are going to hit the big boxes first, why fight it?
Goods were priced like we normally would except for really unique items. Those we marked up a bit more.
We stocked through the day until we ran out and had a plan on what to put in the space after that.
Stores were well staffed. This is one day that the big boxes tend to staff well.
End cap displays of donated goods focused on cooking, baking, decorating, stocking stuffers, and winter clothing. More on that in a future post.
Red sweaters and clothes, especially ugly Christmas sweaters were heavily featured.
Black Friday is turning into more and more of an internet battle and less and less an in-store event. People still enjoy the thrill of the in-person hunt. Something thrift can do better than anyone.
If you want to create some buzz around the holidays and put some dollars in the bank give this a try! Start now.
This post is also available as a PDF.
Tim Gebauer
Thrift Retailer - Dedicated to the business of thrift retail.
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