{"id":6644,"date":"2024-11-18T12:13:10","date_gmt":"2024-11-18T17:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/?p=6644"},"modified":"2025-04-24T10:54:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-24T14:54:27","slug":"black-friday-how-retailers-can-prepare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/black-friday-how-retailers-can-prepare\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Friday: How technology can help retailers prepare"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header has-dark-background-color entry-header--has-illustration entry-header--has-illustration--generic\">\n\t<div class=\"container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__row row align-center\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"col col-lg-7 col-xlg-6 entry-header__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"component component-single-header\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-header__misc text--subtitle text--uppercase text--small\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/category\/money-matters\/\" class=\"entry-header__link\">Money Matters<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"entry-title-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"entry-title\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\tBlack Friday: How technology can help retailers prepare\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"entry-header__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<div class=\"single-post-details container\">\n\t\t<div class=\"col\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"posted-on \"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2024-11-18T12:13:10-05:00\">November 18, 2024<\/time><\/span><span class=\"reading-time\"> min read<\/span>\n\t\t<button\n\t\t\ttype=\"button\"\n\t\t\tclass=\"social-share-button button button--icon button--secondary js-social-share-button\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-title=\"Black Friday: How technology can help retailers prepare\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-url=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/black-friday-how-retailers-can-prepare\/\"\n\t\t\tdata-share-text=\"Please read this interesting article\"\n\t\t>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__share-label\">Share<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-label\" hidden>Copy Link<\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"social-share-button__copy-tooltip\" aria-hidden=\"true\" hidden>Copied<\/span>\n\t\t<\/button>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/header>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-post-author\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"co-authors\">\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"entry-author-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"entry-author\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/author\/ashleyhindsman\/\">\n\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"40\" height=\"40\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/Ashley-Thompson-350x350.jpg\" class=\"entry-author__image\" alt=\"Ashley Thompson\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/Ashley-Thompson-350x350.jpg 350w, https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/02\/Ashley-Thompson.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 40px) 100vw, 40px\" \/>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"entry-author__name\">Ashley Thompson<\/span>\n\t\t\t<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Remember when Black Friday was just a day? Well, that\u2019s all changed now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the past few years Black Friday has extended its boundaries to include Thanksgiving Day and Cyber Monday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This can be attributed to retailers wanting to capture sales opportunities however shoppers prefer to shop\u2014in-store, online, or both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And with shoppers searching for bargains both instore and online, you\u2019ll need to get creative with how to connect your shoppers with discounted merchandise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What core areas should your retail business focus on during the most profitable shopping season of the year?&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here\u2019s where you can leverage technology to increase productivity and make Black Friday both frictionless and profitable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-here-s-what-we-ll-cover\">Here&#8217;s what we&#8217;ll cover<\/h4>\n\n\n<?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><div class=\"wp-block-yoast-seo-table-of-contents yoast-table-of-contents\"><ul><li><a href=\"#h-black-friday-shopper-behavior-for-stock-management\" data-level=\"2\">Black Friday shopper behavior for stock management<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-accepting-payments-for-black-friday-sales\" data-level=\"2\">Accepting payments for Black Friday sales<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-managing-payments-security-during-increased-traffic\" data-level=\"2\">Managing payments security during increased traffic<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-hiring-black-friday-staff\" data-level=\"2\">Hiring Black Friday staff<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"#h-final-thoughts\" data-level=\"2\">Final thoughts<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-black-friday-shopper-behavior-for-stock-management\">Black Friday shopper behavior for stock management<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Look at your data from last year to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/products\/sage-50cloud\/features\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">gauge how much inventory you need<\/a>\u00a0to account for instore sales that will now take place online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Investing in that kind of insight is important for creating the capacity needed to manage high demand during peak shopping season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/industry\/retail\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">retail management software,<\/a> you can get instant forecasts to your catalog including seasonal and fast-moving products, as well as avoid lost revenue with automated low stock alerts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can ensure you have enough inventory for the influx in demand during Black Friday and into the Christmas shopping season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-accepting-payments-for-black-friday-sales\">Accepting payments for Black Friday sales<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Generational preferences and how comfortable shoppers are with payment technology will also factor greatly into Black Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today\u2019s customer journeys are increasingly varied, and can be immediate or extremely complex, especially for younger customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They can range from impulse purchases on shopping apps to lengthier, highly considered purchases involving multiple channels for product research and price comparison \u2013 even during\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/black-friday-dos-and-donts-for-small-businesses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Black Friday sales<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You&#8217;ll need to integrate the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/how-to-get-a-payment-gateway-and-accept-online-payments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">payment process<\/a> into your omnichannel customer offering for a frictionless Black Friday experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To do so you should consider the customer&#8217;s expectations at each point in their journey. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then, ensure your payment technology can accommodate every sale regardless of channel or preferred payment method.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Retailers of any size will stand out by offering simplicity, convenience, and durable, well-defined value in their approach to payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We know from a research over the years that consumers generally can be up to four times more likely to complete a purchase if they see a wide variety of payment types presented to them at checkout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Demand for mobile payments and digital wallets is growing, so it\u2019s worth exploring these as part of your payment methods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-managing-payments-security-during-increased-traffic\">Managing payments security during increased traffic<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>You should also consider the security of your customers\u2019 financial and personal data, and factor in protection against fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One example of technology that supports this is tokenization. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This allows safe storage of your unique card details providing access to the original payment information regardless of the contact point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shoppers have grown more willing to use new payment technology. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But they\u2019re still concerned about the safety of their personal information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Research shows 62% are generally welcoming towards added authentication measures for online payment security as mandated by PSD2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>New authentication technologies will revalidate repeat purchases or return shoppers to the website and make their experience even more frictionless.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-hiring-black-friday-staff\">Hiring Black Friday staff<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Even with everything else in place, you\u2019ll still need to ensure you have enough staff coverage to deal with stock management and preparing items for delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Insights from a business management solution can tell you how many additional staff you\u2019ll need to hire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It can also help you with hiring and onboarding and managing schedules.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Adding more staff \u2013 temporary or full time \u2013 means more&nbsp;payroll admin&nbsp;of assigning employee types and calculating accurate pay and benefits for each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doing this accurately will be more challenging during the busy Black Friday season, especially if it\u2019s done manually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Payroll integration technology with time tracking and attendance functionality can make peak season staffing easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Connecting your time and sales data is important for reconciliation purposes, eliminating data errors, and reducing payroll fraud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keeping track of this data can also help with planning for other peak trading seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A business management solution equipped with automation can make this easy and error-free for any size staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-final-thoughts\">Final thoughts<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Black Friday is a fast-paced selling season. If your customer doesn&#8217;t get the experience they expect, you might lose a future sales opportunity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Use new technology for business management to stay on top of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/business-intelligence-get-paid-improve-cash-flow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">cash flow<\/a> to purchase enough inventory, manage stock across multiple shops and online, manage staff coverage and scheduling, and keep things running smoothly at checkout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Editor\u2019s note: This article was first published in November 2023 and has been updated for relevance.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Boss your finances with Sage 50cloud<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Enjoy less admin, more automation, simplified payroll, and get paid faster with Sage 50cloud.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/products\/sage-50cloud\/#gate-47450dd8-67ad-4add-a931-3850268e87ad\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tid=\"cta-id-6719\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tdata-button-location=\"cta_box\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Take a test drive today!<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1279589946-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"woman putting on headset working on computer\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1279589946-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<div class=\"single-cta\">\n\t<div class=\"single-cta__positioner\">\n\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__wrapper has-dark-background-color\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h2 class=\"single-cta__title h3\">Subscribe to the Sage Advice Small Business Newsletter<\/h2>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"single-cta__description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get our latest business advice delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a\n\t\t\t\t\t\thref=\"#gate-ab515c6e-7e90-4c2f-a67e-113872516e8b\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"single-cta__button button button--primary\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t>Subscribe<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1440\" height=\"810\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1305268048-1440x810.jpg\" class=\"single-cta__image\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/04\/GettyImages-1305268048-1440x810.jpg 1440w\" sizes=\"auto, (min-width: 48em) 33vw, 100vw\" \/>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Black Friday is one of the year&#8217;s biggest sales periods. Learn how to get your payments, technology, and stock management processes ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":103,"featured_media":6021,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sage_video":false,"post_featured_image_hide":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[195,299,19],"business_type":[40,41],"lilypad":[],"context":[],"industry":[],"persona":[98,96,97],"imagine_tag":[],"coauthors":[642],"class_list":["post-6644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-money-matters","tag-boss-your-business","tag-cash-flow","tag-inventory-management","business_type-small-business","business_type-growing-business"],"sage_meta":{"region":"en-us","author_name":"Ashley Thompson","featured_image":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/03\/GettyImages-103951336.jpg","imagine_tags":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Sage Advice US","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6644","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/users\/103"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6644"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6644\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media\/6021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6644"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"business_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/business_type?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"lilypad","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/lilypad?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/context?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"persona","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/persona?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"imagine_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/imagine_tag?post=6644"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sage.com\/en-us\/blog\/api\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=6644"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}