How to Prepare for Black Friday

Black Friday is fast approaching and us shoppers are trying to decide their sale strategies. After working in e-commerce and preparing for the biggest sale of the year, I have a few tips and tricks to assure success and savings. With that, here is how to prepare for Black Friday Sales.

Check prices before Black Friday

A lot of Black Friday sales are simply repackaged versions of sales offered earlier in the year. What does that mean? If the Levis Jeans you've been eyeing are $100 before Black Friday and they have a 15% OFF first time purchase offer--they're now $85 (pre-Black Friday). Levis could launch a sale section that is titled 'Black Friday Deals - Up to 40% OFF'. The jeans you were eyeing could be $90 under this sale. Did you get a deal? NO! You just fell for the marketing. SO I highly recommend knowing the price-points of your favorite items or wishlist picks before the big day rolls around.

Do research

What does this mean? The fashion industry often has a deal to be found. There are so many curious buyers in the industry. There will be tons of analysis from your fav tik-tokers, instagram celebs and fashion analysts. There is information to be consumed about who is actually having the best sale. Let's say you're eyeing a pair of adidas sneakers. Those same pair of sambas can be found on Amazon, Revolve, Shopbop, Nordstrom, Adidas etc. Try to understand where your items are located and where is having the best deal. Shopbop usually has buy more save more, if you want other items from there, you could reach the higher bracket point by doing all your shopping in one place. Know your items and do your research early.

Don't just assume these are the best deals of the year

Here's the truth. 'Best Deals of the Year' is not ALWAYS true. Sometimes certain items are priced better than others. Sometimes brands are too highbrow to truly have a Black Friday sale and they only offer a free gift with your purchase or a small discount on last year's items. Don't be fooled, make sure you're buying items you want and are on sale. This goes back to the earlier points, you must research items pre-Black Friday and you must check prices early.

Have clear goals

It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of Black Friday. I would recommend setting a budget or having a wish list to prevent unnecessary spending. I often have some Black Friday regret following the big week of spending. Make sure you have your goals set early!

Sign up for marketing NOW

I worked in email marketing for many years. Subject lines can always be gimmicks BUT sometimes--especially on Black Friday, we tried to give our loyal customers and subscribers first dibs and early notice on what sales are going to look like. If you are LOVING Anine Bing, it doesn't hurt to sign up for their emails and follow them on instagram. This could land you early notice about their sales.

Add to cart early

This is hit or miss because some websites and apps will actually clear your cart before Black Friday but I love doing this in general. If you add an item to cart it will often show you the BF deal applied to your cart. That way you know what you wanted pre-sale launch and you know the discount you're getting.

Find last year's SALE

As I mentioned, there are a lot of people interested in fashion. You might be able to do a little research and see what last year's sale looked like. Granted, in my experience, we made changes year to year to our sales but this can still be very helpful to understand the gist of what's going on. Not all brands have Black Friday sales, so that can be helpful to know ahead of time.

Final Thoughts

The main idea here on how to prepare for Black Friday is simply to prepare early. So start preparing now! Some places I can assure you will have great deals include: Shopbop, Reformation and Amazon. Brands I know that usually don't have great sales (or sales at all) are Revolve, Realisation Par and Apple. I'll be sure to share more updates as the day gets closer.