Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday Sale Ideas for Craft Businesses

Alright craft business owners, it’s almost time to ‘officially’ kick off the holiday shopping season. Now, let’s look at how your craft business can benefit from Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday.

In the years of working with craft businesses, I’ve noticed that online craft businesses don’t overall perform well on Black Friday. However, they do have successes on Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. I recommend you create a sale that launches on Black Friday and continues through Cyber Monday.

2019 Important Dates

• Black Friday is Friday, November 29th, 2019. It’s generally the kick off to the holiday shopping season.
• Small Business Saturday is Saturday, November 30th, 2019. This American Express created event highlights shopping with small businesses. You can pick up Small Business Saturday logos, register your store, and get more information about the day at this link.
• Cyber Monday is Monday, December 2nd, 2019. Cyber Monday was created by marketers in 2005 as a way to lure shoppers to online retailers. Online retailers offer discounts on orders placed online.

Sale Ideas for Small Craft Business Owners

1. Give a discount. Offer a substantial discount in your store or offer substantial discounts on certain items in your store.
2. Give out a freebie. Advertise a free product with a minimum purchase of $XX. Examples of inexpensive products include decals (personalized or generic), keychains, earrings, headbands, Christmas ornaments, cupcake toppers, or greeting cards.
3. Encourage larger sales. Give a gift certificate with a minimum purchase. This is a great way to encourage shoppers to return at a later time. Since many shoppers are buying gifts for the holidays, you can advertise a gift certificate to spend on themselves at a later date. Example: Free $15 gift certificate with $100 purchase.
4. Ship it free. Consider extending free shipping to customers. This approach is especially good for Cyber Monday shoppers who will be offered free shipping at most big box retailers.
5. Get the customers to come back. Offer a “bounce back” offer when you ship your products. It is likely that you will get some new customers during your sale, so offer them a coupon code to shop in your store again.
6. Have different promotions throughout the weekend. Consider having timed promotions throughout the day or weekend. For example, from 8am to 12pm have a sale on one product, from 12pm to 4pm offer a different product on sale, and from 4pm to 8pm offer yet another product.
7. Host a giveaway during the weekend. The easiest way to accomplish this is everyone who buys from you on a certain day will be automatically entered into your giveaway.
8. Ship products quickly. If possible, operate on a fast turnaround time. Holiday shoppers are often impatient and want their items quickly!

How to Advertise Your Sale

• Use your business’ social media. Offer your coupon codes to your social media followers. Tip: If you make coupon codes unique to each social media network, you can see which campaigns were most successful. Encourage your followers to share your posts and help spread the word.
• If you sell on Etsy, change your shop cover banner to a banner with information about your sale.
• Use hashtags relevant to the event on social media. For example, #blackfriday #blackfridaysale #shopsmall #smallbizsat #cybermonday.

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