Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday Sale Ideas for Etsy Sellers

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Cutting for Business readers – brace yourself – we are officially entering the holiday season. Next week is Black Friday, followed by Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday. If you are selling your crafts through Etsy, social media, your website, or anywhere else – I urge you to participate in at least one of their high traffic shopping days. Today, I’m giving you some quick ideas for you to use this week – and not go broke!

2016 Dates

• Black Friday is Friday, November 25th, 2016. It’s generally the kick off to the holiday shopping season.
• Small Business Saturday is Saturday, November 26th, 2016. 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, November 28th, 2016. 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. Offer a substantial discount in your store or offer substantial discounts on certain items in your store.
2. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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 for your sale. The easiest way to accomplish this is everyone who buys from you on a certain day will be automatically entered into your giveaway.
8. 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 banner to a banner with information about your sale. While not officially used anymore, feel free to tag your products that are on sale with “Black Friday”, “Small Business Saturday”, and “Cyber Monday”.
• Use hashtags relevant to the event on social media. For example, #blackfriday #blackfridaysale #shopsmall #smallbizsat #cybermonday.

Don’t forget: If you want to schedule a sale for Etsy – check out this post about Etsy on Sale.

I wish everyone a profitable week and weekend! I always host a sale on Cutting for Business – so be sure to follow the blog on Facebook and watch for it.

Christine Schinagl, Cutting for Business

Since 2015, Christine Schinagl has been helping crafters start and run craft businesses through her blog, Cutting for Business. As a Silhouette and Cricut crafter herself, she has a unique take on what works and what doesn’t work in the craft business world. She also enjoys teaching other crafters how to create digital SVG designs, available through the Design with Me series.

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