The Create & Thrive Podcast

Should you Participate in Black Friday + Other Sales Events (Boxing Day, Cyber Monday, etc.)? [246]

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Makers – should you (or should you not) participate in big sales events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Boxing Day, EOFYS, etc.?

In this episode I discuss the reasons why these sales events might be a good fit for you – and when they might NOT.

I hope it will help you decide if participating is the right fit for your handmade business!

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    • Highlights from this episode: 

    1 – Do you have a made-to-order shop, or a pre-made-items shop?

    • Sales events and discounts exist to move stock that a retailer has already paid for. They’ve got stuff sitting around on their shelves, and they want to get it out the door.
    • Are you in this situation? If you have a lot of pre-made stock that’s been sitting around, not selling, then a sale might make sense to move the product.
    • However, if you work on a made-to-order model, then there’s really no reason to have sales, because you haven’t got money and time tied up in an unsold product. Does it, therefore, make sense to have a sale?

      •  

      2 – Will it devalue your work/your brand?

      • Sales events should be rare – because people should be happy to pay full price for your work.
      • If you constantly run specials and sales, people will simply learn to wait until the thing they want is on sale, rather than paying full price.
      • This devalues your work – don’t do it! If you are going to run specials/sales, be picky about when you do it, and why.
      • Also – does the concept of participating in a big sales event fit in with your brand? If you’re about sustainability, buying quality over quantity, then perhaps it won’t be a good fit for your business.

        •  

        3 – Do you really NEED to?

        • Are you desperate for more sales, even at a discounted price?
        • Do you want to take advantage of being part of a larger promotion (your venue, a group promo with others, etc)
        • Does it make sense for where you are? In Australia, EOFYS or Boxing Day are the well-known sale events. In the US, it is Black Friday. If you’re an Aussie selling only to Australians, does it make sense to do a Black Friday sale?

          •  

          4 – Can you AFFORD to?

          • Are your products priced properly so that a sale of 10-30% won’t kill your profit margin?
          • If you haven’t priced your work correctly (and usually this means vastly underpricing) then you’ll be losing out.
          • I’ve got some podcasts on this topic, I’ll link to them in the description below – including the Money Week of my 4-week free MAKING IT Podcourse.

            • Links:

            https://www.createandthrive.com/making-it-podcourse-week-2-money

            https://www.createandthrive.com/136-why-you-need-to-stop-feeling-bad-about-charging-money-for-your-craft

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