How to Make the Best of Black Friday with Your eCommerce Sex Toy Business

Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping events of the year and so, as the month of November begins, most retailers on- and off-line scramble to create the biggest and best offers, attract the most customers and make the most money despite heavy discounting.

The sex toy market is no different when it comes to the Black Friday hustle and while some retailers in other industries can afford to turn their nose up to this global sale event, most businesses will feel obliged to participate.

In this commercial landscape, it can be hard to even begin to figure out how to stand out from the crowd and where to begin planning for Black Friday. Fear not though, Net1on1 is here to provide you with a simple checklist of tasks and things to think about before the big day. Read our recommendations below, start off on the right foot and have the most successful Black Friday in 2019!

Save the Date!

Perhaps the most important and fundamental detail to remember is the exact date of Black Friday. This year it falls on the 26^th of November, with Cyber Monday following on the 29^th. Make sure you have these dates saved on your sales calendar and plan ahead. You don’t want to spend Thursday the 28^th panicking over your offers, pricing, banners and social media communication so prepare, create content and make a pricing strategy that will help you offer discounts on products without slashing your margins completely.

Stock Up or Read Up

If you purchase your stock on a wholesale basis, it’s time to visit our Black Friday Sales category and stock up on cheap toys that you can discount on your site. Our sales cover all sex toy categories from high-end to budget, and vibrator to bondage so you can create a comprehensive roster yourself whether you are selling online or stocking your brick-and-mortar store.

If you are a dropshipper, browse through our Black Friday Sales category and make note of everything you wish to discount on your site. Whether you are using our live CSV feeds or API, you will be able to edit your prices on your admin surface so grab a calculator and create your Black Friday category on your site with the help of the bargains we are offering.

Test Your Website

There’s nothing worse for your sales and reputation than error messages greeting your customers when they arrive to your site eager to purchase from you. But there’s still time for you to go through your entire site with a fine-tooth comb and find all the little kinks that may trip up your potential customers. Optimise your site speed, consider the different devices your customers will use and read through your terms and conditions. Try visiting your site like you were a customer or better still, ask a friend to be your mystery shopper.

Make sure you read through your returns policy – increased Black Friday sales may lead to increased return rates, so check if it’s all clear in regard to unwanted items and the conditions under you accept returns of them.

Slash Prices Mindfully

When you set your prices for your Black Friday Sales category, make sure you calculate and check everything twice. It can be tempting to slash your prices dramatically, but you must remain mindful of your margins. While the overall goal of Black Friday is often to flog as much stock as possible, there’s no reason you shouldn’t make a nice profit doing it. With our Black Friday offers you will be able to set up some really bombastic deals for your customers, so just Google “margin calculator” and don’t forget to consider the shipping cost you paid for your stock and the shipping cost you may or may not charge your customers.

Early Bird Catches…

Launch your offers early if possible; Black Friday is not a single day anymore, it pretty much overtook the whole of November. Customers will be looking for BF offers continuously throughout the month, so if you are out there already when your competitors are not, you may be able to catch some early traffic and make some early sales. Start with a limited line of discounted products so you will have the chance to add new items closer to the actual date of Black Friday. ‘New lines added’ is a great piece of marketing line that might get customers to visit your site again and again in search for just the right bargain for them.

Treat Your Best Customers

Think of ways to treat your most loyal customers to something extra during Black Friday. Customers who purchase from you on a regular basis may need a bit of extra push to engage and purchase during this time, so offer them free shipping or an extra discount code that they can use at checkout. Your newsletter is a great way to make subscribers feel special and it may foster some ongoing loyalty towards your company.

May the Content Be in Your Favour

Use your blog to highlight products from your sale with the biggest discounts. Writing a blog post spotlighting your best offers have multiple benefits – you can push products that provide you with the best margins for example, but you can also use the blog post to promote your Black Friday sales on social media. Content creation is really important (as we discussed it in our last blog post here) and blog posts that feature products can always get you some good SEO-juice as long as you include some well-selected keywords.

Luckily, creating banners for your site and/or social media channels shouldn’t be too hard as visually Black Friday is mainly about these two things – an empty black canvas and large, glaring percentage signs. Nevertheless, you can always spotlight your biggest offers in separate banners, it’s up to you, just make sure the price drop remains in the centre of attention as after all, that is what your customers will be looking for first and foremost.

We hope that this list will help you prepare for Black Friday and you’ll be able to make the best of this global sales event. Don’t forget though, that Christmas is just around the corner, so even if you are new to the market and can’t quite achieve everything that you set out this Black Friday, you can always treat this as a trial run before absolutely nailing the festive rush.

If you have any tips, recommendations or questions, please do not hesitate to comment below, we’d love to hear your feedback and always happy to help! Alternatively, drop us an email or give us a call if you want to discuss how Net1on1 can assist you setting up your own sex toy business and making a success out of it too!