Seasonal campaigns in your shop: how to prepare sales, Black Friday and Christmas
The year's big campaigns can be your best weeks of takings… or a mess of stock-outs and discounts that leave no margin. The difference comes down to preparing ahead. This guide helps you arrive ready for every key date.
The retail calendar: get ahead of it
Every season brings its sales peak, and nearly all of them are predictable. If you mark them on the calendar weeks ahead, you arrive with stock, promotions and communication ready instead of improvising the day before. These are the dates almost no shop should ignore:
You don't need to tackle them all. Pick the ones that fit what you sell and throw yourself into those.
Prepare your stock in advance
The costliest mistake of a campaign is running out of the star product halfway through the big weekend. The second costliest is over-buying and dragging that dead stock around for months. To get it right, use your own data.
With those numbers, place a reasoned order, not a guess: reinforce the products that flew off the shelves, order with room to spare the ones that sold out too soon, and be cautious with what was left over. Agree delivery dates with your suppliers before they're overwhelmed too.
Promotions that work without wrecking your margin
A promotion isn't giving money away: it's a lever to sell more, raise the average basket or clear stock. A flat reduction across the whole catalogue is usually the worst option, because it cuts margin even on what was already selling by itself. These alternatives tend to perform better:
Whichever you pick, work out the final margin BEFORE launching it, not just the discount percentage. A promo that sells a lot but leaves pennies per unit can have you working for free.
Communicate the campaign: start days ahead
The best promotion is worthless if nobody hears about it. Communication has to start before the campaign kicks off, not on the day itself. Combine the channels you have to hand:
The key is repetition with time on your side: an early heads-up, a reminder and the final push on day one.
Measure the results with your POS
When the campaign ends, the part almost nobody does begins, and it's the one worth the most next year: looking at the numbers. Your POS stores everything you need to know what worked:
- What sold. The campaign's top products, so you can reinforce them next year.
- What margin it left. Not just how much you billed, but how much you really made after the discounts.
- What to repeat and what to drop. Promos that lifted the basket versus those that only cut margin.
Reach every campaign with your business under control
Bipe is a POS with stock and reports for shops and supermarkets: forecast demand, control your promo margins and measure what worked. Try it free.
Try Bipe free →Frequently asked questions
How far in advance should I prepare a campaign?
For big campaigns like Black Friday or Christmas, start four to six weeks ahead. You need time to order stock, set up the promotions and let your customers know. For smaller dates, one or two weeks is usually enough.
How do I know how much stock to order for a campaign?
Check what you sold on the same dates last year in your POS. That figure is your best starting point. Adjust upward if the business has grown or if you're going to promote a particular product more heavily.
How do I stop discounts from eating my margin?
Always work out the final margin before launching the promo, not just the discount percentage. Favour bundles and volume discounts, which raise the average basket, over flat reductions across the whole catalogue.