As we approach the holiday season, businesses worldwide prepare for their busiest weekend, known as the 'Golden Quarter.' This four-day retail extravaganza, starting with Black Friday and ending on Cyber Monday, is a meticulously planned event filled with sales, promotions, and logistics designed to attract shoppers. It has extended beyond the US, with retailers worldwide offering great deals during this period, marking the unofficial start of the Christmas season.
For retailers, this weekend is crucial. Data from Salesforce found that in 2022, global online Black Friday sales hit an all-time high of $281 billion, up 2% compared to 2021. Translated; it’s a pivotal moment for retailers and there is a lot to play for. Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday serve as a stage for retailers to employ various strategies to attract new and loyal customers, with the ultimate goal of maximizing sales and profits.
To ensure that operations run smoothly, it’s essential that retailers have strong stock and inventory management processes in place. Historically, this involved manual and time-consuming tasks like tracking stock movement. However, modern technology, such as radio frequency identification technology (RFID), offers innovative solutions for retailers.
Streamlining Stock Control for Black Friday
RFID technology – though not a new concept – is increasingly being used in a variety of new and innovative ways in the retail sector to improve efficiency across the business and ultimately, provide a more enjoyable and seamless customer experience. One of the key uses of RFID in retail is for inventory management purposes. RFID labels provide retailers with the immediate tools they need to monitor stock levels accurately and effectively manage, track, anticipate, and protect their inventory. This can be particularly helpful during busy shopping periods and around promotional days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Ensuring stock is available in the right place, at the right time
When it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, consumers are on the hunt for one thing: great deals. However, they are not usually willing to compromise on convenience. Therefore, ahead of the most-anticipated shopping weekend of the year, retailers need to ensure that not only is their stock in abundance, but it is available at the right time and the right place. Whether meeting the needs of online or in-store customers, inventory needs to be effectively distributed across the chain. RFID technology provides businesses with accurate, real-time inventory tracking, making it easier for retailers to locate their stock in real time.
Leveraging RFID technology on the shop floor
The technology can also be leveraged on the shopfloor as RFID tags allow for faster, more efficient, and more accurate stock replenishment in real time. This frees up staff, allowing them to spend more time in-store assisting customers with sales and delivering that all-important shopping experience. At this crucial time, retailers must stay one step ahead of demand and ensure essential and popular products are consistently accessible to customers in order to build loyalty and ultimately increase sales.
Preparing for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2023
Both Black Friday and Cyber Monday provide a huge opportunity for retailers to get ahead of the game from a revenue perspective. It is one of the biggest shopping weekends in the year and a real chance to cash in with customers. However, if retailers are not prepared with the right products available at the right time, the weekend could also have negative repercussions on customer loyalty and overall experience. If a customer visits a store and the item they want to purchase isn’t available, then it is likely they will turn to a competitor. While this may be a short-term loss, a lack of stock availability could also lead to a longer-term relationship breakdown resulting in customers taking their business elsewhere more permanently.
So, it is paramount that retailers adequately prepare for the high demand in stock they may experience. It isn’t just about offering great deals, it’s about ensuring customers have access to them. By implementing innovative RFID solutions, businesses will quickly improve the efficiency of their operations and ultimately, boosting the customer experience and maximizing their revenue potential.
It isn’t too late to introduce RFID…for more information on how Checkpoint Systems can help your business prepare for retail success, please contact us.
