If Kenyan retailers want to cash in on the upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping holidays, they need to focus on two things: building trust among their customers and offering a variety of payment and delivery options.

A recent poll of online shoppers in Kenya found that while 45% of surveyed respondents shop online every few months, the majority do not trust online shopping, opting to pay cash on delivery of their items. This distrust, coupled with an underdeveloped address system – which makes it difficult to find destinations – are the biggest deterrents to shoppers.

That said, Black Friday and Cyber Monday are gaining popularity in Kenya, with top online retailers including Jumia and Kilimall gearing up to offer massive discounts from 13 November, in the run-up to the main event, on 24 November.

But Black Friday is not just for retailers. With a little creative thinking, any industry – from mining and manufacturing to agriculture, construction or even the local bakery – can take advantage of consumers’ appetite to spend.

Biggest yet

In South Africa, economists expect this year’s Black Friday to be the biggest yet, despite a depressed economy. In Kenya, Jumia plans to offer more than 500,000 deals on over 1,000 brands – discounting some by as much as 80%. And, if last year’s trends are anything to go by, smartphones and gadgets will be the big-ticket items.

While Black Friday is expected to boost retail sales, it’s also expected to negatively impact December sales, as consumers get all their holiday shopping done in one fell swoop.

This suggests that those businesses that don’t participate in Black Friday could experience cash flow problems during the subdued December and January spending months.

Here’s how you can prepare your small business to take advantage of – and survive – the rush:

1.     Start early and market

Consumers start researching Black Friday deals weeks in advance to ensure they know where to find the best ones. Why wait until D-Day? Take Jumia’s lead and start early. With less than two weeks to go, start advertising your specials now – and include daily teasers. Black Friday is an opportunity to gain loyal customers and your marketing should be optimised around this goal. Think of it as an advent calendar that gives customers something to look forward to every day, in the run-up to the main event.

Consider creating a unique hashtag and reward customers who submit the best product selfie, for example. Or offer discount vouchers on future purchases if shoppers sign up for your newsletter. Create cart abandonment emails to encourage customers to return to check out.

How to: If you own a gift shop, you might have excess stock that you’ve been struggling to move. Advertise your discounted rates in the local newspaper, on your website, your app and on social media (which is great for targeting specific groups of people), and email your regular customers so that they hear the news from you first.

2.     Listen

People are already talking about Black Friday. Tune into the conversation to understand what your target market is hoping to find deals on and how your products and services meet these needs. Ask your customers to “write to Santa” and submit their Black Friday wish-lists, so you know what they want.

How to: Twitter is the best platform to monitor real-time conversations. In the search box, type your product – e.g. cakes – and ‘Black Friday’ to get an idea not only of what customers want (you might come across someone hoping for a bulk deal on a cupcake order, for example) but also what your competitors or bakeries in other countries are planning, and get some ideas. If you’re not getting great insights from Twitter, run your own poll to get feedback from your regular customers about what they hope to see on your promotions list.

3.     Organise

Stock will fly off the shelves over the Black Friday weekend so it’s important that you are able to update stock levels in real-time, to avoid disappointing customers at check-out.

How to: Adopt an online solution that tracks inventory and sales and gives you insights into the products that sell well. This buys you time to adequately stock your shelves with in-demand products in time for the festive season.

4.     Test

Make sure your website can handle the expected increase in traffic. Black Friday is all about speed and nothing will send customers away faster than a slow website.

How to: There are hundreds of free website speed test tools available online that let you test the performance of your website and provide tips on how you can make it faster. Consult with an IT professional well in advance to ensure your website doesn’t cave under pressure, resulting in lost sales and customers.

5.     Prepare

Bolster your resources to cope with the high demand. Ensure your logistics partner can handle increased deliveries and, if not, outsource the surplus. One retailer in Kenya partnered with the postal service to allow shoppers to collect their items from any post office in the country. If you’re a distribution company, create your own Black Friday deal for customers, offering discounted rates or round-the-clock deliveries on the day. And, if you suspect you might be under-staffed, hire unemployed youths and give them work experience to put on their CVs.

How to: We live in an age of instant gratification and customers who make purchases on these high retail days expect fast delivery. If you run a delivery business, prepare your drivers for the busy weeks ahead and consider giving them a survival kit to take with them on the road. Service your vehicles well before the rush so that your operations aren’t affected if one breaks down.

6.     Focus on the experience

One reason why Kenyans do not shop online is because a friend had a bad experience. Small businesses have the power to change perceptions – especially on Small Business Saturday – an offshoot of Black Friday and Cyber Monday that encourages people to visit and support local small businesses. With one of the most developed formal retail industries, Kenyan online retailers face stiff competition from brick-and-mortar stores, through which many products are readily available – without the wait time and delivery cost. Those that don’t have an online presence have an opportunity to delight customers in other ways. Create a relaxed shopping environment amid the shoving and elbowing that is synonymous with the day – even if that means limiting the number of customers in your store at a time. By delighting customers, you win their loyalty.

How to: With so much foot traffic in your store, now is a good time to let customers sample your products. If you own a candy store, get Santa’s elves to dish out sweets to people waiting in line. Word of mouth is a powerful marketing tool. When you create a memorable shopping experience, customers will tell their friends about it.

7.     Offer a variety of payment options

On Black Friday, customers want to bag their specials and move on to the next store as quickly as possible. Your payments system needs to be able to handle higher transaction loads with minimal delays – whether customers decide to pay online or in-store. However, in Kenya, shoppers do not trust online shopping portals, opting to pay on delivery or through the poplar M-Pesa mobile money service or through PayPal – be sure to offer all of these payment methods. Consider innovative ways to encourage shoppers to change their payment behaviours. Jumia, for example, is offering vouchers to customers who pay with MasterCard for their Black Friday purchases.

How to: When accepting payments in-store, the goal is to minimise queue wait times. Hire more staff to serve more customers or adopt a wireless POS system that takes the checkout counter to the customer – like right outside the change rooms of your boutique clothing store. When it comes to e-commerce, confusing or non-functioning payments pages are one of the biggest reasons why shoppers abandon their carts – and why businesses only close 3% of online sales. Create online payments shortcuts and ensure your website is mobile friendly. Adopt a payments solution that accepts a variety of payment options.

Remember this: if you’re going to do Black Friday, do it well. It is an opportunity for you as a small business owner to grow your business and get the most out of the festive season.

By Nikki Summers,

Regional Director for Sage in East Africa.