Every year I see stores starting their Black Friday earlier and earlier in the month, or even in October.
A tactic that might work better in the long-term is to offer early access as a perk to your loyal customers.
Instead of just discounting everything early, you give your most loyal customers "VIP access to Black Friday deals" using a personal coupon code. This would incentive them to order early (instead of ordering from a competitor) as a reward for their loyalty.
Then when Black Friday starts you'd expire the coupons and set your prices as you intended originally.
It's a simple tactic that could be an early boost to the season. You'd get to spread out the orders, get paid sooner, and reward your most loyal customers.
If you're not sure who to send this to, use the Who Are Loyal dashboard in Repeat Customer Insights. I'd recommend either your VIP customers or your Above Average customers. Or even offer it to VIPs two weeks early and Above Average one week early.
Eric Davis
Learn what your customers are actually doing instead of just guessing
One of the best ways to build a sustainable business starts by getting your customers to come back. Mastering that simple process can be difficult, but builds a lifelong business.
Repeat Customer Insights can help you understand your customer's behavior. With its collection of behavior reports, you can see what they're actually doing instead of guessing and having your efforts fall flat.