Black Week Mistake 3: You're not using segmented pricing

If you want to succeed with your margins during Black Week, you have to work at category, brand and sometimes product level, says Martin Granberg.

Before Black Week there is a lot to think about, both what to do and what not to do. Last year, price expert Martin Granberg shared his blacklist of seven classic Black Week mistakes. This year, he goes even more thoroughly and takes a closer look at each of the classic mistakes. Here is the third article in the series. You will eventually find all seven articles about Black Week errors here.

More efficient purchasing and forecasting, not to mention dropshipping, has created relatively large assortments at many merchants.

Some are more spread out in the form of different categories, others invest in depth. Some of the major players have both breadth and depth, resulting in a selection of 100K+ products.

Something everyone who works with prices and margins knows is that you can see clear patterns where certain categories or brands keep a higher price and hence also a better percentage margin. The reasons for this are many (too many to go through in this article), but one we can agree on is that different brands and categories behave differently.

Although this is something most retailers are aware of, they sometimes behave, and mainly during Black Week when many products need to be checked at the same time, as if this is not a fact.

By breaking down your strategies at the category, brand and sometimes product level, you can leverage your assortment knowledge while working data-driven. During Black Week, working with the products and brands in a smart way, based on previous experience, will create significantly healthier sales during the "black week".

#Tip 1: Review what it looks like today, what the average margins look like across the different categories and brands. How campaign-intensive they are, and what percentage of sales actually comes from a campaign.

#Tip 2: How are prices in general for the various categories and brands? Both in terms of price position and price gap in relation to the market price.

#Tip 3: How did you do last Black Week and what were the results for the different brands/categories? Was it a good or bad result and what do you compare it to? After analyzing the data, how can you do things differently this year?