Black Friday Sales Season Is Coming! Here’s What You Need To Know

Black Friday, the biggest retail event of the year, is just around the corner. During this momentous occasion, retailers across South Africa offer their most impressive deals and discounts, which results in hundreds of thousands of orders shipping off to our Pargo Pickup Point network across the country.

With more and more South Africans shopping online, we predict this will be another record year for online shopping and Pargo Click and Collect, surpassing the 60% growth in online transactions of 2020. Historically, many stores buckle under the pressure of this sales spike as throngs of customers queue to shop and collect their parcels — but don’t panic. We’ve got you covered.

Follow our top 5 tips to manage your store during Black Friday so you won’t get overwhelmed by the massive influx of Pargo parcels — and customers — visiting your store.

5 – Use Pargo Signage Strategically

Because of the great number of customers visiting your store during Black Friday, you can expect long queues and possibly impatient and frustrated customers. Managing this traffic will be the key to giving all customers a swift, seamless shopping experience. Luckily, you have the perfect, eye-catching traffic-directing tool at your disposal — Pargo’s bright yellow signage!

Use Pargo branding strategically at the POS counter(s), on the floor and windows to help customers easily navigate to the collection counter. We strongly recommend setting up the Pargo wayfinder above the collection counter as well as the floor stickers alongside the perspex counter stand and poster if you haven’t already done so.

4 – Smart Storage Speeds Up Service

Store Pargo parcels smartly and keep them organised so you don’t have to dig through piles of parcels when customers come to collect their orders during Black Friday. The easier you can get to parcels, the faster you can assist Click and Collect customers. These are our top tips for smart storage.

• Dedicate enough storage space for Pargo parcels. Maximise the space you have by removing any items that no longer serve a purpose, such as empty boxes, old equipment, expired stock etc.
• Pack Pargo parcels flatly on top of each other to preserve shelf space.
• Store small to medium-sized parcels under the Click and Collect counter and larger ones in your storeroom.
• Prevent uncollected parcels from taking up storage space by doing a stocktake of the in-store parcels using the Pargo app.

We recommend you do a stocktake every Monday as Black Friday approaches to regularly declutter your storage space — and it’s so easy. When you submit a stocktake via the Pargo app, an email with the waybills that need to be removed from your store is sent to our support team. Our team will then arrange for a courier to collect the old parcels and ensure your store has adequate storage space.

3 – Ensure You Have Enough Staff

The madness of Black Friday shouldn’t rest on the shoulders of a single person. Avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed by ensuring you have enough staff on hand to help all Click and Collect customers.

We recommend that you dedicate at least two in-store associates as your Pargo champions during this time so customers can collect their parcels as quickly as possible. If you are a one-person show and don’t have additional staff to help you, feel free to use the Pargo app’s support feature so we can assist you virtually.

Should you require any additional training or if you need to train new staff, do not hesitate to reach out to us at support@pargo.co.za. We are always ready to help.

2 – A Smile Goes A Long Way

Don’t underestimate the power of friendly service. With your store being busier, you can expect that some customers may be a little more impatient or disgruntled than usual as they queue for service, but you can flip their mood with a calm, friendly greeting. Though it may seem like a stretch to greet every customer, it’s much easier than you think, and the potential return you get for a simple gesture is limitless.

This is a fantastic opportunity to convert Black Friday Click and Collect customers visiting your store to your own customers, so make sure you leave them with a lasting impression.

1 – Let The Pargo App Lead The Way

Our number one tip is, of course, to let the Pargo app lead the way. By using the Pargo device to quickly scan parcels in and out of your store, you can reduce the time it takes for a customer to receive their parcel by 50%! The Pargo app is completely automated and requires no manual inputs to make your job easier and stress-free.

If you have any concerns about Black Friday preparedness, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Pickup Point Team at support@pargo.co.za. Together we can make this Black Friday the biggest and best one yet!