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How to run a business on Black Friday

Temporary staff for Black Friday

If you run a retail business the growing trend for Black Friday temporary staff top handle the extra load will be an important part of your annual business cycle.  Just like pumpkin spiced lattes, Black Friday is another of the USA’s imports onto this fair isle. Traditionally, it marks the day after Thanksgiving, where everyone piles in a Chevy to the nearest WalMart to buy freshly discounted items and eat pumpkin pie with marshmallow. It’s growth in the UK has been met with a mixed response, but it’s a retail phenomenon that shows little sign of stopping anytime soon.

Staffing for Black Friday Sales in the UK

While we don’t currently celebrate The Day of Super Bowl Adverts, we’ve certainly embraced this super-sized sale opportunity. Black Friday is a smaller affair here than it is over the pond, and some shops have even refused to join in. Nevertheless, if you own a shop and embrace Black Friday you’re likely to see a spike in customer numbers – both online and in store. So if you want to avoid missing out on profits, you’ll probably need to source some temporary staff, because even a small disruption in your supply chain can make a big impact.

Temporary staffing solutions: additional roles you need to fill

Black Friday will probably see you getting some of the highest volumes of orders of the year. That means you’re going to need someone on the till, packers for deliveries, people to drive stuff around, someone to put up displays...to name a few! Bear in mind that only 20% of sales were done in-store on Black Friday, so having a fully staffed back-end is crucial. And don’t let an inadequate website or server prevent customers from making purchases and lose revenue. Make sure you’re IT team are fully prepared for what’s ‘in store’. It’s not only shops that are affected by this event. Neighbouring venues such as cafes and restaurants have the opportunity to gain some additional customers of the weary shopaholic type (usually in need of significant sustenance). Get your additional temporary staff on board so you don’t miss out on this extra business.

Where to look for temporary staff

When looking for workers, particular temporary staff, it can be difficult to know where to find them. Realistically your options are as follows:

• Recruitment agencies – usually have a large pool of available workers, but agencies will take a big cut and are expensive.
• Social media – nowadays there are lots of Facebook groups used by both employers and employees. These can be an excellent resource but you’re limited to Facebook’s pool of users and responsiveness can be poor.
• The pub – asking around the local is probably not the most reliable recruitment approach, but it’s worth a go!
• Professional online worker network – we may be biased but Grafter is a great online resource that combines all the best elements of these other options into an online directory that works for employers and employees.

Using a tailor-made online platform provides you with access to readily available workers quickly and conveniently. The ability to source staff this way is invaluable at times like Black Friday as well as the busy festive period and January sales. The Grafter community stands out from other networks as a specialist for physical and short-term labour. And its free to find and engage with workers across the Building & Construction, Landscaping & Farming, Business & Industry, Driving & Delivery and Leisure & Events industries. So if it’s retail staff that you need, head to the Business & Industry and General & Other categories. There’s also the option to utilise our support service through which we help to manage the whole process from job listing through to agreements and hiring. If the recruitment process is the bane of your life, we’re here to help.

Whether it’s a labourer, packer, driver or mover, Grafter makes it easy to find the best worker for the job. If you’re already thinking ahead to the busy ‘shopping season’ then head to our ‘Hire a Grafter’ section.