How was your Black Friday?

[MadjackGG]

How was your Black Friday?

It wasn't too bad for me with seven sales. However November has still been down on last year. Hell, the whole year has been down on last year, mostly beginning in March.

Having said that, sales have noticeably cratered today. I guess US customers are perhaps holding off for Cyber Monday, travelling or sleeping off their Thanksgiving dinners.

[Mariholly]

I have to say it was good, around $40 in royalties, considering that the usual is $3 or $4, and that my sales have decreased by almost 90%. I almost cried with excitement.

[Barbara]

I've had (relatively speaking) good sales through the end of November, but on Black Friday? Nothing on that day. My take on it is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been watered down enormously because they no longer occur on specific days, running, instead for a week or maybe two. The shoppers know they have time to take advantage of sales.

Colorwash's Home

[MOM]

I have sold absolutely nothing - zero, zippo, nada. I also have sold absolutely nothing last year so I guess it's ok, sigh. And I'm kinda not surprised either because I my self am sitting on my money because next year will be quiet a roller coaster financially for to many in the US.

[Barbara]

Don't worry about the roller coaster. I've been through almost 80 years of it, each administration doing something to upset the apple cart, the succeeding administration getting the cart upright but kicking over another. My single wish is for inflation and fuel prices to be dealt with, neither of which can happen overnight. It's just lot of political upheaval while the lives of ordinary citizens stay pretty much the same, which means our sales here may remain a bit low.

Colorwash's Home

[tanyadraws]

I've had a relatively okay Black Friday, with sales on all the sites I sell at. It is not even close to being as good as Black Friday of years past, but I am happy to get a bit of a sales boost this year nonetheless considering the whole year has been pretty slow for me. It is a bit of an odd year financially around the globe I think, and I found the Black Friday sales this year didn't quite have the oomph that they used to. I didn't even do Black Friday shopping myself this year, and I am usually one to snag a deal on something I've been eyeing!

[Barbara]

I've noticed the same thing about Black Friday deals--kind of ho-hum--but I thought maybe it was my own enthusiasm. Guess not.

Colorwash's Home

[OliandFleurs]

I don’t have a comparison to last year since I only had 300 projects and 2 sales back then. However, when it comes to this year, both Black Friday and November overall were by far my best periods since opening my account, with over $240 in royalties. For me, the most effective strategy so far seems to be following a sales calendar. I started working on holiday collections as early as August/September, and perhaps that helped the algorithm pick them up at the "right time."

[yasminepatterns]

It's wasn't bad in terms of number of sales but It was down compared to last month and last November. I feel frustrated a bit because I add new products and create new collection almost every week. I guess people don't any longer shop in November like they used to because of inflation. 

[Barbara]

Your mention of inflation inspired me to run a search on how consumers are spending (or not spending) their money, and it appears inflation has affected them deeply. They're still spending but are doing so differently from other years. Making tradeoffs, searching for deep discounts, making instead of buying, paying close attention to shipping costs, and, well, pretty much all the things we can easily imagine. What struck me is that people are seriously reducing frivolous spending. Unfortunately, this describes a lot of the products here on Zazzle.

Colorwash's Home

[CrazyMermaid]

People are spending money like crazy to beat the Trump tarriffs he will impose on 1/20, which will raise prices dramatically. However those aren't things that are typically sold on Zazzle. 

[Barbara]

I suspect what we'll see are higher prices on products that are outsourced to China or that get a lot of their bits and pieces from China, which covers an awful lot of the companies out there. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a certain amount of impact here on Zazzle too, though not on paper goods, thank goodness.

Colorwash's Home

[CrazyMermaid]

Trump is talking major tariffs on Canada, Mexico, Europe and BRIC countries which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. So it is just about everyone - not us or anyone he gets mad at. We just had tires put on the cars. That kind of stuff. 25% to 100% tariffs add up quickly. 

[almdrs]

"Black Friday"?
What is it?

[DancingPelican]

Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the US. It traditionally marks the start of the Christmas shopping season and is the busiest shopping day of the year in the United States. The term "Black" refers to an accounting term as businesses often earn enough profit on Black Friday to get out of the "Red" with accounting losses and into the "Black" with profits for the year.

[Silvara]

I sold nothing on Black Friday, and nothing for December so far. My job dropped me down to 3 days a week until likely Valentine's Day because business is so slow. I'm just lucky my PTO refills in 10 days so I can use that to supplement my actual hours. I imagine that may be happening a lot of places, so that's why no sales. Hopefully things pick up for everyone.

[Scott]

A friendly reminder that we'd like to keep conversation here focused on Zazzle-related topics. A light discussion on the economy does sometimes happen, but let's not get into politics. Thanks in advance.