Let’s be honest with each other for a minute.
Black Friday is a trap. It’s a high-stress, low-margin, brand-damaging vortex. Every year, right around the time the leaves start to turn, you can feel it in the air. That low hum of anxiety. The planning meetings start showing up on the calendar, all with the same grim subject line. The arguments about discount percentages begin. 30%? 40%? Do we go for the doorbuster? The whole operation slowly gets consumed by this one, single day on the calendar.
It feels less like a golden opportunity and more like an obligation. A really stressful, margin-killing, brand-diluting obligation. And I see so many great brands—brands with real stories, real quality, and a base of fans who genuinely love them—get sucked right into the vortex. They do it because they feel like they have to.
So I have to ask: Why? Seriously, why are we still putting ourselves through this?
The magic is long gone. What used to be a one-day treasure hunt for a killer deal is now a bloated, month-long garage sale. The emails start before Halloween. The “pre-sales” and “early access” codes fly around until they mean nothing. By the time the actual Friday rolls around, everyone is just exhausted. Your customers are numb to the endless parade of screaming discount banners. You’re tired of it. Your team is burned out. It has become a joyless, frantic slog.
If you’re on the fence about it this year, let me tell you what I see from my side of the table. Deciding to participate in Black Friday isn’t just a sales tactic; it’s a statement about who you are as a brand. And for most good brands, it’s the wrong one.