“When writing this, its fall again in Stockholm. The leaves are falling off the trees, I’ve dug in the far back of the closet for the really big winter coats, and swapped to the winter tires. And of course, as an American it also means celebrating one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving! As I prepare the meal, however, I’m often thinking about the challenges I’ll be facing at work due to the upcoming one-two punch of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
These two days are generally the biggest single sales days of the year for retail companies -- interestingly enough this phenomenon spans the globe and isn’t just isolated to North America. In the past 10 years of living in Sweden, I’ve seen a sharp uptick in customers concerned with capacity planning around these few sales days as they become more important to the company's bottom line. In many ways, they can make or break the yearly figures for a company, no matter where in the world they are based.
At times like this, with systems and staff being pushed to the upper ends and the sales rolling in, many retailers may find that this ‘best day ever’ is also the time they are the most vulnerable.”