NY retailer gets practical for Black Friday

Saratoga, N.Y.--When it comes to competing with big-box retailers on holiday deals, independent retailers have the advantage of knowing their local clients a little better, and one New York store is capitalizing on that.

Last year, Lily & David Fine Jewelry in Saratoga offered a Black Friday deal that had cold-weather climate appeal--it partnered with Lowe’s to give those who spent more than $1,499 a Troy-Bilt snow blower valued at $600.

This year, Lily & David is stepping it up a notch, Director of Marketing Nicholas Stone said. Doing the Lowe’s promotion again was a given, he added, but they also reached out to Southwest Airlines this time.

Customers who spend between $500 and $999 at the store between Thursday (Thanksgiving Day) and Sunday will receive a $100 Southwest gift card; those who spend between $1,000 and $1,499 receive a $250 Southwest gift card; and those who spend $1,500 or more get a $500 gift card.

Stone believes that these offers will “explode” for the store. They sent out 1,000 mailers to customers, and within one day of delivery he said they were getting customers pre-shopping and calling about the promotions.

They also are backing it up with radio, print and television campaigns that started over the weekend and will run through Saturday, Nov. 28, a/k/a Small Business Saturday.

According to Stone, the idea of offering travel gift cards stemmed from both the success they had with last year’s Black Friday deals as well as the region’s brutal winter. They’re using “the snow blower to remind people of the winter shoveling they did and the flights as a way to leave it behind if they wanted to,” he said.

Rather than offering technology, which they think has been done too much at this point, Stone said they chose to give their customers something extra they want, need and can actually use, mixing luxury and practicality in one purchase. He added that it’s easier for these customers to purchase a big-ticket item when they know they also have taken care of something they need or were going to purchase anyway.