The clock’s ticking. In about two months the holiday shopping season kicks off, and Black Friday is right in the middle of it. For firearms retailers, this isn’t just another sales day, it’s the day that can change the tone for the rest of the year.

We want you to take this serious. If you’re behind, you still have time. If you’ve started, there’s room to sharpen things. But the truth is, if you don’t have a written plan right now, you’re already playing catch-up. The good news? You can catch up. You can still win big.

Let’s walk through what you need to do. Think about it in three phases: Preparation, Execution, and Post-Sale Momentum.

Phase 1: Preparation

Get Inventory Right

Pull up your inventory reports and be honest about what’s working and what’s dead weight. If something has been sitting for months, it’s not helping you. Black Friday is the time to move it. Mark it down, bundle it, or package it in a way that finally gets it out the door.

Look at last year’s numbers too. What sold fast? What sat around? Don’t overcomplicate this, repeat the winners, rethink the losers.

And here’s something important: don’t wait until the last minute to get stock in. If you’ve got net-30 terms, get product in at least 25 days before Black Friday so you’re not stuck waiting on trucks the week of. Nothing derails a sales push like advertising a deal that never shows up.

Build Promotions That Work

Think bundles. Pair firearms with high-margin accessories like mags, cleaning kits, or ear protection. Spread the margin out.

Gift cards are another smart play. A $100 item with a $20 gift card looks and feels better than just dropping the price to $80. The card gets the customer back in your store, and in many cases they’ll spend more than the card’s value when they return.

Here’s the kicker: don’t let them use the card that day. Start it the following week, or even December 1. That way, you’re pulling people back into the store during the holiday rush, not letting them spend it right away at checkout.

If you’ve got a range, use it. A weekday pass that costs you almost nothing can bring people back, and when they come, they’re buying ammo, targets, and maybe more.

Marketing With Purpose

Start teasing early November. Keep it vague at first, just let people know you’ve got Black Friday coming. Don’t show your hand too soon because every competitor on your email list is watching.

The big reveal should happen the Sunday before Thanksgiving. Drop the full details then.

Don’t just rely on email. If you’ve got a solid social following, use it. Jump into local online groups, Reddit boards, and firearms forums. Those smaller communities are where word of mouth spreads fast.

And if you’re going to do physical ads, flyers, newspaper spots, whatever, slap a QR code on them. Let people scan and sign up before they ever walk through your doors.

Prep Your Team

Black Friday is not business as usual. Overstaff. If you normally run four people, run ten. Give every single person a specific role: registers, greeter, range desk, floater, whatever you need. No one should be standing around wondering what to do.

Set team, not individual, goals. This isn’t the day for one salesperson to lock up a customer for 30 minutes while everyone else waits. Black Friday is throughput. Get people in, served, and checked out. Reward the entire crew when you hit your goal.

And feed your people. Don’t let staff leave the building for lunch. Bring in food. Keep morale high and bodies in place.

Phase 2: Execution

Floor Management

Everything sells from the floor, not the back room. Get it out. Stack it, stage it, make it visible. Don’t wait for staff to restock in the middle of the chaos.

Have someone at the door greeting people. Direct them to the right area immediately. If they came for a doorbuster, show them where the line is.

Use signs everywhere. Normally you may be particular about clean floors and neat merchandising. Black Friday is not that day. Print out 8.5x11 signs, tape them to glass, and make sure customers know exactly where to go and what the price is.

Checkout Efficiency

Lines kill sales. Keep things moving.

• Run test transactions early in the morning to make sure discounts ring correctly.

• Stock extra bags, receipt paper, and anything else you burn through fast.

• Keep POS systems logged in, speed matters more than perfect loss prevention on this day.

• If possible, use mobile POS stations.

And for the love of everything, have a cellular internet backup. Losing your connection for even half an hour on Black Friday could cost you thousands.

Hours and Specials

Opening early works for some, later for others. If you’re not set up to compete with 5 a.m. big box traffic, don’t try. Nine a.m. works fine if that’s your lane.

But whatever time you pick, open a few minutes early. Customers hate standing outside staring at a locked door.

If you do open early, stagger your specials. Run one set from 5–8, another from 8–11, then the rest of the day. That keeps traffic coming in waves.

Security

Theft is real, but don’t let fear slow you down. Have staff visible around high-value displays. Empower one or two trusted employees to handle exceptions or quick discounts without pulling the manager away from bigger problems.

Phase 3: Post-Sale Momentum

Capture Customer Data

Train your staff to get emails and phone numbers at checkout. Every single one is valuable. These aren’t cold leads, these are people who showed up, pulled out their wallet, and bought.

Don’t Forget Saturday

The Saturday after Black Friday is massive. Send an email late Friday night. Push products that didn’t move the way you wanted. Adjust pricing if you need to. There’s still plenty of appetite, and Saturday often feels like Black Friday without the mob scene.

Keep Customers Coming Back

Gift cards, range passes, bundles — use them to build habits. You want people walking into your store again and again. That doesn’t just happen. You train it.

Analyze and Adjust

Sit down with your team when it’s fresh. What worked? What didn’t? Where did you bottleneck? Write it down. That becomes your playbook for next year.

Final Thoughts

Black Friday is a different animal. It’s fast, it’s chaotic, and it’s your biggest opportunity all year to win new customers and boost cash flow.

If you take the time now to plan inventory, tighten promotions, prep your team, and lock down execution, you’re going to walk away from it with more than a big day — you’ll build momentum that carries through the holidays and into the new year.

Treat it like your Super Bowl. Get your team hyped, get your playbook in place, and step into it with confidence.

How Coreware Helps

At Coreware, we’ve built the tools that help firearms retailers win in moments like this. Whether you’re managing inventory, running promotions, handling checkout, or capturing customer data for follow-up campaigns, Coreware gives you the complete system to make retail work — online and in-store.

If you’re ready to make this your best Black Friday yet, visit coreware.com and see how we can help.