$1m question
The online retailer BRUNT needed a fast start to the holiday shopping season. Would it succeed?
‘I told [the staff ] that although we’ve been working for this day since February, some things will always go wrong.’ ERIC GIROUARD, chief executive of Brunt Workwear
Black Friday used to be the year’s biggest shopping event, in which people would storm into physical stores looking for deals. Online shopping was relegated to Cyber Monday, which didn’t attract nearly as much as attention.
But with internet retail ascendant, online merchants are no longer ceding Black Friday to brick-and-mortar stores for holiday sales. The two days have essentially blurred together into one weekend shopping event that signals to consumers the start of the holiday shopping season.
And with inflation-wary customers primed to spend less this year, retailers, whether digital or physical, will grab any sale they can whenever they can.
“Black Friday was our Super
Bowl,” said Eric Girouard, chief executive of Brunt Workwear, an online men’s apparel retailer in North Reading.
The three-year-old startup has established a niche in an era of bruteforce mass retailing: it sells work boots, hoodies, and pants to men working in blue-collar trades like construction and plumbing. And thanks to social media ads, savvy promotions, and word of mouth, Girouard says the company sells more merchandise on Black Friday than any other day of the year.
Brunt is an example of how onlineonly retailers are not waiting for Cyber Monday to compete with traditional brick-and-mortar chains. The company has been generating strong sales of late and is profitable. But as a startup with limited marketing dollars, the company needs Black Friday to jump-start holiday sales just as much, if not more, as a Target or Macy’s.
But Brunt always faces major chal
lenges.
First, the company couldn’t match the discounts and door busters that Walmart, Target, and Macy’s normally offer consumers this time of year. These companies can afford to lose money on some items in order to draw spending on others. Given its size, Brunt Workwear can’t.
By operating thousands of physical stores, major brick-andmortar chains already enjoy built-in marketing support. And as a relatively new company, Brunt needed to find a way to stand out from a very crowded field of better-known brands.
“They faced a steep, uphill climb,” said DeAnn Campbell, a retail consultant in Atlanta. The company is “new, niche, and online only. That’s three strikes against them.”
The Globe followed Girouard in the days leading up to Black Friday, to see whether he could overcome these obstacles. His ultimate goal: generate more than $1 million sales on Friday.
Monday, Nov. 20
Brunt launched its Black Friday campaign at 8 p.m. with promotions giving VIP customers early access to deals being made public the next morning.
Girouard said the goal was to build momentum and excitement leading up to Friday. The retailer offered $20 off and a free beanie to customers who spent $100 or more. But the main attraction was the opportunity to buy a limited-edition black version of one of its best-selling boots.
To boost sales, Brunt invests heavily in social media ads, including ones on Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram.
“TikTok has really taken off for us,” Girouard said.
The company created 200 different types of ads for this past week alone, including some thoughtful videos that explain the brand and the origins and philosophy of the company. In these videos, Girouard talks about designing quality clothes for men who work in blue-collar, salt-of-the-earth trades such as construction, plumbing, and welding.
The company spent the last two months preparing its website to make sure it wouldn’t crash, which would be disastrous since it has no physical stores to fall back on. One trick was to keep it simple: The company didn’t add any new fancy sales tech that could fail on the big day.
After repeatedly testing his systems, Girouard was satisfied.
“Our website is good to go,” he said.
Tuesday, Nov. 21
Off to a good start, Girouard said the limited-edition boot had sold out quickly, and the company set records for both web traffic and sales. Sales on Monday were 150 percent higher than the same day a year earlier.
He gave his annual Black Friday rally speech to the staff.
“I told them that although we’ve been working for this day since February, some things will always go wrong,” Girouard said. “It will be easy to get overwhelmed. But the most important thing is to stay calm and remain focused. We got this.”
One thing didn’t go as planned: The company realized it had miscalculated demand for apparel, which meant that it would miss out on some sales.
“Oh well,” Girouard said. “It’s better to sell out of something than having to give away merchandise because no one wants to buy it.”
Wednesday, Nov. 22
Brunt continued to break daily sales records. While workers elsewhere were leaving early to prepare for Thanksgiving, Brunt’s offices were busier than ever.
“We’re rocking and we’re rolling,” Girouard said.
He said the promotions seemed to be working. The retailer wants its best customers to buy items at least three times this week.
The key, Girouard said, was to offer smart promotions that stimulate additional sales.
Thursday, Nov. 23
Girouard had a bit of a dilemma.
The company runs its operations through Shopify, a platform that online retailers use to manage their sales. So every time it makes a sale, he gets a “bing” on his cellphone.
During the retailer’s first Black Friday three years ago, it took half an hour before Girouard received his first bing.
“It was torture,” he said.
But now his phone was constantly lighting up. Today, Girouard was getting one bing every 7 seconds — for an entire hour.
He said he loves hearing the bings. Plus, Girouard is superstitious, so he was reluctant to change his daily routine. But the notifications really drain his phone’s battery. He reluctantly decided to shut them off.
Black Friday, Nov. 24
As the big day arrived, Girouard received some news that portended well.
Brunt operates a warehouse in Pennsylvania but it was closed on Thanksgiving. When staff opened up the facility this morning, they informed Girouard they already had 12,000 orders to ship out, a sign that those Shopify bings were producing real orders.
Brunt also launched another limited-edition offer, this time a black version of another popular boot to “add fuel to the fire,” Girouard said.
By mid-afternoon, Girouard was confident that he’d hit his goal with time to spare.
At 7:20 p.m, he texted the news: The company exceeded $1 million in sales and there was still 9 hours left on Black Friday for West Coast shoppers.
Saturday, Nov. 25
Girouard was feeling good. All in all, Black Friday sales this year represented a 226 percent increase over the big shopping day in 2022.
The performance was so promising that Girouard already set a goal for Black Friday in 2024.
“Hopefully, $3 million for next year!” he texted.