• Business Growth & Optimisation

8 Black Friday Strategies to Maximise Your Sales in 2025

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Love it or hate it, Black Friday is here to stay and if your business is taking part, you’ll be tapping into the $6.7 billion that is set to be splashed over the Black Friday–Cyber Monday weekend this year—a 4% increase on last year’s figures. 

Black Friday—falling on Friday 28 November, 2025—has become the unofficial start of Australia’s Christmas shopping season. In recent years, it has evolved from a single day into a full sales period, with many retailers launching promotions as early as 18 November. With Australians spending at record levels, now is the time for retailers to make sure they’re set up to capture as much of that demand as possible. To help you prepare, we’ve put together 8 Black Friday strategies to maximise your success during the year’s busiest sales weekend.

1. Give your customers FOMO

Black Friday shoppers expect to see limited-time deals. By giving them a sense of FOMO (fear of missing out), they’re much more likely to buy immediately instead of waiting or shopping around. Similarly, if customers think stock is limited or the deal is exclusive, the perceived value increases, even if they weren’t planning on buying right away. FOMO reduces the time a customer spends comparing or overthinking. They’re less likely to abandon their cart if they feel they might lose the deal. 

Ensure your website and/or your store clearly communicate urgency. Use messaging like: “Ends at midnight”, “Only 24 hours left”, “Only 12 left at this price”, “Selling fast—over 500 sold today.” You could also use countdown timers on your website or on your social media. Learn how to add a countdown timer to your Instagram story here. Just be aware that if you advertise a limited-time offer, you are legally obligated to honour it under Australian Consumer Law (see point 7 for more on this).

2. Create deals without discounts

Get creative with your Black Friday offers. If your margins are tight, you don’t have to rely on blanket discounts to drive sales, you could try bundles, tiered deals like “Buy More, Save More,” hourly flash sales, mystery boxes, or limited-edition drops that create excitement without reducing prices. 

Focus on your best-sellers or high-intent products to maximise conversions, and don’t be afraid to test different formats throughout the weekend to see what resonates with your audience. Pair every offer with clear urgency (see above) to encourage shoppers to act quickly. 

woman hanging Black Friday signage3. Offer Buy Now Pay Later options

Many customers use Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales as an opportunity to tick off their entire Christmas shopping list. While it’s a big outlay for just one weekend, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) programs like Afterpay, Zip, and Klarna make it more manageable by allowing customers to spread payments over weeks or months. This flexibility encourages shoppers to buy more than they might with a single upfront payment, helping businesses increase basket sizes, and sell higher-ticket items. 

Ahead of Black Friday weekend, speak to your payment provider about integrating a BNPL option to your online or in-store sales. With Zeller Terminal, setting up Afterpay is straightforward. Simply follow the steps to offer Afterpay card payments with Zeller Terminal here

4. Offer early access to subscribers

If you already have an email database, make the most of it in the lead-up to Black Friday by giving subscribers early access to your offers. Exclusive previews not only drive anticipation but also reward loyal customers. If you run a loyalty program, consider offering bigger discounts to your VIP members or inviting them to an after-hours, invite-only shopping event. These personalised perks create a sense of novelty and recognition—and the more valued your customers feel, the more likely they are to make a purchase.

5. Ensure your checkout is optimised

If you run an online-only store, your website will make or break your Black Friday performance. With higher traffic expected, speak to your web developer ahead of time to ensure your site can handle the surge. Even a few seconds of slow loading—or friction in the checkout process—can quickly translate into abandoned carts and lost revenue.

The same principle applies in-store: your payment experience must be fast, reliable, and friction-free. Slow EFTPOS machines, limited card acceptance, or high transaction fees can lead to frustrated customers and reduced profits. Zeller Terminal accepts all cards—including American Express and China UnionPay—for one low flat fee of 1.4%, and you can enable surcharging for a fee-free solution.

Zeller also gives you built-in backup. If you realise you need extra terminals to keep up with demand, you can turn your phone into an EFTPOS machine. Simply download Zeller App and enable Tap to Pay. It takes minutes to set up and could save you thousands in missed sales if queues start forming. 

6. Boost your customer support

More customers mean more customer service — so it pays to be prepared. Whether that’s rostering on additional staff, updating and expanding the FAQ section of your website, or integrating a chatbot to handle common queries, planning ahead helps you stay ahead of the rush. The smoother and more responsive your support experience is, the easier it is to keep customers happy throughout the Black Friday weekend, reduce pressure on your team, and prevent small issues from turning into lost sales.

7. Avoid false advertising

Although you might be tempted to extend a limited-time offer if you’re flooded with sales, this would constitute false advertising under Australian Consumer Law. It pays to understand what your legal obligations are ahead of time, so that you can steer clear of unlawful advertising. 

Businesses cannot falsely claim “site-wide” or “store-wide” sales, if not everything is on sale. You also cannot state “up to X% off” promotions if only a handful of products reach that discount, and you cannot use “was/now” strikethrough pricing that isn’t supported by a genuine previous selling price. Retailers also shouldn’t create a false sense of urgency through misleading limited-time offers or hide important exclusions and conditions in fine print. The ACCC actively monitors Black Friday promotions and can issue infringement notices and significant penalties for breaches. 

While consumers are entitled to refunds for faulty products, retailers may set conditions on change-of-mind returns during sales periods provided these policies are clearly communicated. Ahead of Black Friday weekend, ensure you have updated the returns policy on your receipts. 

With Zeller, you can quickly change the information that appears on receipts from either your Zeller Dashboard or directly on Zeller Terminal. Learn how to customise your Zeller receipt setting here.

8. Follow up after purchase

Black Friday shouldn’t just be seen as a one-off sales event—it’s also an opportunity to capture new customer data and turn one-time shoppers into repeat buyers. For online stores, this is straightforward, as customer information is automatically collected and stored in your CMS. For bricks-and-mortar retailers, it requires a bit more creativity. Encourage customers to join your mailing list or follow your social accounts by offering a small gift or extra discount, run a competition requiring an email entry, or use QR codes at the point of sale to collect contact details.

With Zeller, you can add a custom image to your receipts or terminal screensaver featuring a QR code that links to your newsletter signup or Instagram account. By making it easy for customers to engage at checkout—when they already have their phones out to pay—you create a frictionless way to build a valuable database of engaged customers. This enables you to follow up with targeted offers and promotions long after Black Friday has ended.

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4 Ways to Boost Your Brand with Zeller

From customising your Zeller Debit Card with a logo to promoting an offer on the screen of Zeller Terminal, or adding a QR code to your receipts: Zeller ensures your brand is central to your payments and finances. A strong brand doesn’t have to mean a big one. Even small businesses are able to derive as much benefit from a recognisable brand identity as major international companies, it’s all a question of scale. The beauty of building your brand as a small business is that you don’t have to go to huge lengths to achieve it. You just have to be consistent. Emphasising your brand at every customer touch point – whether it’s a simple logo printed on your napkins or the colour of your bathrooms – can leave a lasting impression. In this article, we offer you four innovative ways to integrate your brand into the payment process, whether you're selling or buying, to engage customers or vendors with your business. 1. Personalise Zeller Debit Card with your business logo. Regardless of whether you’ve been in business for three years or three days, good branding gives the appearance of being well-established and of higher quality. It’s why adding your logo to your Zeller Business Debit Card or Zeller Corporate Cards is a great way of communicating professionalism to everyone you’re paying. Nothing says “we have our finances in order” like flashing a branded business debit card in front of a supplier. There will be no doubt in anyone’s mind as to the credibility of your business, nor will you ever accidentally pay for a business expense with your personal credit card.  For business owners running multiple venues, being able to visually distinguish each card ensures expenses are paid for with the correct account, reducing reconciliation errors. Similarly, for companies with multiple employees, expense management is made simpler by labelling corporate cards by team or purpose and with a colour to match. All Zeller cards can be created and personalised online in minutes and linked to your chosen Zeller Transaction Account . Virtual cards are ready to use the very same day, and physical cards will be delivered securely via Australia Post to your business address fast.  To add a logo to a Zeller Debit or Corporate Card: Open Zeller Dashboard and navigate to Cards Create a new card and assign a cardholder + linked account Add a card label (optional) Upload your logo Review and create card Find out more about supported specs and dimensions here . 2. Add a custom screensaver to Zeller Terminal. Even when Zeller Terminal goes to sleep, it keeps working for your business. You can set a custom screensaver that will appear on your Terminal screen when it’s not in use. While customers wait for you to scan their items or pull up their order at your point-of-sale, it is the perfect opportunity for you to engage them with your brand. Whether you’ve got a new offer to promote, need to remind customers to place their Christmas orders, or want to highlight a new product or item on the menu: the large, digital screen on Zeller Terminal is the perfect place to do it. Any image can be uploaded, as long as it is sized correctly (320 x 496 px). By incorporating a QR code into the image you can invite customers to sign up to a newsletter, referral program, or competition. This is a great way of bolstering your mailing list with people you know have already interacted with your business. However you choose to use Custom Screensavers on Zeller Terminal, it’s a great way to maintain brand consistency throughout your premises. When you upload a screensaver via Zeller Dashboard, there’s no need to update each Terminal individually, it will automatically update to all the Terminals operating within the site you have selected. By featuring your logo, as well as colours and fonts consistent with your style, a slogan or key message; you will emphasise your brand identity just before your customers walk out the door. To upload a Custom Screensaver: Open the Zeller Dashboard and navigate to Sites Locate and click the site to see its settings Click the Appearance tab Upload your logo Select a background colour (Zeller will automatically recommend some colours based on your logo) Click Save All Zeller Terminals within the site will display the image when in sleep mode 3. Keep customers engaged with branded receipts. Whether they’re printed or sent digitally as an email or SMS , receipts can be used in clever ways to help drive return business or help your customers connect with you. With Zeller, you can add a custom image at the top of the receipt, where a simple logo and/or QR code will catch people’s eye. Below this, you can add in your business details, so your customers know how to contact you, as well as your social media handles. In the case of digital receipts – these are live links that will take customers directly to your social profiles. There are two spaces, above and below the purchase details where you can add a message of 500 characters or less. You could include a brief history of your business, details of a competition you’re running, or a message or slogan that aligns with your brand. Much more than a simple proof of purchase, receipts are an innovative marketing tool that can be leveraged to instil your brand messaging. 4. Align your invoices to your brand identity. You don’t necessarily need a shop front to create a strong brand. Having a clear, identifiable web presence will set you apart from your competitors, and ensure your business is the first that comes to mind when your service is required. Or even when it’s not! Your online presence doesn’t end at your website. Every interaction with your customer is an opportunity to remind them of your brand, and invoices are no exception. Zeller Invoices provides you with the best of both worlds: the ability to create and send invoices quickly, but also the flexibility to customise them to align with your brand. With different colours and layouts to choose from, space for your logo and a custom message, your clients will be able to instantly recognise your business and your service. Not only does this make it easier (and therefore faster) for your clients to pay you, but they’ll associate the service with your brand, and are much more likely to return to you next time. Bringing your brand to life across the payment process is just one of the many ways Zeller lets you tailor your financial solution. With many different ways to take payments, make payments and manage your money, Zeller’s tools are designed with the flexibility and versatility to adapt to your business. Find out for yourself by signing up for a free Zeller Account today or by contacting our Sales Team to learn how Zeller could be a great fit for your business, and your brand.

Small Business Growing Pains and How to Overcome Them

Discover five ways Zeller helps keep business on track during the transition. Thinking about scaling up your business? Having the opportunity to expand to new locations, upsize to a bigger premises, hire more staff, or build out your operations is a sign you’re doing something right. Whatever step you’re preparing to take next, you should be proud and excited. There are some common mistakes merchants make during this transitional time, and the consequences that flow from taking on too much too soon can stifle – rather than encourage – growth. Fortunately, there are ways and means of scaling up sustainably. It all comes down to engaging the right tools. Here are five ways Zeller can minimise the potential for growing pains as you scale your operations. 1. Get a clear overview of all stores The more business locations you have, the harder it becomes to understand how each is performing. This is especially true if you’re juggling independent sales channels, staff and technology. Before you open a second location, take the time to gain a real-time oversight of your finances — something that will play a priceless role in future business decisions. Unifying your data in the one dashboard is a simple way to retain visibility over multiple locations, enabling you to quickly access key sales information from anywhere with an internet connection. Zeller Dashboard gives you real-time visibility over the financial health of your business, and each of the locations within it. When you accept payment via Zeller Terminal and make business purchases using Zeller Mastercard, you can see all of your incomings and outgoings at a glance. 2. Keep track of your customers When you run a single-location business, it’s relatively simple and straightforward to retain complete control over your customers’ store experience. You can take the time to get to know your regulars, give staff hands-on training, and provide attentive, personalised customer service. As your business grows, that positive customer experience can be compromised in favour of more sales. When you’re operating out of multiple locations, you lose some of that control. It’s impossible to be in two places at once, after all. One thing you do have control over is the technology you rely upon to grow your business. There are many customer relationship management tools on the market that can help you make your customers feel seen and looked after, such as the Zeller Contact Directory. Storing business and personal details in the one place will give you a clear oversight of every customer — what they buy, how they buy it, and where and when they bought it. This insight can be used to build clever marketing programs that offer rewards, discounts and communications that create a positive customer experience even when they’re not in-store. 3. Iron out inventory management Streamlined, accurate inventory management becomes more critical with every new business location you open. Issues such as displaced, miscounted and lost stock are a bigger threat to your business when you operate multiple shop fronts. With the right retail POS system installed, you can minimise the management required to keep on top of all your stock. Having one centralised platform makes it easier to transfer stock, track shipments and manage inventory levels. Many POS systems will also give you the ability to remotely order stock for any store, from any store, as well as identify and forecast product sales trends to facilitate smarter ordering. Make sure your payment system can seamlessly integrate with your POS system, adding an extra layer of data and control to your inventory processes while minimising the admin overload of keeping on top of stock. 4. Simplify your finances It can be difficult to keep track of the money going in and out of your business when you’re not the only one accepting payments from customers, or making business purchases. This is a common problem owners come up against when they expand their business. Plus, having more money to manage can be a hurdle in itself. One way to avoid the repercussions of mishandling your income and expenses is to employ a professional bookkeeper, but there are many tasks you can do yourself to keep administrative costs as low as possible. For day-to-day expense management, accounting software will help you keep track of invoices and get paid on time. For real-time information about the incomings and outgoings at each business location, Zeller Dashboard provides at-a-glance insights to ensure you know whether you’ll reach your sales targets. 5. Better coordinate your staff Expanding your store means expanding your staff and, while it sounds straightforward, the financial and time investment can be substantial. Hiring new staff will likely require a sizeable investment of your own time — you’ll need to bring them up to speed with products, systems and customer experience standards. Having intuitive tools can significantly streamline this process, especially if you use a fully-integrated system like Zeller Terminal . When your tools speak to each other, it reduces the need for staff to juggle multiple platforms. Keep in mind that, when it comes to hiring junior staff, there are some parts of your business you will likely want to keep secure. You may not want new junior staff to be able to process refunds, or change the settings on your EFTPOS terminals. With Zeller, you can secure these features with a PIN code. Taking the first steps towards growing your business can be daunting. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to streamline the process and minimise any growing pains you may experience along the way. The trick is strategising for growth and ensuring you’re properly equipped to scale up. Having the right tools on hand will make all the difference. Now that you know how to smooth the path to expansion, keep up with the latest Zeller updates and announcements by subscribing to the Zeller Business Blog newsletter below. By sharing your details with us, we may contact you from time to time. We promise we won’t bug you — and you can unsubscribe from communications at any time.

Best POS Systems 2025: The Ultimate Point of Sale Guide for Retail, Restaurants and More

With hundreds of point-of-sale (POS) providers in Australia, selecting the right one can be an overwhelming task. In this article, we outline the key factors to consider when choosing a POS, and recommend some of the best providers for your industry. If you’re a new or existing business owner, you probably already know  what a point-of-sale system is and how it works . The next step is choosing a solution appropriate for your business size and industry. To help make the right decision, read our list of considerations below and make note of which ones are the most (and least) important to your business, so that when you’re in conversation with a POS provider, you can be well equipped to ask the right questions. Then, learn which POS providers are the most popular among cafes, quick-service restaurants, dine-in restaurants, retail businesses, and bars and clubs. Important considerations when choosing the best POS system for your business. Hardware POS hardware refers to the physical devices that make up your POS system. This could include any or all of: a computer or display unit, a receipt printer, a barcode scanner, a cash drawer, and an EFTPOS machine. While large businesses may require a full suite of hardware, many smaller businesses can get away with little more than a tablet or smartphone. Portable devices like Zeller Terminal 2 (which has a POS system built-in) are often referred to as mobile POS or ‘ mPOS ’, and they provide excellent functionality, allowing merchants to do everything from managing their inventory to taking payments all from the one machine. Software Functionality will arguably be the biggest factor in determining your final choice. If you are a retail business, you may want to prioritise a robust inventory management system – this will allow you to easily track stock levels, anticipate when popular items will run out, and stay on budget. For hospitality businesses, a floor management system may also be required to manage table seating and reservations. Additional functionality includes sales reporting, for managing cash flow; employee management, for automatically logging hours and tracking performance; and customer relationship management (CRM), for collecting customer data and implementing targeted marketing campaigns. While these are the most common and basic features of POS systems, those designed for individual industries will offer even more specialised features. Ease of use Think about who will be using the POS system on a day-to-day basis. Do you have a high turnover rate of employees? If so, consider how easy it will be to train new staff to use the software. A simple, intuitive interface will greatly reduce human error, which, in a fast-paced environment, could be critical. Integration For most businesses, their POS provider cannot just work alone, it will need to be able to integrate into a number of different systems. The accounting software, payments provider, and/or e-commerce platform you use (or are planning to use) should ideally integrate with your POS system. By enabling information to flow easily between systems, you will greatly increase the efficiency of your operations, saving you and your team time and money. Take note of what platforms a POS provider integrates with before making a decision, as this can become a frustrating roadblock later on if it is neglected. Customer support How quickly and easily you can contact your POS provider is something that can be easily overlooked – but it’s extremely important. If you decide to go with a POS system that offers all the bells and whistles, but doesn’t have anyone to pick up the phone when you need help, this will quickly lead to frustration and potentially lost revenue. Check the provider’s website and LinkedIn: are their offices based in Australia? What are their customer service hours? Do they have a robust support centre with help articles and troubleshooting resources? Will you be assigned an account manager? Additionally, how quickly you need to get up and running is an important consideration. Many traditional POS providers require a technician to come out and set up the hardware and software, whereas newer web-based systems are often self-service and can be entirely set up remotely. Multi-location Do you run a multi-location operation or are you planning on scaling in the future? If so, it’s important to be sure that the POS is equipped to deal with multi-venue requirements. Being able to push updates to machines at several venues at once, aggregating reporting from all venues, and monitoring stock transfers between locations, are just some of the features you’ll want to ensure your POS provider can support. Cost With varying pieces of equipment, features, minimum requirements, and pricing models, understanding exactly how much you’re going to pay for a POS service is not easy. To avoid bill-shock later on, make sure you understand exactly how each aspect of the service is priced. Are you buying the hardware outright or will you access it on a rental agreement? Is the software licence a one-time purchase or a monthly/annual subscription? Is there a cost associated with ongoing support and maintenance? Will you pay a fee each time a transaction is processed through the POS? Ensure you ask any potential POS provider all these questions before signing a contract. Best POS providers by industry. The table below presents some of the best POS providers available to Australian business owners, organised by industry, with some of their noteworthy features listed on the right hand side. For a comprehensive list of features, be sure to contact the POS provider directly and request a demo before signing up. Let Zeller manage your payments. No matter how you prefer to manage your checkout process, Zeller is Australia’s leading payments provider, tailored to meet your business needs. For smaller or mobile businesses with a limited inventory, Zeller offers Zeller POS Lite, built into Zeller Terminal 2 at no extra cost. Larger, more established businesses can benefit from Zeller Terminal’s seamless integration with over 600 different POS platforms. Whether you’re looking for a simple, cost-effective mobile solution or a fully integrated EFTPOS machine with advanced features like tipping, bill-splitting, and custom screensavers, Zeller’s platform is designed to evolve with your business. Chat with our sales team today to set up Zeller POS Lite, or explore our Zeller Partner Hub to find the perfect POS integration for your business.