With Black Friday and Cyber Monday now less than three weeks away, Irish retailers and e-commerce traders need to move past marketing plans and look hard at the money side of peak trading, because a weekend of record sales can still leave a business worse off if the figures underneath are not right. At The Leinster Partnership we believe the businesses that do best over this period are the ones that prepare their finances with the same care as their promotions. Here are five checks worth doing now, while there is still time to act.
1. Model your cash flow for discounted stock
Discounting moves stock, but it also moves cash in ways owners sometimes misjudge. Before the sales weekend, work out:
- Your real margin after the discount, not just the headline percentage off
- How quickly you need to sell through discounted lines to free up cash for January restocking
- Whether supplier payment terms line up with when customer payments actually land in your account
A short cash flow forecast covering November and December will show whether you can fund a big discount push without straining working capital. If a shortfall shows up, it is far easier to arrange a short-term facility now than during the busiest trading week of the year.
2. Check payment processing fees before volumes spike
Payment processors charge differently depending on card type, contactless limits, and whether a transaction is card-present or online. During Black Friday weekend, transaction volumes can jump several times over, and so can the fees you pay to process them. Before the weekend:
- Confirm your current processing rates and whether any volume-based tiers apply
- Check if your provider charges extra for international cards, which are common with overseas online shoppers
- Make sure your settlement times will not leave a gap in your cash flow between the sale and the money actually arriving
These fees are a genuine cost of doing business over the weekend, and they should be factored into your margin calculations, not treated as a surprise on next month’s statement.
3. Tighten up fraud and chargeback controls
Fraud attempts rise sharply during high-volume online trading periods, and chargebacks can eat into profits weeks after the sale is made. Practical steps worth taking before Cyber Monday:
- Review your fraud screening settings with your payment provider and tighten them if needed for the weekend
- Keep clear records of delivery confirmation and customer communication for every online order
- Flag unusually large orders or multiple orders from the same new account for manual review
Chargebacks are not just a lost sale. They often come with an additional fee from your processor, so prevention is worth far more than a dispute after the fact.
4. Get your VAT treatment of promotional pricing right
VAT is charged on the actual selling price, which means discounted goods attract VAT on the discounted amount, not the original price. This sounds straightforward but it trips up retailers who run complex promotions such as buy-one-get-one-free, bundled discounts, or gift-with-purchase offers. Before launching your campaign:
- Confirm how VAT applies to each type of promotion you plan to run, including mixed-rate bundles where items attract different VAT rates
- Make sure your point-of-sale or e-commerce platform calculates and records VAT correctly on discounted transactions
- Keep your records clean, since the standard VAT rate remains 23% and errors here are easy for Revenue to spot on review
If your VAT return for this period falls due around the usual bi-monthly deadline, the 23rd of January covers November and December trading, so the sales weekend will sit squarely inside that return. Get the treatment right at the point of sale and the return itself will be far less work.
5. Plan payroll and staffing costs around the extra hours
Black Friday weekend often means extra shifts, temporary staff, or existing employees working additional hours. Before rosters are finalised:
- Check that extra hours do not push any staff over the weekly pay threshold that affects the lower rate of employer PRSI
- Confirm temporary or seasonal staff are set up correctly on payroll from their first shift, not retrospectively
- Remember that the minimum wage of €14.15 an hour applies to all hours worked, including overtime and peak-weekend shifts
Getting this right from day one avoids a messy payroll correction in December, when your bookkeeping time is already stretched thin.
Making the weekend work for your business
Black Friday and Cyber Monday can be genuinely profitable for Irish SMEs, but only when the financial plumbing behind the promotions holds up under pressure. A quick cash flow check, a look at processing costs, tighter fraud controls, correct VAT treatment and a clear payroll plan will not take long to sort out, and they could save far more than they cost.
If you would like help reviewing any of these areas before the sales weekend, get in touch with The Leinster Partnership on or info@leinsterptnrs.ie. You can also find more guidance on our website at leinsterptnrs.ie.
Disclaimer: This article is based on publicly available information and is intended for general guidance only. While every effort has
been made to ensure accuracy at the time of publication, details may change and errors may occur. This content does not constitute
financial, legal or professional advice. Readers should seek appropriate professional guidance before making decisions. Neither the
publisher nor the authors accept liability for any loss arising from reliance on this material.