Despite high-profile exceptions, more retailers than ever are participating in Black Friday, and many have already launched their discounts.

Our recent research, based on a survey of more than 250 retailers from SMEs to multinationals, revealed that 77% of UK retailers will participate in Black Friday this year. 69% believe sales will rise compared with Black Friday 2014 and only 4% predict a fall.

This optimism is great to see, but if it is to translate into a positive result, retailers will have had to plan carefully around stock and have a clearly defined strategy.

A key consideration for retailers when planning their financing for Black Friday is to not focus solely on the day or week itself.

Retailers have to think about their financing needs for Black Friday, the rest of the Christmas trading period, and impact on cash flow right through the first quarter of next year and beyond.

The good news is that it looks like retailers are better prepared for Black Friday this year.

We had retailers engaging with us several months ago regarding their plans for the promotion and proposed investment in technology and logistics, which has allowed us to provide the support they need to hopefully make Black Friday and the wider Christmas season a success.

Many retailers have been thinking more carefully about which lines they want to reduce and have made a clear effort to ensure they don’t over discount and are able to bring forward potential full price spend.

However, despite the progress being made in managing this phenomenon, the truth is that there is still some uncertainty about how the day will pan out. This means that effective financial planning is even more important.

Responsible retailers need to manage the risk around the day sensibly, which means not relying on a bumper Black Friday at all costs.

To borrow a phrase from the roulette wheel, you can’t ‘put it all on black’. A balanced strategy for the Christmas season is needed, with limited discounting on Black Friday as just one part of a wider plan that looks at how to get as close to full margin as is possible through December, and ensures that the post-Christmas discounting period continues to deliver strong results.

Responsible retailers need to manage the risk around the day sensibly, which means not relying on a bumper Black Friday at all costs

This is where retailers’ banks can help. As well as providing the short-term working capital financing to fund additional stock, or increased investment in logistics to manage the uplift in traffic around Black Friday, we can provide guidance to retailers to help ensure they don’t overstretch and remain in a position to handle any unpredictability.

Despite these warnings, it’s important to remember that Black Friday can be a positive initiative for retailers, and can act as the starting gun for a strong Christmas season.

The secret is for retailers to stay in control of the situation. The temptation to be drawn into deeper and wider Sales is always there, especially when looking at what your competitors are doing.

As long as retailers keep their discipline and don’t get drawn into knee-jerk or last-minute decisions to extend their Black Friday offering beyond what they are really comfortable with, Black Friday is set to become an established, and constructive, part of the UK retail calendar.

The temptation to be drawn into deeper and wider Sales is always there, especially when looking at what your competitors are doing

As with any discounting period or new development in the industry, retailers need to know what lines they are going to include, know what margins are sensible, and consider how the cuts will affect their sales at other times (both before and after the event – we saw some retailers take a significant hit in October and November as consumers delayed purchases in anticipation of deep discounts on Black Friday).

Most importantly of all, retailers need to think about how a less successful than expected Black Friday would affect them. If the answer is that they wouldn’t be able to cope, they need to rethink their strategy.

Good luck to those retailers participating in Black Friday this year. I hope it’s a success and that the rest of the Christmas trading period follows suit.

My advice for next year – start your planning for Black Friday and Christmas 2016 as soon as possible, and engage your bank at an early stage.

By investing the time and effort in long-term planning, you will give yourself the best chance of reaping the benefits on the day.

  • Ian Gilmartin is head of retail and wholesale at Barclays Corporate