7 BFCM Strategies for Holiday Sales in 2026

Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is the biggest online shopping day of the year. 

According to Shopify data, 2025 BFCM sales were up 27% over 2024, totaling $14.6 billion in global sales from Shopify merchants alone. More than 94,900 merchants had their highest-selling day ever on Shopify over that weekend. 

Pre-sale invitations, heavy discounts, huge brand engagements on social media, and festive traditional ads are all part and parcel of the modern holiday shopping season. Some retailers even choose to extend their BFCM sales the entire weekend or longer. 

BFCM is a can’t-miss opportunity for businesses large and small. For some, this means planning takes place year-round.

This guide includes BFCM preparation strategies to boost revenue, brand awareness, and customer loyalty, with effective tips from real ecommerce brands.

Start customer acquisition efforts early

BFCM efforts start early so that brands can be ready when customers begin their holiday shopping. According to the Shopify 2025 Global Holiday Retail Report, 26% of shoppers planned to start their holiday shopping before the end of September. 

There are different ways companies can approach early customer acquisition. 

Kick off in the summer

For Jones Road Beauty, BFCM starts in the summer, with customer-facing strategies kicking off in September. This timeline allows them to target different groups of holiday shoppers with specialized campaigns. 

“From the beginning of September through the end of October, we have about three launches that go on, each catering toward different demographics,” says Payal Plofker, senior director of brand marketing at Jones Road Beauty. “We’re trying to get as many people interested in our brand during that time by casting as wide of a net as possible.”

Once those new leads and customers are in the brand system, Jones Road Beauty is primed for its BFCM sale, which focuses on promoting its customers’ favorite product, mini Miracle Balms, in a custom set.

Focus on storytelling

The team at skincare brand Beekman 1802 gets a jump start on BFCM by dropping hints of what’s to come. “We always choose a theme for the holiday, and we start building that story really by the end of the summer,” Cofounder Dr. Brent Ridge says. 

“We try to lead with the storytelling and get people engaged throughout the holiday season, so that when it comes time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, they’re really primed for a deal because we’ve gotten them excited with the storytelling for several months.”

Entice shoppers with discounts

Major retailers have used Black Friday as an opportunity to clear out excess inventory, slashing prices on heavily overstocked products and minimizing discounts when inventory levels are moderate. The right discounts depend on factors like your stock and budget, but there are a few tips you can follow to ensure you’re getting the most out of your deals. 

Use bundles

Luxury hair care brand Crown Affair offers bundled discounts rather than site-wide discounts. 

While their “Build your ritual” bundle has a 15% discount year-round, they double the discount to 30% during BFCM. This approach allows them to focus on strategic storytelling about the product bundle while also driving ecommerce sales with promotional pricing.

You can create product bundles for your store by downloading the free Shopify Bundles app.

Strike the right balance

Setting discounts too high may lead to more sales, but it can offend loyalists who’ve been spending full price all year. You also risk diluting customer perception of your brand’s value, which can negatively affect your brand image. 

To strike the right balance, brands calculate an appropriate discount level supported by their brand messaging and sales creative.

Jordyn Casaus, Crown Affair’s director of digital and integrated marketing, ensures every part of the sales messaging matches the rest of the brand aesthetic. “You won’t find prices slashed by 50% and flashing red across the site,” she says.

Shopify store owners have a few options for how they display discounts, including:

• Automatic discounts.Automatic discounts are applied at checkout when a customer meets the eligibility requirements, such as spending a certain amount. You can decide whether to promote automatic discounts on your site, such as with a banner, or to keep the promotion more subtle.
• Discount codes. With discount codes, the customer must enter a specific code at checkout to receive the discount. These codes can be useful for tracking purposes, since you can use different codes for specific groups like email subscribers and social media followers.
• Compare-at pricing. Adding a compare-at price to product and collection pages lets customers see the sale price as well as the original price.
• Slashed pricing. You can add slashed pricing and other graphic elements to emphasize your sale price with a discount app from the Shopify App Store.

Time sales to support brand goals

Brands see success with varying approaches to sale timing and duration. What’s important is aligning the sale’s narrative with your brand ethos and goals. 

There are a few different ways brands can time their sales for the most effective outcome.

Start before November

Olive oil brand Graza opts for a month-long Friendsgiving sale in October instead of a traditional BFCM sale. 

“It’s a really impactful strategy for us to have a sale that’s outside of a standard sale period where there are tons of brands kind of fighting for attention in your inbox,” says Kali Shulklapper, director of brand marketing at Graza. 

Keep it short

Cookware brand Our Place takes a different approach, choosing to keep their BFCM sale more limited in time to preserve the integrity of their pricing strategy. 

“[We] keep it limited because it is intended to be a special offer for a moment in time,” says Cofounder and Co-CEO Shiza Shahid. “If it drags on too long, then it can undermine your overall pricing as well.”

Try in December

When apparel brand Set Active plans their sales, they focus on standing out against competitors by offering an additional sale after BFCM. 

“We made our own Black Friday in December, and we call it Setmas,” Founder Lindsey Carter says on an episode of Shopify Masters. “We’re just trying little creative things here and there that get people wanting to come back to us rather than go to a different deal or sale that goes on during that time.”

Begin the year with a sale

Skimpies, the world’s first liner designed specifically for leggings, hasn’t historically had as much momentum during BFCM. Instead, they have found success with flash sales, particularly at the beginning of the new year. 

“Early January has always been huge for us,” founder Bette Bentley says in an interview. But she hasn’t given up on BFCM entirely.

In 2026, Bette plans to discount subscription orders specifically. “I don’t think people are really responding to this ‘15% off the whole site’ anymore. I think it has to feel niche and targeted and very specific to their needs,” she says.

Bette feels she can afford to give a more substantial discount on a subscription product because customer lifetime value (CLV) is higher. The Skimpies subscription comes with a larger box that’s only available on the Skimpies site, which gives customers a reason to buy direct rather than from Amazon or Walmart.

Plan for the demand

The BFCM shopping spree can be unpredictable, which makes inventory management critical. Fortunately, there are a few ways store owners can prepare for seasonal sales.

Look at historical data

Identifying seasonal trends in past sales data can help businesses predict how big a sales boost they can reasonably expect. 

Every year, Jordyn and her product and operations teams at Crown Affair ask, “What did we do last year? What was the demand? What was the product sell-through based off of all of our SKUs?”

“We essentially take that, apply it to this year’s revenue goals that we need to hit, and buy and plan based on that,” Jordyn says.

To see a breakdown of your past sales data, check Shopify’s Analytics, which provides sales reports based on specific time periods, products, and discounts. You can also ask Sidekick, a built-in AI assistant, to analyze data and generate custom reports.

Plan for the worst

Sales projections are half the battle. Businesses also need contingency plans to handle unforeseen shifts in demand. Purchase safety stock, set up low-stock alerts, and configure automated reorder points for popular products. 

Shopify’s inventory management lets you oversee stock levels across different channels including your online store, social media, and marketplaces like Amazon and Target. You can also identify top-performing products and make informed purchasing decisions. 

Tools like the Stocky app for Shopify Point of Sale (POS) allow you to set minimum stock levels based on supplier lead times and anticipated demand. When supply falls below the threshold, it automatically generates a purchase order for the relevant supplier. 

Prioritize the user experience

Customers want a digital store that’s easy to navigate with a smooth checkout experience. 

In addition to increasing its inventory, protein snack brand Elavi ensures their website can meet BFCM demand.

“We’re testing everything on the site,” Cofounder Michelle Razavi says on Shopify Masters. “We’re going to be updating our website, updating our pop-ups, and when you do that, you want to make sure that you’re running through everything to make sure you’re not breaking anything. 

“So we do a lot of testing behind the scenes to make sure, ‘OK, does this work?’ especially for new products and bundles.”

Shopify store owners can use Rollouts to test changes to their sites before launch with AI shopper simulations and live A/B testing.

Other things you can do to create a better user experience ahead of BFCM include: 

• Adding an AI agent. An AI agent like Shopify Inbox can help field customer queries during your busiest time. The Inbox agent is a reflection of your brand, and you can rate their responses so it can strike the right tone and personality.
• Setting up accelerated checkout. The Shopify 2025 Global Holiday Retail Report found that 48% of shoppers will abandon an online purchase if checkout takes too long.Adding an accelerated checkout option like Shop Pay to your store reduces friction and increases conversion. 

Keep people engaged after the sale

A good BFCM strategy doesn’t end once the weekend comes to a close. This is an opportunity to nurture new customers and reward those who’ve purchased from your brand year-round. Focusing on customer retention once the sale is over can help drive predictable revenue and increase customer lifetime value. 

There are a few different ways you can boost engagement post-sale. 

Have an extra sale for VIPs

One way Crown Affair keeps customers engaged is by rewarding loyal shoppers with extra deals after the main BFCM sales event. They’re typically short, single-day deals that target single products. And the deals aren’t widely advertised. 

“It depends every year based on behavior,” Jordyn says, “but we extend that offer to our VIP and our loyal customers via email and SMS to offer an additional thank you so much for being with us: ‘Thank you for loving us. Here’s something extra for you.’” 

That way, if their most loyal customers wanted to stock up on a product that wasn’t on sale during BFCM, they’ll get the chance through a direct message.

You can tag customers as VIPs from the Customers page of your admin, then use Shopify Messaging to send an email or SMS with a discount code only to subscribers with the VIP tag.

Introduce new products

The Crown Affair team also plans new product launches and tailored marketing moments in January through March to nurture and engage new customers who came in from the sale. 

“When bringing in new customers at a discount, you’ll need a strategy for keeping them engaged post-discount,” Jordyn says.

Generate insights year-round

For Our Place, BFCM success is all about testing new strategies early in the year, so they have a handle on what will resonate best with their customers by the time November rolls around. 

“January is a time of experimentation,” Shiza says. “We can try new things. We can launch new channels. We can A/B test.” She says they focus on taking “those big swings early in the year so that we can then implement and build them and reap the benefits of that in Q4. It really is a full-year process.”

The team at Beekman 1802 echoes the importance of generating insights year-round. “We also really take in feedback from our consumers throughout the year of what they really want to see,” says David Baker, the brand’s chief revenue officer.

Consider sale alternatives

While sales are a main component of BFCM, brands also use the season to promote other business goals. REI famously gained brand attention in 2015 with their antithetical Opt Outside campaign for Black Friday, where they shut down their stores to encourage both employees and customers to spend time outdoors.

Every year since, REI closes its stores for the day to reinforce the organization’s belief that a “life outdoors is a life well lived.” The event was an earned media home run for the brand and led to partnerships with hundreds of other brands and nonprofits. 

Since then, more sustainability-minded brands have found ways to leverage BFCM to support their missions. Tentree, an environmentally conscious apparel company, launched a Green Friday initiative to offer discounts on sustainable products and, ultimately, help the brand reach its tree-planting goals while building buy-in and brand loyalty. For each item sold, the brand plants 10 trees. Members gained perks like a map showing where their trees were planted and double rewards points on orders.

You can also tie your holiday promotions to a fundraising goal. Sustainable fashion brand and certified B CorpPoppy Barley donated $50 from every order made on December 6 to charities that help keep girls in sports, with a stated goal of $10,000.