Black Friday 2026 checklist for small Shopify stores

Black Friday is Friday, November 27, 2026, and Cyber Monday is November 30. If you’re reading this mid-November, you have about two weeks. That’s enough, if you skip the things that don’t matter and do the ones that do.

Two weeks out (by November 16)

Check the discount against your margin. This is the step most small stores skip and regret. Take your best seller and work out what one order leaves you at the discount you’re planning. If it’s close to zero, every sale that weekend is work for nothing.

If the number is too thin, there are discounts that cost less:

• Quantity breaks instead of sitewide percent off: “Buy 2, save 15% · Buy 3, save 25%”. The discount only applies when the order grows, and the extra items share postage. How to set them up.
• A free gift over an amount: a $12 gift that costs you $3.50 feels bigger than $5 off. Gift with purchase.
• Discount only part of the range: last season’s stock, not this month’s bestseller.

Decide what’s limited. If a doorbuster has 40 units, decide now how many one person can buy. Otherwise one reseller can empty it in a minute. Order limits that hold at checkout.

Order packaging and stock now. Suppliers are slow the week of.

One week out (by November 20)

• Set up every discount with start and end dates, so nothing depends on you being awake at midnight.
• Check how discounts combine. A sitewide code stacking with an automatic discount can push some orders below cost. Look at the combination settings on each one.
• Write shipping cutoffs for the holidays on your shipping page and in the cart or an announcement bar. Your carrier’s holiday cutoff dates are on their website.
• Decide on cash on delivery. Big orders with COD in a busy week mean more refused parcels. Hide COD above an amount if refusals hurt.
• Freeze the theme. No new apps, no layout changes after this.

Three days out (by November 24)

Place test orders with the discounts active (schedule a test discount for today if needed):

1. One item, no discount.
2. The doorbuster at your limit, then one over it. The second should be refused.
3. An order that reaches each quantity tier or the gift threshold.
4. A discount code on top of an automatic discount, to see how they combine.
5. A phone checkout with an express button.

Add one question for buyers. Black Friday buyers come from everywhere: email, ads, creators, friends. Ask “How did you hear about us?” on the Thank you page and you’ll know next year which channel the weekend’s sales really came from. How to add it.

Write your support replies for the five questions you’ll get fifty times: where’s my order, can I combine codes, did the sale end, can I change my address, what’s your return window.

On the days (November 27–30)

• Check a real checkout every morning, on your phone.
• Watch stock on limited items. End a deal when the gift or doorbuster runs out.
• Reply to messages twice a day at fixed times instead of all day long.
• Don’t change prices or settings in a panic. Most “it’s not working” messages are one customer’s problem, not the store’s.

The week after (by December 7)

• Read the survey answers by sales: which channel brought the biggest Black Friday orders, and which brought only discount hunters?
• Compare profit per order with a normal week, not just revenue.
• Write down what broke and what you’d do differently. Next November you’ll be glad you did.
• Thank first-time buyers with an email that isn’t another discount: how to use the product, a care tip, a real person’s sign-off.

Volumo by Centubo. Quantity breaks, gifts and bundles with real end dates, applied at checkout. Free during launch. Free during launch.

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