Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday 27 November, with Cyber Monday on Monday 30 November. Whether you run a one-day sale or a full Cyber Week, the window to prepare your Shopify store is now short.
The opportunity is real. According to Shopify, merchants sold $14.6 billion over the 2025 Black Friday–Cyber Monday weekend, up 27% on the previous year. More than 81 million shoppers bought from Shopify stores, 16% of orders crossed borders, 32% of orders used Shop Pay, and over 94,900 merchants had their best sales day ever on the platform.
This checklist covers the pricing and review rules to get right first, then how to set up your offers in Shopify, the technical checks, and a week-by-week plan.
Note: this article is general information, not legal advice. Check the rules for the markets you sell into with a qualified advisor.
1. Get the rules right first
Regulators watch the peak sales season closely. The three rules that catch out most online stores:
Reference prices: what you can strike through
- EU: if you sell to EU consumers, any announced price reduction must show the prior price, defined as the lowest price you applied in at least the 30 days before the reduction. Raising prices in October to "discount" them in November doesn't work.
- UK and US: a "was" price must be a genuine price you actually charged for a meaningful period. Inflated reference prices are treated as misleading.
Practical takeaway: decide your sale start date now and don't raise prices in the run-up to it.
Reviews: genuine only
In the UK, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act has banned fake reviews and drip pricing since 6 April 2025, and that includes hiding the fact that reviews were incentivised. The CMA can now enforce consumer law directly and has already opened investigations into online pricing practices and into fake and misleading reviews. In the US, the FTC's rule banning fake reviews and testimonials has applied since October 2024. Check that your review app only collects reviews from verified buyers, and don't import reviews in bulk from other sites.
Total price: no surprise fees
Mandatory charges should be visible upfront, not added at the last step of checkout. In the UK, drip pricing is now a banned practice. Show shipping costs or a free shipping threshold clearly on product and cart pages.
2. Set up prices correctly in Shopify
- Keep a record. Before the sale, export your products via Products > Export and keep the dated CSV. It's the simplest proof of what you charged before the discount.
- Use Compare-at price honestly. The struck-through value in Shopify is the product's Compare-at price. Only enter a price you genuinely charged under the rules of the market. Clear it when the sale ends; showing struck-through prices outside a sale can mislead too.
- Bulk edit with care. If you update hundreds of products with the bulk editor or a CSV, spot-check a few products before and after.
- Keep Google Merchant Center in sync. Prices in your product feed must match your site, or your ads may be disapproved. If this has happened before, read our guide to Merchant Center misrepresentation.
3. Plan your offer
- Check margins first. Work out what's left per order after the discount, payment fees, shipping and ad spend. Our Shopify profit calculator does it in seconds.
- Automatic discount or code? In Discounts, Shopify lets you create automatic discounts that apply at checkout without a code, or discount codes. Automatic discounts reduce friction; codes are useful for tracking email, SMS or creator channels.
- Schedule start and end times. Set dates on your discounts so you're not switching them on at midnight by hand, and make sure they match the dates in your ads.
- Grow order value. A free shipping threshold, bundles or "buy X, get Y" offers can be more profitable than a flat sitewide discount. State the conditions clearly.
- Skip fake urgency. Countdown timers that reset on refresh and made-up "only 2 left" messages damage trust and can count as misleading practices.
4. Technical checklist
| Area | What to check |
|---|---|
| Payments | Place a real end-to-end test order. A sudden spike in sales can trigger payout holds or reviews; see Shopify Payments payouts on hold and keep your account details up to date. |
| Stock | Update inventory and check that "Continue selling when out of stock" is off for tracked products, unless you really want backorders. |
| Shipping | Confirm carrier capacity and delivery times for peak week. Publish holiday shipping cut-off dates. Estimate parcel costs with our dimensional weight calculator. |
| Speed | Remove unused apps and compress large images. Most peak traffic is mobile, so browse your store end to end on a phone. |
| Tracking | Confirm purchases reach GA4, Google Ads and Meta with a test order. If you relied on Additional scripts, tracking may have broken in August: fix thank you page tracking. |
| Theme | Avoid big changes to your live theme during peak week. Build banners and announcement bars on a duplicate theme and publish once tested. |
| Support | Update your FAQ, returns policy and saved replies for chat and email. |
5. Marketing: build demand before the day
- Grow your email and SMS list now. Collect early-access sign-ups before the sale starts. On the day, your cheapest traffic comes from customers who already opted in.
- Ramp ad budgets gradually. Increase spend over the preceding weeks rather than multiplying it overnight, so ad platforms have time to learn.
- Keep the message consistent. Discount rates, reference prices and dates should match across ads, your site and Shopify. Make sure creator partnerships are clearly labelled as advertising.
- Build a sale landing page. Create a collection of all discounted products and link it from the homepage, navigation and ads.
6. Week-by-week Black Friday plan
| Dates | To do |
|---|---|
| 10–16 Nov | Lock sale dates and offer structure. Freeze prices and export a CSV backup. Check margins, stock and carrier capacity. |
| 17–23 Nov | Set up scheduled discounts in Shopify. Build the sale collection, banners and emails. Test tracking and checkout. |
| 24–26 Nov | Send early-access reminders and ramp ad spend. Final checks on prices, compare-at prices and offer terms. |
| 27–30 Nov | Black Friday to Cyber Monday. Check orders, stock and ad performance several times a day, and answer customer questions fast. |
| Early December | Clear compare-at prices and end discounts. Ship on time, handle returns, and give first-time buyers a reason to order again. |
Don't experiment during peak week
New tools like Shopify Canvas, launched in October, are tempting, but changing your theme right before peak season is risky. Keep experiments on a duplicate and save larger changes for after the holidays. Curious about Canvas? Read what Shopify Canvas is.
Not sure your store is ready? A free store audit lets us review checkout, tracking, speed and product pages with you before the rush.
Sources: Shopify BFCM 2025 data, Which? on the DMCC Act. Information current as of 10 November 2026.
Frequently asked questions
When is Black Friday 2026?
Black Friday 2026 is on Friday 27 November, and Cyber Monday follows on Monday 30 November. Many stores run deals across the whole week, often called Cyber Week.
Which 'was' price can I show in an EU sale?
Under the EU Price Indication Directive as amended by the Omnibus Directive, any announced price reduction in the EU must show the prior price, which is the lowest price you applied in at least the 30 days before the reduction. Member states can set specific rules, so check the country you sell into.
Are fake reviews illegal in the UK?
Yes. Since 6 April 2025, under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act, publishing or commissioning fake reviews and concealing that reviews were incentivised are banned practices. Drip pricing, where mandatory fees appear late in checkout, is banned as well.
How do I show a sale price in Shopify?
Set the product's Compare-at price to the genuine earlier price and the Price to the sale price. Shopify then shows the compare-at price struck through. Clear the compare-at price when the sale ends.
Should I redesign my store before Black Friday?
No. Major theme changes right before peak season are risky. Prepare banners and campaign pages on a duplicate theme, test them, and save bigger redesigns for January.
Author
Uğur KeskinFounder @ShopiuzmanFounder of Shopiuzman. He builds, migrates and grows Shopify stores for brands in Türkiye, Europe and the US, and leads the development of our apps on the Shopify App Store.
