Black Friday Promotion Calendar
Black Friday isn't a day anymore — it's a period that starts weeks before and runs through Cyber Monday and beyond. For Shopify merchants, having everything planned and scheduled in advance is the difference between a smooth BFCM and a frantic weekend of manual price edits. Here's how to plan and calendar it properly.
The BFCM timeline
Work backwards from Black Friday (the fourth Friday of November). The typical promotional window looks like this:
| Week | Phase | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 6 weeks before | Planning | Decide discount levels per collection, confirm stock, set margin floors |
| 4 weeks before | Preparation | Build sale events in Sale Scheduler, set start/end times, test with one product |
| 2 weeks before | Email build | Write and schedule pre-BFCM teaser emails, build SMS list |
| 1 week before | Early access | Optional: email list gets 24-hour early access before the public sale |
| Thursday night | Pre-launch | Confirm all sales are scheduled, preview prices on key products manually |
| Black Friday | Sale live | Monitor, respond to customer queries — don't touch the scheduled prices |
| Saturday–Sunday | Sale continues | Send reminder email Saturday morning, check revert is scheduled for correct time |
| Cyber Monday | Final push | Optional second event — separate scheduled sale with different products or deeper discount |
| Tuesday after | Post-sale | Confirm all prices reverted, review what sold, bank your data for next year |
Structuring your sale events
Most merchants run one or two distinct sale events over BFCM. Structure them as separate scheduled events rather than one long run:
- Event 1: Black Friday weekend. Friday midnight (or Thursday night) through Sunday midnight. Sitewide or collection-specific.
- Event 2: Cyber Monday. Monday only, potentially different products or a deeper offer to create urgency.
Using separate events in Sale Scheduler means each has its own start/end time and its own revert. If you need to cancel or adjust one, it doesn't affect the other.
The discount depth question
Before setting discount percentages, calculate the margin at sale price for your key products. A rule of thumb:
- 20–25% off: sustainable for most categories, still protects margin
- 30–40% off: viable if you have margin headroom; check each category separately
- 50%+: clear a specific overstock problem, not a general discount level
Don't set a blanket percentage across your whole store without checking the worst-case product. One low-margin line at 40% off can be sold at a loss without realising it.
Email calendar for BFCM
| Date | Objective | |
|---|---|---|
| 2 weeks before | Teaser: "Something big is coming" | List warmth, expectation-building |
| 1 week before | Early access announcement | Reward subscribers, drive list sign-ups |
| Day before | "Tomorrow — our biggest sale of the year" | Urgency, reminder |
| Black Friday (morning) | Sale is live | Drive traffic, direct to sale collections |
| Saturday morning | Reminder + ending soon | Catch people who missed Friday |
| Cyber Monday morning | Last chance / Cyber Monday offer | Final urgency push |
The one thing that goes wrong
Prices not reverting. It happens when a scheduler wasn't set up correctly, or when a manual price edit during the sale overwrites the stored original. Test your revert before Black Friday by scheduling a small sale on 5 products, letting it run, and verifying prices came back correctly. Don't assume — confirm.
The merchants who have a bad BFCM are the ones who set it up the night before. Build your schedule four weeks out, test it once, and let it run.