Shopify Black Friday Checklist 2026: Dates, Plan, Checkout
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In this article
This Shopify Black Friday checklist is dated. Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27, and Cyber Monday is Monday, November 30. Prepare in this order: discounts and checkout tests first, stock and shipping next, email scheduling last. The steps come from Shopify’s Help Center and US pricing page, read on October 22, 2026.
- Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026, so Black Friday is November 27 and Cyber Monday is November 30. From October 22 that is 36 days to Black Friday.
- Shopify allows up to 25 active automatic discounts, and a customer can use up to 5 product or order discount codes plus 1 shipping code on one order (Help Center, October 2026).
- Test orders do not show in payouts or reports, and customers cannot place live orders while a payment provider is in test mode. Turn test mode off when the test is done.
- Products stop selling at zero stock by default. “Continue selling when out of stock” is a per-product setting and needs inventory tracking.
- On the US pricing page (October 2026), Basic lists no extra staff accounts and Grow lists up to 5. Checkout customization is Limited on Basic, Grow and Advanced and Full on Plus.
- In the hypothetical example below, margin per order falls from $17.00 at full price to $9.00 at 20% off and $5.00 at 30% off.
How was this checklist built?
- Shopify Help Center: discounts, discount combinations, managing discounts, test orders, selling when out of stock, fulfillment time and delivery dates, shipping, staff users, Shopify Email campaigns, accelerated checkouts, managing increased sales, analytics fields
- Shopify US pricing page (USD)
- US Office of Personnel Management federal holidays page (Thanksgiving date)
Every step below comes from the documentation on those pages. No account was opened and nothing was tested. Where a page does not state a detail, the checklist leaves it out.
Pages read on October 22, 2026. Region: United States, USD.
When are Black Friday and Cyber Monday in 2026?
Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27, and Cyber Monday is Monday, November 30. Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, and Cyber Monday is the Monday after it. Use these dates to plan a Black Friday Cyber Monday Shopify sale.
| Day | Date in 2026 | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving | Thursday, November 26 | US Office of Personnel Management federal holidays page, read October 22, 2026 |
| Black Friday | Friday, November 27 | The day after Thanksgiving (calendar arithmetic) |
| Cyber Monday | Monday, November 30 | The Monday after Black Friday (calendar arithmetic) |
What should a Shopify store finish before Black Friday?
A store should finish discount rules, a test order, stock settings and delivery dates before November 21, and leave the final week for the email and last checks. This Shopify BFCM checklist counts back from November 27, 2026. Each task names the Shopify Help Center article it comes from; the full URLs are in the Sources list.
| When | Task | Where in Shopify | Help Center article |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 22 to Nov 5 | Choose discount types and a floor price. Check the combination rules: discounts combine only when each one allows it. | Discounts | Discounts; Discount combinations |
| Oct 22 to Nov 5 | Review who has admin access and what each role can do. Check the user limit of your plan. | Users and roles | Staff permissions; Maximum number of users for each pricing plan |
| Nov 6 to 13 | Create the discounts. If you use a rollout, add each discount to it to schedule when it turns on and off. | Discounts, rollouts | Managing discounts |
| Nov 6 to 13 | Turn on inventory tracking. Decide per product whether “Continue selling when out of stock” stays off. | Product page, Inventory section | Selling when out of stock |
| Nov 14 to 20 | Place a test order with the Test payment gateway or Shopify Payments test mode. Turn test mode off afterward. | Settings, Payments | Processing a test order |
| Nov 14 to 20 | Set fulfillment time and delivery dates shown at checkout. Review shipping rates and profiles. | Shipping settings | Fulfillment time and delivery dates; Shipping |
| Nov 21 to 26 | Create the sale email, choose “Custom date and time”, then Schedule. | Shopify Email app | Create campaigns (Shopify Email) |
| Nov 21 to 26 | Decide how to limit orders if stock is short: daily inventory caps, a cart maximum app. Prepare support replies and an FAQ page. | Inventory, apps, pages | Managing increased sales |
| Nov 27 to 30 | Watch stock. When the sale ends, deactivate any unexpired discount you no longer want live. | Inventory, Discounts | Managing discounts |
Shopify Email covers the scheduling step. If your list or flows need more than that, compare email apps for sale campaigns before the sale email goes out.
How do discounts and combinations work on Shopify?
Shopify discounts fall into three classes: product, order and shipping. They combine only when each discount’s Combinations setting allows it, and if they cannot combine, the best discount for the cart applies.
- Limits (Help Center, October 2026): a maximum of 25 active automatic discounts; a maximum of 5 product or order discount codes and 1 shipping discount code on the same order; multiple shipping discounts cannot apply to one order.
- Order of application: product discounts first, then order discounts, then shipping discounts.
- Percentage order discounts: when two or more apply, both percentages are calculated on the original subtotal.
- Sales channels: combinations work only on orders from the Online Store, the Storefront API and Shopify POS.
- Plan limit: combining several product discounts on the same line item requires a Shopify Plus plan, according to the Help Center.
Scheduling works through rollouts. The Help Center says you can add a discount to a rollout to schedule when it is activated or deactivated, and that a discount keeps its own active dates independently of the rollout. It does not give the date-setting steps on the pages read, so set and preview them in your admin before the sale.
Does my Shopify plan limit a Black Friday sale?
Three plan limits matter on a sale day: staff accounts, checkout customization and discount combinations. On the US pricing page, Basic lists no extra staff accounts, Grow up to 5, Advanced up to 15 and Plus unlimited. Checkout customization is Limited on Basic, Grow and Advanced and Full on Plus (US page, USD, as of October 2026).
| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly (per month) | Staff accounts | Checkout customization | Third-party payment provider fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $25 | $19 | Not included | Limited | 2% |
| Grow | $65 | $49 | Up to 5 | Limited | 1% |
| Advanced | $399 | $299 | Up to 15 | Limited | 0.6% |
| Plus | From $2,300 | Not listed | Unlimited | Full | 0.2% |
For the full tier-by-tier breakdown, read Shopify plans and prices compared.
Plan check
Compare your sale plan with the three limits in the table: staff accounts, checkout customization and discount combinations. If none of them blocks the sale you have planned, the limits do not call for a plan change.
Skip a plan change if your sale uses simple discounts, your current staff count fits and you do not need full checkout customization.
Compare Shopify plans on Shopify’s pricing page paid link
We earn a commission if you buy through links on this page. It does not change what we recommend.
How do I test checkout before the sale?
Place a test order through the Test payment gateway or, if you use Shopify Payments, its test mode. Test orders are not charged and do not appear in payouts or reports. Customers cannot place live orders while your provider is in test mode, so turn it off right after.
- Set up test mode for the payment provider you want to test.
- Create a cart as a customer would and go to checkout.
- Complete checkout with that gateway’s test payment details. If several payment methods are active, choose the processor in test mode.
- Open the order in your Shopify admin and confirm it looks right.
- Turn test mode off.
The Help Center notes you can test a payment gateway only after you have chosen a paid plan. It also says you can pay with a real provider and then cancel and refund the order, but processor fees may apply.
Also check the buttons shoppers see first. Shopify’s accelerated checkout page names Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay and PayPal, and says the buttons appear in an Express Checkout section at the start of checkout. If you are deciding between wallets, read Shop Pay versus PayPal at checkout, and for the provider itself see choosing a Shopify payment gateway.
How do I stop overselling during the sale?
Leave “Continue selling when out of stock” off. By default, customers cannot buy an item until you add stock. The option can be selected only when “Inventory tracked” is on for the product or variant.
- POS exception: the setting does not apply to orders placed in Shopify POS. Staff can sell past zero after a warning.
- Several locations: if a location that fulfills online orders is at zero or below, the item still shows as out of stock online, even when another location has stock.
- Limiting orders: the Help Center lists daily inventory caps, setting stock to zero, removing shipping rates and a cart maximum app as ways to limit orders. Check that your theme and apps do not hide out-of-stock products first.
- Delivery expectations: Shopify lets you show estimated delivery dates at checkout, either automated or set manually from your fulfillment and transit times.
How much margin does a discount leave?
A discount comes straight out of margin, so set the floor from your costs. In the hypothetical example below, a $40.00 product keeps $17.00 at full price, $9.00 at 20% off and $5.00 at 30% off, before any payment fee.
Worked example: one product at three discount levels (hypothetical)
Assumptions: price $40.00, unit cost $18.00, shipping and packaging $5.00. The payment fee is left out because the Shopify Help Center pages read on October 22, 2026 show no card rate figures; it would lower every result. This is an illustration, not Shopify data.
| Discount | Sale price | Cost and shipping | Margin per order | Margin as share of sale price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0% | $40.00 | $18.00 + $5.00 = $23.00 | $40.00 – $23.00 = $17.00 | 42.5% |
| 20% | $40.00 x 0.80 = $32.00 | $23.00 | $32.00 – $23.00 = $9.00 | 28.1% |
| 30% | $40.00 x 0.70 = $28.00 | $23.00 | $28.00 – $23.00 = $5.00 | 17.9% |
To earn the same total margin as one full-price order, the store needs $17.00 / $9.00 = 1.9 orders at 20% off, or $17.00 / $5.00 = 3.4 orders at 30% off. To find your own floor, use (price – cost – shipping) / price. Here ($40.00 – $23.00) / $40.00 = 42.5% off, the discount that leaves zero margin.
Set a floor discount from your margin, not from what competitors show. Bundles are one way to protect order value while discounting; see bundle apps for higher order value.
What if I start preparing late?
With two weeks left, finish the tasks that are settings and skip the ones that need testing time. Discounts, a test order, stock settings, delivery dates and a scheduled email are settings. A new theme, an app migration or a checkout change are not. This is editorial advice, not a Shopify statement.
A plan decision takes minutes; theme and shipping set-up takes days. If the plan question is still open, what each Shopify plan includes lists the tiers side by side. Settle it before you touch the theme.
What should I measure after the sale?
Six numbers in Shopify Analytics give a clear picture: gross sales, net sales, orders, average order value, conversion rate and returning customer rate. Shopify’s analytics fields page defines each one, and staff need Analytics permissions to see them.
| Metric | Definition on Shopify’s analytics fields page |
|---|---|
| Gross sales | Sales revenue before discounts and sales reversals are factored in |
| Net sales | Gross sales minus discounts minus sales reversals |
| Orders | Number of orders placed |
| Average order value | (Gross sales minus discounts) divided by orders, excluding post-order adjustments |
| Conversion rate | Sessions that completed checkout divided by sessions |
| Returning customer rate | Returning customers divided by all customers who placed orders |
Compare the same six numbers for the week before Black Friday, so the sale has a baseline. For planning ideas beyond the store settings, read a broader Black Friday marketing plan, and for the weeks after Cyber Monday see holiday campaign ideas.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- US Office of Personnel Management, federal holidays: opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/federal-holidays/ (checked 2026-10-22, US)
- Shopify pricing page: shopify.com/pricing (checked 2026-10-22, US page, USD)
- Shopify Help Center: Discounts (checked 2026-10-22, English)
- Shopify Help Center: Discount combinations (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Managing discounts (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Test orders and Processing a test order (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Selling when out of stock (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Fulfillment time and delivery dates (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Shipping (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Maximum number of users for each pricing plan and staff permissions (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Create Shopify Email campaigns (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Accelerated checkouts (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Managing increased sales (checked 2026-10-22)
- Shopify Help Center: Analytics fields (checked 2026-10-22)
