Black Friday for Beginners: A Simple Plan for Small Shopify Stores

For a small store, Black Friday can bring in two or even three times the sales of a normal day. Shoppers come in ready to buy. Many have been saving their wish lists for weeks, and they're actively looking for deals.

The numbers show how big the weekend is. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024, Shopify merchants sold $11.5 billion worldwide, up 24% from the year before (Shopify BFCM 2024 Data). A lot of that went to small, independent stores, not just big brands.

For a Black Friday campaign you don't need a big budget. It needs a few good offers which you set up on time.

If this is your first Black Friday, it can feel like a contest you cannot win. Big brands have big budgets but small stores have one real advantage: they can set up a good offer quickly and keep it simple. This guide gives you a plan you can finish in a few hours.

This guide gives you a plan you can finish in a few hours.

Key takeaways

• Start with two or three bundles.

• Go live around November 11.

• Keep the discount simple and under 25%.

• Put the offer on your best-selling product page.

Why bundles work for small Shopify stores

You may not get more visitors on Black Friday than your bigger competitors. But you can get more from each visitor. A bundle turns a one-item order into a two or three-item order. In MBC Bundles stores, 22% of BFCM weekend orders included a bundle, up from 14% in a normal week.

The number of bundles matters. The typical store with one bundle selling over BFCM weekend earned $98 from bundles. The typical store with two or three earned $322, about 3x more.

About 1 in 3 stores had only one bundle selling. Going from one to three is the simplest step you can take.

A Black Friday plan: three bundles, five steps

1. Pick your best seller. Look at your orders from the last three months. Your best seller will get the most Black Friday traffic, so it is where your first bundle goes.

2. Build a simple set. Add one or two products that people often buy with your best seller. Offer 15% or 20% off the set. In MBC Bundles, use the Standard Bundle preset.

3. Add a second and third bundle. Pick two other products that sell well. For one, try a "buy 2, get a small item free" offer. For the other, try quantity tiers: buy 2 save 10%, buy 3 save 20%.

4. Schedule everything. Set a start date of November 11 and an end date of December 7. Your offers go live and end on their own.

5. Add a countdown timer. Turn on the countdown timer so shoppers see how long the offer lasts. This gives them a reason to buy now.

What your first bundle can look like

For example, a small candle and body-care store could put a three-product bundle, with 20% off and a countdown timer, below the Add to cart button on its best-selling candle.

How much discount to give in Black Friday bundles

You do not need a huge discount. In our 2025 data, bundles discounted by 25% or more earned less per bundle than bundles discounted by less. Choose one number between 15% and 20% and use it for all your bundles. It is easy for shoppers to understand and it protects your profit.

Five mistakes to avoid 

• Launching on Black Friday itself. Only 31% of last season's bundle sales happened on the BFCM weekend. The rest came before and after.

• Ending on Cyber Monday. The week after was still 3.4x a normal week.

• Hiding the offer. A bundle on its own page gets little traffic. Put it on product pages.

• Two offers on the same product. Never point two bundles at the same product with the same type of discount. They compete with each other.

• Changing offers during the weekend. Set everything up before Thanksgiving and leave it.

What to check each day

Keep it simple. Check two numbers each day from November 11: how many orders include a bundle, and your average order value. If both rise compared with a normal week, your offer is working. If not, move the bundle higher on the page or change the products in it.

Not sure which products to bundle?

Our team will look at your store and suggest your first Black Friday bundles. Open MBC Bundles and start a live chat, or email support@mbc-bundles.com.

Methodology and sources

MBC Bundles data: bundle-attributed orders across MBC Bundles stores, converted to USD at the time of order. BFCM weekend = November 28 to December 1, 2025. Where we compare types of stores or bundles, we exclude the three largest stores so that no single store skews the result, or we use the median. Results vary by catalogue, traffic and offer.