Shopify App Store
Black Friday 2026 is on Friday, November 27, and Cyber Monday is on November 30. The market is large. Adobe Analytics measured $10.8 billion in US online spending on Black Friday 2024 and $41.1 billion across Cyber Week. Shopify merchants sold $11.5 billion over the 2024 BFCM weekend, up 24% on the year before.
A bigger market does not mean more sales for your store. Preparation does. Last year, about a third of MBC Bundles stores tripled their bundle sales over BFCM weekend. Another third sold less than in a normal week. This guide shows what the first group did, in the order you should do it.
Key takeaways
- Shoppers start buying around November 11. Be live by then.
- Most of the season happens outside the four-day weekend.
- Stores that grew built new bundles for Black Friday.
- Stores with more bundles sold much more.
- Keep discounts under 25% and add a countdown timer.
Step 1. Put the right dates in your calendar
Most stores plan Black Friday for four days. The data shows a season of about four weeks. In 2025, bundle sales started to rise on November 12. They peaked on Black Friday and stayed high for a week after Cyber Monday.
Only 31% of the season's bundle sales happened on the BFCM weekend itself. 44% came in the 16 days before it, and 24% came in the week after. Week by week, sales were 1.7x a normal week two weeks before Black Friday, 2.2x the week before, 4.8x in Black Friday week and 3.4x the week after.
For 2026, that means three dates: go live by November 11, expect the peak from November 27 to 30, and keep offers running until at least December 7.
Step 2. Build new offers for Black Friday
Among stores that tripled their bundle sales, 2 in 3 built new bundles in the six weeks before Black Friday. Among stores whose sales dropped, only 2 in 5 did.
A bundle you set up months ago was built for a normal week. Black Friday shoppers are different. Many are buying gifts, many are buying for more than one person, and many are new to your store. Build offers for them.
Step 3. Run more than one bundle
We grouped stores by how many of their bundles had sales over BFCM weekend. The typical store with one bundle earned $98 from bundles. The typical store with 4 to 9 bundles earned $1,819.
Each bundle is another way into a sale. It shows on a different product page and speaks to a different shopper. A good starting point is three offers with three jobs: a best-seller set, a gift box and a free gift.
Step 4. Put bundles on your product pages
Shoppers decide on the product page. A bundle placed there shows the offer at the moment of choice. Add the widget to your best-selling products first.
Step 5. Set your discount before you build
Decide your limit first. In our 2025 data, bundles discounted by 25% or more earned less per bundle than bundles discounted by less than 25%. Deeper cuts did not bring bigger orders either.
Rule of thumb: Start at 10% to 20% off for bundles. Go no higher than 25%. Use a free gift or a better price on the third item if you want the offer to feel bigger.
Step 6. Schedule offers and add a timer
In MBC Bundles, open the bundle and go to Bundle active period. Set a Start date of November 11 and turn on Set end date and time for December 7. The bundle saves as Scheduled and goes live on its own.
Then turn on Show countdown timer and choose Follow end date and time set for bundle. The timer counts down to your end date. Fewer than 2% of stores with live bundles use a countdown timer, so this is an easy way to stand out.
Step 7. Remove friction before traffic arrives
Baymard Institute puts the average online cart abandonment rate at about 70%. On Black Friday, every lost cart costs more because traffic costs more. Test your checkout on mobile, check shipping cut-off dates, and turn on Auto-add free gift to cart for free-gift offers so the shopper does not need an extra step.
Your Black Friday 2026 checklist
- By October 12: choose three offers: a best-seller set, a gift box and a free gift.
- October 13 to 25: build them. Run an A/B test on the discount while traffic is normal.
- October 26 to November 6: set start and end dates, add countdown timers, and place bundles on product pages.
- November 11: go live.
- November 26 to 30: do not edit live bundles. Watch orders and bundle sales.
- December 1 to 7: keep offers running, then check which bundle sold best and keep it for Christmas.
Want help building your Black Friday bundles?
Our team will look at your products and set up your BFCM offers with you. 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. Store groups: 158 stores with steady bundle sales in early November 2025. Feature use measured across stores with live bundles in September 2026.
External sources: Adobe Analytics, 2024 holiday season and Cyber Week online spending reports (adobe.com). Shopify, BFCM 2024 merchant results (shopify.com/news). National Retail Federation, Thanksgiving weekend 2024 shopping survey (nrf.com). Baymard Institute, cart abandonment rate statistics (baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate).
