Black Friday Is Almost Here

(Fun) fact: We're only 72 days out from Black Friday.

And if you don't have your BFCM strategy locked down yet, you may be running out of time.

TLDR: Here's what the best brands are doing right now to get ready (and why you should be doing this too): 

• Locking down their discount strategy (no more second-guessing)
• Building out creative assets 2-3x their regular volume
• Optimizing their CRO, pop up, upsells, and buying experience
• Getting their ops teams aligned with marketing
• Planning inventory through Q1 (yes, already)

If your marketing and finance plan can't handle double-digit growth, now might be your last chance to fix it before it's too late.

The 72-Day Sprint Starts Now

I know Black Friday feels like it's still months away. But soon we'll blink and it'll be mid-November, with sales left and right and holidays around the corner.

If you're running an $10M+ brand, chances are your to-do list is already getting pretty long. That means you've got the next 6-10 weeks to get everything dialed in before the madness starts.

What the Next 10 Weeks Actually Look Like

If you're a brand founder, operator, CMO, or head of growth, the next few weeks are probably going to look a little something like this: 

Email marketing going into overdrive. You'll be hitting inboxes probably daily, maybe more. Segmented offers, last-chance reminders, personalized BFCM flows, etc.

Increased SMS cadence: Most brands will be sending 4-6 texts per week during peak season. Some may choose to push even harder depending on their current volume.

Site reskin. Every banner, popup, and product page will need to be updated to reflect BFCM.

Creative production ramp up. More ads, more variations, and higher budgets. Now's the time to be working with your agency on higher outputs on the creative front.

Customer service bottlenecks. Plan for more tickets and managing expectations on shipping times, especially with holiday buyers.

More work for fulfillment and higher logistics costs. More orders to pack in the same amount of time. Plus, don't forget to plan for those shipping cutoffs.

Challenges with inventory planning. Chances are by the time you see this post your demand plan is already built. But if you can, keep your bestsellers stocked, clear out bad inventory through heavy discounting or bundling strategies, and don't run out of your hero products too early.

Cashflow crunch going into Q1. Planning your Q1 inventory strategy around Q4 working capital availability, plus working around any Chinese New Year cutoffs (depending on the impact to your supply chain).

Why This BFCM Is Different & How To Build A BFCM Strategy That Works

Customers are pickier. Your inbox competition is brutal. Facebook ads cost more every year and efficiency (generally speaking) gets worse before it gets better as we get closer to November.

And to top it all off, iOS 26 and Texas compliance are throwing two potential curveballs into your overall retention strategy as you try to reach your most important customers during your most important moments of the year.

So with all of this going on and the complexity steadily increasing, what should brands and teams focus on when it comes to BFCM prep and planning? 

Here's a internal guide we developed at Aplo Group help guide our team and our brands think through some of their most important BFCM questions.

1. Lock Down Your Offer Strategy

Your discounts, bundles, and promos should be final. Time is running out and every day there's less room to be second guessing.

Avoid last minute strategy pivots that render certain creative, ads, email/SMS, or site strategies obsolete. Lean into what you know is working and ensure every node in your business and marketing funnel are working to promote that offer.

Figure out:

• Which products you're willing to discount heavily (clear out old inventory)
• Which products you protect margins on (your bestsellers, new releases)
• Where you set free shipping thresholds (hint: test this before November)

2. Creative Production Is Everything

Your creative needs to be in production across every channel right now. Ads, email, SMS, website, etc. Work with your agency and in-house team to increase output by 2-3x ahead of BFCM to ensure you have the volume necessary to support your strategy and increased spend.

Here's what most brands miss:

• You probably need way more creative than you think
• Even if you don't send it, have more email and SMS templates ready to go than usual (you'd be surprised how far one extra send can go in boosting daily revenue) 
• Test everything in October so you're not scrambling in November. This includes shipping new site changes. Anything bigger than a banner switch should probably be done before the sale starts. You don't want to be breaking things on site during your highest spend time of year.
• Make sure your flows are updated for BFCM. The best brands are not using a "set and forget" approach to their core flows. Ensure your offer is reflected across each of your highest value email/SMS flows.

3. CRO That Actually Moves the Needle

We see so many teams get stuck on CRO. They don't see any value from it and often waste a lot of time and money testing things that show no ROI.

Don't get lost in tiny optimizations or cosmetic changes that don't actually matter to performance. When it comes to CRO, focus on the big stuff that helps move the needle: 

Product pages: Make your offer crystal clear. Add urgency that feels real (low stock, limited time). Make the path to buying obvious.

Checkout flow: Shopify handles most of this, but remove any friction you've added. Upsells are great, but not if they kill conversion.

AOV boosters: Bundles, post-purchase offers, free shipping tiers. Test these before you need them.

Trust building: Real reviews, clear return policy, shipping info that doesn't leave people guessing.

Merchandising and Demand Planning: Make sure your demand plan and merchandising strategy are in full alignment. That means everything from where and when you suggest certain products all the way down to how much you're discounting. Use platforms like Allan to ensure your Demand Planning is fully aligned with your merchandising strategy.

4. Get Your Ops Team Aligned With Marketing

Ops and marketing can't work in silos. Your CS, fulfillment, and logistics teams need to know what's upcoming from a promotional and demand perspective. This is especially important during BFCM when order volumes spike.

Brands that mess this up end up with slow shipping, overwhelmed support teams, and upset customers leaving bad reviews (and hurting LTV potential).

5. Don't Forget About January

The best part about ecom: Q4 hasn't even started and we're already talking about Q1 inventory.

A lot of brands can end up in a cash crunch by overordering for Q4 with no plan for Q1. If you have excess inventory going into Q1, that may not be such a bad thing. But if you're over-levered, low on working capital, and need to commit to another big PO for Q1 mid-quarter, things can start to get sweaty.

Plan ahead:

• Map out when you need to reorder (Chinese New Year shutdowns are real)
• Save enough working capital for Q1 inventory and ad spend
• Use your Q4 data to forecast what January actually looks like

Biggest Mistakes Brands Make

We've seen great brands churn out very mediocre performance by missing in one or multiple of these areas: 

Waiting too long on creative. Production bottlenecks will hurt your performance. Whether its delays on creative or overdue revisions, creative volume is an absolute must for BFCM.

Only running site-wide discounts. Site-wide discounts are easy to implement but they can destroy your margins. Most brands should consider using bundles, "up to" or tiered offers, or BOGO strategies (if proven effective in the past) to avoid unnecessary margin destruction in their offer strategy.

Ignoring post-purchase upsells. BFCM customers are ready to spend. Lean into that momentum with conversion assets such as Post Purchase Upsells. Leverage tools such as Aftersell to help with this.

Overwhelming customer service. Prep your team for the higher ticket volume and communicate expectations about shipping and order status with customers through effective automated Post Purchase email/SMS flow strategies.

Burning all your cash in Q4. You still need to run a business in January. Forecast carefully or regret it later.

Your BFCM 2025 Strategy Checklist

For most brands November + BFCM represents 30-40% of their annual revenue. For some brands it's even more depending on seasonality.

Here's a final snapshot of what brands should keep an eye out for to Black Friday/Cyber Monday:

Strategy & Planning (Lock This Down by October 1st)

‍☐ Finalize your discount strategy and promo calendar
☐ Set bundle offers and free shipping thresholds
☐ Plan Q1 inventory around Chinese New Year shutdowns (if applicable to you) 
☐ Align your ops team with marketing timelines and expected performance

Creative & Content (Launch by October 15th)

‍☐ Produce way more ad creative than you think you need
☐ Build email and SMS campaigns for higher volume
☐ Update every on-site banner and message
☐ Create urgency elements that don't feel cheesy

Site Optimization (Do This Ongoing)

‍☐ Test CRO tactics: bundles, upsells, checkout flow
☐ Add trust signals that actually matter
☐ Avoid pushing big dev changes close to sale dates

Operations Prep (Be Ready When Your Sale Starts)

‍☐ Prep CS team for higher volume and create response templates
☐ Coordinate with your 3PL on increased capacity
☐ Set shipping cutoffs and communicate them clearly
☐ Plan your working capital strategy for Q4/Q1 transition

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