Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday 27 November, with Cyber Monday on 30 November. For many online brands that means several times the usual order volume in a few days. The brands that handle it well have done their planning weeks earlier.
Forecast the spike, not the average
Look at your last Black Friday week, your current traffic and the size of your planned promotions. Estimate orders per day for the peak, and tell your fulfilment partner the numbers before the event, not on the day. If you do not have last year's data, plan for a range and agree how the warehouse will flex if you land at the top of it.
Get stock in early and in the right places
Promotional products sell out first. Make sure the stock for your promoted lines is received, put away and available to pick before the sale starts. Stock arriving mid-sale is slow to get on the shelves, and an out-of-stock hero product wastes your ad spend.
Keep the offer simple
Complex bundles, mix-and-match deals and personalised items slow picking. If you want volume to flow through the warehouse quickly, keep Black Friday offers simple, or build bundles as their own SKUs ahead of time so they can be picked as a single item.
Be honest about delivery times
Carrier networks are at their busiest around Black Friday and in the run-up to Christmas. Set delivery expectations on your product pages and at checkout, and avoid promising next-day delivery on everything if the network is going to be stretched. A realistic promise that you keep beats a fast one that you miss.
Have more than one carrier available
If one carrier has a bad week, you need somewhere else to send parcels. With multi-carrier fulfilment, orders can be routed by service, weight and destination, and moved if a network is under pressure. Read more about multi-carrier capacity at peak.
Tell customers what is happening
Automated order confirmations and tracking updates reduce "where is my order" emails, which flood support inboxes after Black Friday. Make sure customers get a despatch email with tracking, and publish a short note on your site about expected processing times.
Plan for the returns that follow
Sales bring returns, often in January. Agree your returns window and process with your warehouse before the sale, so you know how returns will be received, inspected and restocked. See our returns management page.
Pre-peak checklist
- Peak forecast shared with your fulfilment partner.
- Promotional stock received and checked.
- Bundles and offers built as SKUs where possible.
- Carrier cut-offs and capacity confirmed.
- Delivery messaging updated on site and at checkout.
- Returns policy and process agreed.
Bottom line: Black Friday is a logistics event as much as a marketing one. If your packing table is already full on an ordinary Tuesday, talk to us about fulfilment now, while there is still time to prepare.