Black Friday Sale Ideas 2026: 9 Offers for Your Online Store

A Black Friday sale doesn't have to be a percentage discount. This guide gives nine sale ideas for your online store, from a price cut to free gifts, bundles, and free shipping. For each offer, you'll see when it fits and how to set it up on Shopify. Black Friday 2026 is on Friday 27 November, the first day of BFCM: here is what BFCM means.

How to Choose a Black Friday Offer

Choose your offer by three things: your profit margin, your stock, and the action you want from customers. A Black Friday promotion has two parts: the offer, and the way you announce it. This guide is about the offer.

• Profit margin. How much of the price can you give back to the customer on each order?
• Stock. Which products do you want to sell first: your most popular products, or the stock that sells slowly?
• Customer action. Should customers buy once, buy more in one order, or come back after the sale?

Then find your situation in this list. Each line leads to one of the nine offers in this guide.

• You want one simple message for the whole store: a percentage discount on every product (offer 1).
• You want to sell slow stock: a discount on one collection (offer 2).
• Customers often buy one item: spend more, save more (offer 3).
• Your shipping fee is high next to your prices: free shipping above a spending level (offer 4).
• You have a low-cost product that customers like: a free gift above a spending level (offer 5).
• You want to sell more units of one product: Buy X Get Y (offer 6).
• Customers buy the product again and again: a quantity discount on one product (offer 7).
• Your products work well together, or as gifts: product bundles and gift sets (offer 8).
• You want customers to return after the sale: a gift card for the next order (offer 9).

On Shopify, you can set up offers 1 to 7 with one of the three discount types. Offer 8 needs a bundle app, and offer 9 uses gift cards.

To set a spending level, start from your average order value: the average amount that customers spend in one order. As a reference, Shopify reported an average cart price of $114.70 (US dollars) for its stores worldwide during BFCM 2025. Your own number matters more.

We don't rank these offers by sales results, because we have no reliable data for that. The right choice depends on your margin and your stock.

Offers That Lower the Price

If you look for Black Friday discount ideas, start with these two offers: both cut the price directly. You can create both in Shopify with an amount off discount. It gives a percentage or a fixed amount off a product, a collection, or an entire order.

1. Percentage Discount on Every Product

A percentage discount on every product is easy to explain: one number for the whole store. It fits when you want one clear message, and when your margin can carry the discount on every order.

Idea for a candle store: the same percentage off every candle, from Friday to Monday.

• On Shopify: Create an amount off discount as a discount code, or as an automatic discount. An automatic discount applies in the cart and at checkout when the conditions are met.
• Check first: This offer costs margin on every order, including the orders you would receive without it. Before you show a "was" price, read the price rules for the EU and the UK below.

2. Discount on One Collection

A discount on one collection applies to selected products only. It fits when you want to sell stock that moves slowly, and keep the price of your most popular products. It costs you a share of the price, but only on those products.

Idea for a home decor store: last season's cushion covers in one sale collection, and the new designs at full price.

• On Shopify: Use the same amount off discount, and choose a product or a collection. You can also require a minimum purchase amount or a minimum quantity of items.
• Check first: Count your stock for every product in the collection.

Offers That Reward a Larger Order

The next seven offers give customers a reason to buy more in one order. Each offer sets a level, such as a spending level or a number of items. The reward comes at that level, and your listed prices stay the same.

3. Spend More, Save More

With this offer, the discount grows with the order: a small discount at the first spending level, and a larger one at the next. It fits when customers often buy one item and you want them to add a second.

Idea for a kitchenware store: a small discount above the price of one pan, and a larger one above the price of two.

• On Shopify: You can create several automatic discounts, each with its own minimum purchase requirement, as the Shopify blog explains. A store can have at most 25 active automatic discounts, and this total includes discounts from apps.
• With an app: For discounts in several levels, the Shopify help center also points to discount apps. In AOV.ai Free Gifts, an Order Goal campaign gives discounts in levels, based on the total value of the order. A Milestone Rewards campaign can give a different reward at each level: free shipping, a free gift, or an order discount. Only one Milestone campaign can be active in a store at a time.
• Check first: Check your margin at each level before you publish the offer, because the largest discount applies to your largest orders.

4. Free Shipping Above a Spending Level

With this offer, larger orders pay no shipping fee. It fits when your shipping fee is high next to the price of your products. It costs you the shipping fee on your larger orders.

Idea for a shoe store: free shipping just above the price of one pair, so a pair of socks reaches the level.

• On Shopify: Create a free shipping discount with a minimum purchase amount. You can limit it to the countries you choose.
• With an app: In AOV.ai Free Gifts, a Shipping Goal campaign gives free or cheaper shipping when the order reaches a set value.
• Check first: For this minimum, Shopify counts each product at its price after discounts. So if you also give a discount that can combine with free shipping, customers need more products to reach the level.

Our guide shows how to set up free shipping on Shopify.

5. Free Gift Above a Spending Level

With a free gift, your prices stay the same, and customers receive an extra product above a spending level. It fits when you have a low-cost product that customers like, such as a sample or a small item. It costs you the cost price of the gift.

Idea for a beauty store: a travel-size cream with every order above your spending level.

In our case study of Desio, customers who spend €39 choose two free lens samples from ten colors.

• On Shopify: A Buy X get Y discount code can make one product free when the cart total is above a set value. Customers add the gift to the cart themselves: the Shopify guide to Buy X get Y discounts says the free item is never added automatically.
• With an app: In AOV.ai Free Gifts, a Gift with Cart Value campaign gives a free gift when the cart reaches a set value. The app counts the original product prices for this value, so a sale price doesn't change it. If you use several of these campaigns, customers receive one gift, from the highest level reached. A Gift with Collection Value campaign counts only the spending in one collection.

For more ideas of this type, read our guide to a free gift with purchase on Shopify.

6. Buy X Get Y

With Buy X Get Y, customers buy one product and get another one free or at a lower price. When the second product is the same as the first, the offer is called BOGO: buy one, get one. It fits when you want to sell more units, or to clear one product. It costs you the cost price of the second item.

Idea for a fashion store: buy one shirt, get one pair of socks free.

In our case study of Tools4Trade, two items from one collection of work clothes put a £9.99 bottle in the cart, with no code.

• On Shopify: Buy X get Y is one of the three discount types. As with a free gift, customers add every item to the cart themselves.
• With an app: In AOV.ai Free Gifts, a Buy X Get Y campaign gives a free product when customers buy specific items. In this type of campaign, the app adds the gift to the cart automatically and shows a message to the customer. With the BOGO option, the gift is the same as the item in the cart. By default, this option gives one gift in total, and it isn't available in the Shopify point of sale system. A Gift with Quantity Purchase campaign gives a gift when customers buy a set number of items.

Our guide explains how to set up a Buy X Get Y offer.

7. Quantity Discount on One Product

A quantity discount gives a lower price for each unit when customers buy more units of the same product. It fits products that customers use and then buy again.

Idea for a pet food store: a lower price for each bag when customers buy three bags of the same food.

• On Shopify: Add a minimum quantity of items to an amount off discount.
• With an app: AOV.ai Bundles has a volume discount that rewards customers for buying more units of the same product.
• Check first: Check the price of one unit at every level, and compare it with your cost price.

Our guide explains quantity discounts on Shopify step by step.

8. Product Bundles and Gift Sets

A bundle is a set of two or more related products, usually sold at a discount. It fits when your products work well together, or when customers buy them as gifts. It costs you the discount on the set.

Idea for a tea store: three teas and an infuser, sold together as one gift set.

• On Shopify: To create bundles, your store must have a bundle app. The free app Shopify Bundles is available on all plans. It creates fixed bundles and sets of several units of one product.
• With an app: AOV.ai Bundles can sell a prepared set as its own product, for example a gift set. Customers can also build their own set from a list of products, with larger savings as they add more. That bundle has its own page, so link to it from your store. On a product page, the app can suggest products to add.
• Check first: The stock of a bundle depends on the product in the set with the lowest stock. A mystery bundle, where customers don't see every item before they buy, can help you sell slow stock.

Our guide shows how to create product bundles on Shopify.

9. Gift Card for the Next Order

With this offer, customers who reach a minimum order value receive a gift card for a later purchase. It fits when you want a second order after the sale. It costs you the value of the card, when the customer uses it.

Idea for a toy store: a gift card with every order above your spending level, to use in January.

• On Shopify: Gift cards are available on all plans, and you create and send them from your admin.
• Check first: Tell customers when they will receive the card and how to use it.

When to Start and End Your Offer

A simple plan is one offer for the whole sale, from Friday 27 November to Monday 30 November 2026. These dates follow from the official US holiday calendar. Stores now often keep Black Friday and Cyber Monday as one promotion, as Shopify notes.

In Shopify, every discount has a start date, and you can set an end date. Both dates follow the time zone of your store. To open the sale early for your best customers, create a discount code for specific customers or for a customer segment.

A different deal for each day or each hour needs someone to watch the store. If your team is small, one offer for the four days is easier to manage. Our Black Friday checklist lists the tasks for each week before the sale.

Black Friday Ideas for Small Businesses

A small business doesn't need the largest discount to take part in the sale. In the United Kingdom, a price study by the consumer group Which? compared 175 products on offer at eight stores on Black Friday 2024. All of these home, tech, and health products were the same price or cheaper at other times of the year. This is one reason to choose an offer that customers can check easily, such as a gift or a set.

Four deal ideas for a small team:

• Start with one offer. A free gift above a spending level, or a bundle, keeps your listed prices the same.
• Use what Shopify includes first. Its three discount types cover price cuts, Buy X get Y, and free shipping.
• Keep the same offer for all four days. You set the start date and the end date once.
• Add Small Business Saturday. In the United Kingdom, it's on 5 December 2026, the first Saturday in December.

If your offer needs an app, our guide to the best apps for Black Friday explains which app fits each task.

Check the Price Rules in the EU and the UK

Before you show a "was" price next to a sale price, check the price history of the product. In all EU countries, a store that offers a discount must show the lowest price of the last 30 days. The EU explains this rule on its Your Europe website.

In the United Kingdom, the Advertising Standards Authority has advice on savings claims on its website. A reference price, such as a "was" price, must be a genuine and usual selling price. It must not give customers a false idea of the saving.

This section is general information and is not legal advice. Check the rules of your own country before you publish a sale price.

Check Your Store Before the Sale

An offer helps only when customers can see it and pay without a problem. Our step-by-step guide shows how to prepare your store for Black Friday on Shopify. At AOV.ai, we also offer a free Shopify store audit. It helps you identify the problems that stop customers from buying, so you can resolve them before the sale begins.