Black Friday for fashion brands. The plan from October to December.

October: build the list, warm the account

Black Friday is won by the size and warmth of the list in the weeks before it. October is for brand creative at normal spend, a lead capture that offers early access rather than a discount, and a Klaviyo welcome flow that gets new subscribers to know the brand before the week arrives. Paid spend in October is an investment in the November list, and accounts that cut spend in October to save budget for November arrive with nobody to sell to.

Early November: the offer, decided by price point

The offer is the decision that matters most, and it depends on where the brand sits.

• Premium and luxury. No deep sitewide percentage. Early access to the list, gifting bundles, a limited piece, free shipping and returns, and possibly a modest offer on a specific category. The rules are in discount discipline for premium fashion brands.
• Mid market. A clear sitewide offer for the week, early for the list, with the depth set so that the margin still works at the volume the week produces.
• Volume and drop led brands. The offer can be aggressive, but it should be planned against stock so the bestsellers do not sell out on Thursday night.

Whatever the offer, it is decided in early November, not the week before, because the creative, the email, the landing pages and the stock all depend on it.

Creative and email, built before the week

Every ad, every email and every SMS for the week is written, designed and scheduled before it starts. Creative for the week is tested in the testing campaign in the first half of November so the winners are known. The Klaviyo sequence runs: early access announcement to the engaged segment, early access open, public open, mid week reminder, last hours, and a Cyber Monday close. The store gets the landing pages, the collection order and the banners loaded and checked on a phone.

The week itself

Early access for the list opens first, usually the Monday or Tuesday, which produces a strong day before the market gets noisy and expensive. Paid goes to higher spend from Thursday with the winning creative, budgets are moved daily, and the account is watched hourly on the Friday. Retargeting earns its budget this week more than any other, because the volume of engaged non purchasers is enormous. The single day records in our ledger, several above one million kroner, and the year over year figures of +518% and +347% on single days, are from weeks run this way.

December and January

December is gifting: bundles, gift cards, shipping cut off dates communicated clearly and early, and last order messaging that is honest. The offer from Black Friday does not continue. January is the legitimate end of season sale, on the calendar, with its own creative and email, and it is the moment the brand clears what remains to make room for the new season.

The mistake we see most

Starting in the second week of November. By then the list is what it is, the account is cold, the creative is untested and the offer is being decided under pressure. The accounts that have their best Black Friday are the ones where October was treated as the first month of Q4 rather than the last month of Q3.

If you want us to look at your account before the week, we run a free Black Friday readiness audit: a thirty minute call and a written Q4 plan inside seven days, whether or not you go on to work with us.

Questions on this