For many brands, November is not just a month. It is 30% of annual revenue. It is the Super Bowl. But unlike the NFL, you don’t play one game. You play 5 games in 5 days (Turkey 5), followed by a month of shipping logistics. If you crash on Black Friday, you don’t just lose a day. You lose the year. We see two types of brands:

The Amateurs: Start planning in October. Discount randomly. Crash at midnight.
The Professionals: Start planning in July. Build lists. Freeze code. Bank profit.

This article is the Maison Code Operational Guide to Peak Season. It is not about “Which ad color converts best?”. It is about “How to structure your P&L, your Tech Stack, and your Logistics to survive the avalanche.”

Why Maison Code Discusses This

We are the ones waking up at 3 AM when the site crashes. We see the backend of 50+ Shopify Plus stores during the peak minute. We know that “Marketing Ideas” are useless if the “Database Writes” fail. We view BFCM as an Engineering Challenge first, and a Marketing Event second. Stability = Revenue.

1. The Calendar: It is a Quarter, Not a Weekend

Stop thinking about “Black Friday”. Think about Q4.

Phase 1: The Warm Up (Oct 1 - Oct 31)

Goal: List Building.
Action: Run “Lead Gen” ads, not “Conversion” ads.
Math: CPMs are cheap. Acquire email addresses now for $1.00.
Mistake: Waiting until Nov 15 to acquire customers. CPMs will be $50. You will lose money.

Phase 2: The VIP Access (Nov 1 - Nov 20)

Goal: Smoothing the Demand Curve.
Action: Give your Email/SMS list “Early Access” to the sale.
Why: If everyone hits your site at midnight on Friday, you crash. If 30% buy two weeks early, you spread the load (and the shipping pressure).

Phase 3: The Peak (Nov 24 - Nov 28)

Goal: Conversion Velocity.
Action: “Site-Wide Sale”. No friction.
Math: ROAS should be 4.0+.

Phase 4: The Shipping Hangover (Dec 1 - Dec 15)

Goal: Fulfillment Speed.
Action: All hands on deck in the warehouse.
Deadlines: Communicate “Last Day to Ship” loudly.

Phase 5: Q5 (Dec 26 - Jan 15)

Goal: The Second Wind.
Action: “New Year, New You” campaigns.

2. The Offer: Complexity Kills

We have seen brands try: “Buy 2 Red Items get 10% off, but if you add a Blue Item get 15% off, excluding Socks.” Result: The site crashes (Script Editor timeout). The user is confused. Conversion drops.

The Golden Rule: Cognitive Load is inversely proportional to Conversion Rate. On Black Friday, your customer has 50 tabs open. They are stressed. They are tired. Do not make them do math.

The Best Offers:

Site-Wide % Off: “30% Off Everything. Auto-applied.” (Cleanest).
Tiered Spend: “Spend $100 get 20%, Spend $200 get 30%.” (Increases AOV).
Gift with Purchase: “Free Beanie with orders over $150.” (Protects Brand Equity / No discounting).

Avoid: Coupon Codes. Users forget them. They leave the site to search “Brand Name Coupon”. They land on a shady affiliate site. They get distracted. They never come back. Auto-Apply everything.

3. The Tech Freeze (Don’t Touch Anything)

Developers love to ship code. Marketers love to add “Just one more popup” on Nov 23rd. NO. You must implement a strict Code Freeze.

Date: Nov 15th.
Rule: No new features. No new apps. No theme edits.
Why: You cannot risk introducing a bug during peak traffic.
Exception: Hotfixes for critical outages only.

The Load Test: Your site works fine with 100 concurrent users. What happens with 10,000?

Klaviyo Popups: Can they handle the firing rate?
Search Bar: Can the API handle the queries?
Inventory Sync: Is your ERP (NetSuite) syncing stock fast enough to prevent overselling? We recommend “Safety Stock”: set your inventory buffer to 50 units. If it drops below 50, mark as “Sold Out” on Shopify to prevent overselling.

4. The Logistics: The Warehouse War Room

Marketing sells the dream. Operations delivers the box. If you sell 10,000 units on Friday, but can only ship 1,000 a day, you have a 10-day backlog. Customers will email: “Where is my order?” Your support team will melt down. Your profits will vanish in cancelled orders and apology refunds.

The Prep:

Pre-Pack: Box up your best-sellers in October. Slap a label on them. Ready to ship.
Staffing: Hire temporary warehouse staff in October. Train them now.
Supplies: Do you have enough tape? Enough boxes? (You would be shocked how often this stops a company).

5. The Cash Flow Trap

BFCM is expensive.

You pay for Inventory in August (Cash Out).
You pay for Ads in November (Cash Out).
You pay for Shipping in December (Cash Out).
You get paid by Shopify/Stripe… Daily (Good) or Net Wait (Bad).

Warning: Do not run out of cash on Nov 20th. If your credit card declines on Facebook Ads on Black Friday, you are dead. Action:

Secure a Line of Credit (Wayflyer, Shopify Capital, Amex) in September.
Pre-load your Ad Account balance.

6. Q5 Strategy: The “Hidden” Quarter

Most brands turn off ads on Dec 20 (Shipping cut-off). They go on holiday. This is a mistake. Dec 26 - Jan 15 is Q5.

CPM Crash: Facebook ad costs drop 50% because big retailers stop spending.
Intent Spike: Consumers have:
1. New iPhones involved.
2. Cash from Grandma.
3. Amazon Gift Cards.
4. “New Year Resolution” mindset.

Strategy: Run “Self-Gifting” ads. “Didn’t get what you wanted under the tree? Treat yourself.” This is the most profitable time of the year for acquisition.

7. The Skeptic’s View: “I don’t discount”

Luxury brands (Hermès, LV) do not do Black Friday. If you are a true Luxury brand, do not discount. It destroys Brand Equity. Instead, do Value Add.

“We donate 10% to charity.”
“Free Express Shipping Upgrade.”
“Limited Edition Product Drop (Full Price).” You participate in the Traffic Event without participating in the Race to the Bottom.

8. The Post-Mortem (Learning Loop)

On Jan 15th, do not just collapse. Hold a Post-Mortem Meeting. Document everything while it is fresh.

“The 30% off Tier didn’t work.”
“The warehouse ran out of size 12 boxes.”
“The site slowed down at 9 AM.” Write this into a Playbook for Next Year. The only way to lose looking back is to make the same mistake twice.

9. The Mobile App Strategy (Push vs Email)

If you have a mobile app (Tapcart), BFCM is your Super Bowl. Push Notifications have a 90% View Rate. Email has 20%. During BFCM, inboxes are flooded. Your email will be buried under 50 other brands. But the Push Notification sits on the lock screen. Strategy:

“App Exclusive Early Access” (Thursday Night).
Send a Push Notification 1 hour before the email.
This drives downloads and ensures your VIPs see the offer first. The App is your “Direct Line” when the Email channel is jammed.

10. Conclusion

BFCM is the ultimate stress test. It exposes every weakness in your company. Weak code? Crash. Weak logistics? Backlog. Weak finance? Cash crunch. But if you prepare, it is the most exhilarating week of the year. You can do 3 months of revenue in 3 days. Sleep in October. Work in November. Profit in December.

Operational Panic?

Are you worried your site will crash? We conduct “BFCM Readiness Audits” to stress-test your code and servers.

Hire our Architects.