Black Friday 2026 falls on Friday, 27 November, and Cyber Monday on Monday, 30 November. Large shops prepare this campaign for months. In a small web shop it usually looks like this: last-minute banners, discounts worked out in someone’s head and a site that slows down exactly when the traffic arrives.
This plan is built for a shop run by one person or a small team. It has exact dates for 2026, ready-made copy for the newsletter, Instagram and banners, the WooCommerce settings that save a sale, and a calculator that tells you, for every product, which previous price and which percentage you may show.
In short: Start tracking prices by 28 October, because the previous price comes from the 30 days before the sale. By 8 November check speed, payments and fiscal receipts. From 9 November collect sign-ups for the launch alert. Schedule prices in advance and clear the cache when the sale starts and when it ends. After the sale, ask every customer for a review.
Calculator: previous price, percentage and length of the sale
Enter the lowest price at which you offered the product in the 30 days before the sale and your Black Friday price. The calculator returns the percentage you may show, ready-made text for the product page, a check of the sale length and an answer to whether you may write “up to X% off”.
1Previous price and discount for a product
- Discount you may show
- -
- Customer saves
- -
2Length of the sale
- The sale lasts
- -
- Look for the lowest price between
- -
3Can you advertise "up to X% off"?
Enter both numbers.
The calculator applies Articles 37 and 38 of the Serbian Trade Act (Official Gazette RS, nos. 52/2019 and 35/2026). The percentage is rounded down, so the advertised discount is never bigger than the real one. Nothing you enter is sent to a server.
The rules behind the calculator, with quotations from the law, are explained in our guide to Black Friday 2026 in Serbia and the lowest price rule. Here we focus on making the sale go well.
A 30-day plan with dates for 2026
| Period | What you do |
|---|---|
| By 27 October | Decide what goes on sale, for how long and what the goal is. Start tracking price history. |
| 28 October - 8 November | Technical: speed, payments, fiscal receipts, stock, courier. Build the sale page. |
| 9 - 19 November | List and announcement: launch-alert sign-up, first newsletter, Instagram, Google Business Profile post. |
| 20 - 26 November | Schedule prices, check them in the calculator, publish the sale terms, take a backup and freeze changes. |
| 27 - 30 November | The sale: launch at midnight, launch newsletter, a story every day, last chance on 30 November. |
| 1 - 14 December | Restore prices, clear the cache, thank customers, ask for reviews, handle returns. |
By 27 October: decisions
- Pick products, not the whole shop. The best performers are products you have in stock and where the discount does not eat the whole margin. A discount on everything looks generous but usually means the smallest profit per order.
- Decide the length. The weekend from 27 to 30 November is 4 days. A Black Week from 20 November is 11 days. A promotional sale may last at most 31 days.
- Start tracking prices. The previous price is the lowest price in the 30 days before the sale starts. WooCommerce does not keep price history on its own, so a plugin such as “Omnibus” or “WC Price History” must be running by 28 October for a sale from 27 November, or by 21 October for a Black Week.
- Set one goal. New customers, clearing stock or a bigger average basket. The goal decides the discount, the copy and what you will measure afterwards.
28 October - 8 November: technical work
- Speed. Check the speed of the home page, a category and a product page on a phone, because that is where most traffic comes from. A slow checkout costs more than a weak discount.
- Payments and fiscal receipts. Place a test order with every payment method and check that the customer receives the fiscal receipt. We explain how this should work in our guide to web shop fiscalization in Serbia.
- Stock and courier. Check stock levels and supplier lead times, and agree extra pickups with your courier for the week after the sale.
- The sale page at the same address every year. Create a page or category at an address such as /black-friday/, with no year in it. Next year just refresh the content, and the page keeps all the links and rankings it has built up. Addresses like /black-friday-2026/ start from zero every year.
9 - 19 November: list and announcement
- Launch-alert sign-up. Add a “Tell me when it starts” field to the site. Only add people who have agreed, with a link to your privacy policy.
- First newsletter and Instagram. Announce the date and the categories, without percentages you have not calculated yet.
- A Google Business Profile post. Google Business Profile has posts with a start and an end date. If you also have a physical shop, customers will see the sale in search and on the map.
20 - 26 November: final checks
- Schedule sale prices in WooCommerce (the date fields next to the sale price) and check the percentage for every product in the calculator above.
- Publish the sale terms on the sale page: what is on sale, from when to when and under what conditions. The calculator writes this text for you.
- Take a backup and freeze changes. In the last week before the sale do not update plugins, the theme or WordPress, except for security patches. An update that breaks the checkout on Friday morning is the most expensive mistake of the campaign.
- Prepare answers to the questions that come every year: delivery time, returns, complaints, combining with coupons.
27 - 30 November: the sale
- 00:00: prices change on their own, and you clear the cache (see below). Open a few product pages in a private window and check the price.
- Morning: the launch newsletter and an Instagram post.
- Every day: one story with a product of the day and a stock update. Mark sold-out products as sold out rather than hiding them without explanation.
- 30 November: a “last chance” newsletter and a story reminder.
1 - 14 December: after the sale
- Restore prices and clear the cache. Scheduled prices revert on their own, the cache does not.
- Plan the winter sale. If your promotion ran until 30 November and the winter sale starts before 31 December, the previous price for promoted products is the Black Friday price. Work out the start date in our winter sale planner.
- Thank customers and ask for a review from everyone, in the same words and without a reward. How to do this without putting your Google profile at risk is explained in our guide to Google reviews for businesses.
- Returns and complaints. Customers who bought online have 14 days to withdraw, discounted goods included. Deadlines are in our guides to returning goods bought online and product complaints in Serbia.
- Write down the numbers: visits, orders, average basket, best sellers and what broke. That is your plan for 2027.
Ready-made campaign copy
Replace what is in square brackets. Use the percentage the calculator gave you.
Newsletter 1, announcement (around 20 November). Subject: “Black Friday is coming on 27 November” or “Save the date: 27 November”.
Hello [name],
Black Friday at [shop name] starts at midnight on Friday, 27 November, and runs until Monday, 30 November.
[Categories] will be on sale. We publish the exact prices on launch day, and we show the previous price as the lowest of the last 30 days, so you see the real discount.
Save the date or follow [Instagram profile] so you do not miss it.
[Signature]
Newsletter 2, launch (morning of 27 November). Subject: “Black Friday has started” or “Now open: [category] at Black Friday prices”.
Black Friday has started and runs until midnight on Monday, 30 November.
We have picked [number] products with the biggest discounts: [product 1], [product 2], [product 3].
Every product shows the previous price, the lowest of the last 30 days, so the discount is exactly what it says.
[Button: See the sale]
Newsletter 3, last chance (30 November). Subject: “Black Friday ends tonight”.
Black Friday prices apply until midnight tonight. After that they go back to normal.
Still available: [products in stock].
[Button: Last chance]
Instagram, announcement:
Black Friday at [name] starts at midnight on 27 November. 4 days, [categories], discounts calculated from the lowest price of the last 30 days. Turn on notifications so you do not miss it.
Instagram, launch:
It has started! Black Friday runs until 30 November. The biggest discounts are on [category]. Link in bio.
Instagram, last day:
Last day of Black Friday prices. At midnight tonight everything goes back to regular prices.
Site banner:
Black Friday | 27 - 30 November | [category] up to [X]% off
Only use “up to X% off” if that biggest discount covers at least one fifth of your range. Part three of the calculator checks this.
Launch-alert sign-up (pop-up or bar on the site):
Tell me when Black Friday starts. [email field] By entering my address I agree that [shop name] may send me sale notifications. Unsubscribe with one click; details are in our [privacy policy].
WooCommerce: the settings that save a sale
- Scheduled prices and the time zone. When you enter dates next to the sale price, WooCommerce changes the price from 00:00 on the first day to 23:59 on the last. But it uses the site’s time zone: if WordPress settings (Settings, General) are still on UTC, the sale starts an hour late. Set the zone to Belgrade.
- The cache at midnight. If the site uses page caching, visitors may see the old price after midnight until the cache refreshes. LiteSpeed Cache has a scheduled purge (Cache, Purge tab, fields Scheduled Purge URLs and Scheduled Purge Time): enter the sale page and categories, one address per line, and the time 00:01. The purge repeats every day at that time, which is what you want during the sale. With other tools, such as WP Rocket, clear the cache by hand just after midnight, and do the same when the sale ends.
- Holding stock for unpaid orders. WooCommerce settings (Products, Inventory) have “Hold stock”: how many minutes an unpaid order holds a product before it is cancelled. The default is 60 minutes. On Black Friday that is too long, because abandoned card payments lock stock someone else would buy. Lower it to 15 to 20 minutes.
- Guest checkout. Turn on the option that lets customers order without an account. Forced registration is one of the most common reasons for abandoned carts.
- Coupon or sale price. A cart-wide coupon (“20% off with code BF20”) does not change the product price on the site, so customers do not see the discount until they reach the cart. For products you feature on the banner, use sale prices. A coupon works well as an extra perk, for example for newsletter subscribers.
- Price history. A plugin that shows “Lowest price in the last 30 days” under the price takes care of the previous price automatically. Turn it on now, so it has 30 days of data by the sale.
If you want someone to check your site before the sale, from speed and caching to checkout and fiscal receipts, we do this as part of website maintenance and website speed optimisation.
Note: The calculator and advice apply the Serbian Trade Act (Official Gazette of the RS, No. 52/2019 and 35/2026). For the rules with quotations, see our guide to Black Friday 2026 in Serbia. Checked on 18 October 2026.
FAQ: Black Friday for web shops
When should I start preparing for Black Friday?
At least a month ahead. Price tracking must run for the 30 days before the sale starts, which means 28 October for a sale from 27 November. Finish technical checks by early November and start the announcement around 9 November.
Which previous price should I show on Black Friday?
The lowest price at which you offered the product in the 30 days before the sale started. For a product on offer for less than 30 days, the lowest price in a period of at least 15 days. The calculator in this article works out the percentage and writes the text for the product page.
Can I put “up to 50% off” on a banner?
Only if that biggest discount applies to at least one fifth of the products in your range. If it covers fewer products, show the exact discount per product or a lower percentage that covers one fifth of the range.
How long can a Black Friday sale last?
At most 31 days, because under the law Black Friday is a promotional sale. A sale of up to three days may show only the discount percentage, without the old and new price.
How do I make prices start and stop on their own?
In WooCommerce, enter dates next to the sale price. The price changes from 00:00 on the first day to 23:59 on the last, in the site’s time zone, so check that the zone is Belgrade. If you use page caching, clear the cache at midnight.
Can customers return goods bought on Black Friday?
Yes. For online purchases customers have 14 days to withdraw without giving a reason, and discounted goods are not an exception. Include this in your stock planning and customer answers.
