Ready for BFCM? 7 seller tips to help you crush the holiday rush

Black Friday is the Super Bowl of ecommerce. But most sellers only play defense.

It’s the biggest weekend of the year and every minute counts. The brands that win are the ones who’ve tightened up the fundamentals before the madness hits instead of scrambling at the last minute. 

The biggest wins on BFCM usually trace back to the prep work. Clean data, sharp pricing, and synced inventory beat any last-minute promo panic. Don’t worry though, there’s still time to make meaningful changes before the rush hits. 

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to get ready, fast:

👉 How to audit your listings for maximum visibility
👉 Smart pricing and inventory moves to protect your margins
👉 Why now’s the perfect time to expand to new marketplaces
👉 And how to turn all that prep into sales with strong marketing and site strategy

Even small fixes today can lead to big wins when the traffic starts rolling in.

📌 Mark your calendar. Key dates to know:

🛒 Walmart:
• November 14-16: First Black Friday event
• November 25-30: Second Black Friday Event
• December 1-2: Cyber Monday deals

🛒 Target:
• TBD (likely early November): Early Black Friday sale window

🛒 Amazon:
• TBD (expected late November): “Black Friday Week”

📆 Other key dates:
• November 28 (Thursday): Thanksgiving
• November 29 (Friday): Black Friday
• December 2 (Monday): Cyber Monday

We’ll update this list as more marketplaces announce their BFCM calendars.‍

1. Audit your listings

Your listings are your first impression. Make them count.

This is where discoverability lives or dies. A few tweaks now can make a massive impact later.

When shoppers start hunting for deals, you want to show up fast, look good, and close the sale. But messy or incomplete listings can silently tank your visibility before a customer even sees your product. This is where small fixes create outsized returns: every keyword, image, and attribute you polish now improves discoverability when competition peaks.

Make sure your titles and attributes are dialed in for your top SKUs. That’s where 80% of your traffic likely comes from. On marketplaces like Walmart and Target Plus, even one missing attribute can push your listing to the back pages. Check compliance with Walmart’s V5 spec (it’s not optional anymore) and confirm that every product has the right category mapping, bullet points, and rich content.

Zentail makes it easy to stay on top of changing standards across all your channels. Our SMART Type technology automatically maps products to the correct category structure, saving you from the time sink of fixing miscategorized listings manually.

What to check:

• Optimize titles, attributes, and keywords (especially for top SKUs). Include high-intent holiday terms like Black Friday deal or Cyber Monday gift.
• Confirm compliance with each channel’s latest requirements (Walmart V5, Amazon A+).
• Fix suppressed or incomplete listings. These quietly kill sales.
• Check images, bullet points, and descriptions for accuracy, benefits, and urgency.
• Add mobile-friendly, high-quality photos. A large portion of holiday traffic comes from mobile.

💡Pro tip: Sellers who’ve upgraded their listings to Walmart’s V5 format have seen 5–10% higher visibility and sales almost immediately. 

2. Tighten your pricing strategy

Stay competitive without racing to the bottom.

Pricing is one of the fastest levers you can pull before Q4, and one of the easiest to mess up under pressure. It’s not just about dropping your price; it’s about using data to move smarter than everyone else. Dynamic repricing tools give you that edge during BFCM by adjusting in real time based on demand and competitor behavior – so you’re competitive and profitable.

As Jordan Schanzer, CEO of Flashpricer, shared with us in a recent AMA: “Black Friday and Cyber Monday are bananas. They can also be some of your most profitable days if you manage them right. Be glued to your repricer and your order system. Watch what’s selling and at what prices, and use that info to squeeze extra margin while demand is high.”

Jordan’s main point: You don’t always need to discount. In some cases, it’s actually the best time to raise prices slightly within your limits. When demand spikes, your repricer can automatically capture higher margins without losing sales. The key is setting smart min/max thresholds and letting automation do the heavy lifting.

What to do: 

• Review and test your pricing rules now, not the week of.
• Use Flashpricer’s AI repricing to react instantly to market movement.
• Protect your margins by setting minimum price thresholds.
• Avoid “panic discounts” that slash profit unnecessarily.
• Bundle products or offer tiered discounts that increase average order value.

Jordan’s advice: “There’s always a learning phase before you hit the sweet spot. The sooner you start, the sooner you’ll get reliable results.”

3. Get your inventory synced and ready

Avoid the out-of-stock scramble

Running out of your best sellers on Black Friday is every seller’s nightmare and it happens more often than you’d think. Inventory misalignment across channels can cause overselling, cancellations, and even account issues. The goal is simple: know what you have, where it is, and how fast you can ship it.

Start by forecasting demand for your hero SKUs using last year’s data and early trends. Double-check your fulfillment workflows, especially if you rely on multiple 3PLs or warehouses, to make sure they can handle the spike.

This is where Veeqo shines. It connects all your fulfillment operations in one place, helping you track orders, shipments, and stock in real time. That visibility helps you respond quickly if something starts running low or a warehouse hits a bottleneck.

What to check:

• Forecast demand for top SKUs based on historical data.
• Sync quantities across all marketplaces to avoid overselling.
• Verify that fulfillment partners (MCF, FBA, or Veeqo) are ready for volume.
• Prepare backup fulfillment plans for high-volume items.

💡 Pro tip: Walmart now allows Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF), which is a great shortcut for sellers who want to test Walmart quickly without splitting inventory.

4. Expand your reach

Play offense and get your products in front of new shoppers. 

Almost a third of all ecommerce sales happen between October and December, which makes Q4 the perfect time to test a new marketplace or launch a new product. Higher traffic means faster feedback, more reviews, and more data to guide next year’s growth.

If you’ve been considering a new channel, now’s the time to go for it. Platforms like Walmart, Target Plus, and SHEIN are running early Black Friday events and pushing marketplace growth harder than ever. With tools like Zentail, you can launch listings on these platforms in days – not weeks – while keeping product data synced across every channel.

Even if your listings aren’t 100% perfect, go live with what you can. Expanding your footprint intelligently almost always leads to higher sales and better insight into what resonates with new audiences. Every day you wait is a day of lost revenue.

💡 Pro tip: Walmart is running two early Black Friday events before Cyber Monday this year. Getting your listings live now gives you multiple chances to capture that surge in traffic.

5. Plan your marketing and site experience

Because great listings don’t matter if no one sees them.

Once your operations are locked in, shift focus to visibility and conversion. This is when you turn all that prep into actual traffic and sales.

Start with your email marketing. As Ryan Berg, founder of TALENTA Commerce, puts it, “Email is your bridge.” It’s the one channel that cuts through marketplace silos and lets you own the customer relationship. If you only set up one thing before Black Friday, make it a post-purchase flow that thanks new buyers and asks for a quick review.

Here are a few quick wins to set up this week:

• Send a “get ready” teaser to build anticipation.
• Offer early-access or loyalty-only deals to reward repeat buyers.
• Segment your list so high-value customers get first dibs.
• Schedule a post-purchase review email to capture feedback while your brand is fresh in mind.

Email is still one of the highest-ROI channels in ecommerce, and it’s the most direct way to bring customers back to your DTC site.

Next, plan your ads. Test creative and audience targeting now before costs spike closer to Thanksgiving. Leverage AI-driven optimization tools from Meta or Google to stretch your budget further.

Starting early almost always wins. Once the week of Black Friday hits, ad costs climb fast and it gets harder to break through the noise. Launching your campaigns a week or so earlier (around November 21) gives you time to test creative, warm up audiences, and double down on what’s performing before everyone else floods the feed.

Finally, make sure your website is ready to convert. Test on desktop and mobile. Run a quick check with Google’s Core Web Vitals to confirm your site loads fast and looks clean. Simplify your checkout: offer guest checkout, digital wallets, and “Buy Now, Pay Later” options to remove friction.

💡 Pro tip: Gen Z shoppers are heavily influenced by creators. Even one short UGC video or influencer shout-out can outperform traditional ads during Black Friday weekend.

6. Test and monitor early

Catch small issues before they turn into lost sales.

Treat early November like a dress rehearsal. Run a small promo to confirm that everything works:

• Are your listings visible and showing up where they should?
• Are your promos applying correctly at checkout?
• Is your inventory syncing in real time across every channel?
• Is your checkout process running smoothly from start to finish?

Set up dashboards to monitor performance throughout the month. Track listing errors, suppression issues, and fast-moving SKUs daily. If you’re using Zentail, you can view all your marketplaces in one dashboard, making it easier to spot trends before they become problems.

Assign a point person (or a small team) to monitor performance during Black Friday weekend. Even a few quick mid-day adjustments to listings or pricing can make a major difference.

7. Keep momentum after the sale

Don’t stop when the sale ends.

Once the rush fades, the work isn’t over. BFCM often bring a wave of first-time buyers. Your next job is turning them into loyal customers.

Follow up with thank-you emails or exclusive post-sale offers. Ask for reviews while your brand is still fresh in their minds. And don’t forget to analyze performance:

• Which channels or promos delivered the highest profit?
• Which SKUs outperformed expectations?
• Where did you see the most fulfillment or data issues?

The insights you gather now will shape your Q1 strategy and set the tone for next year’s holiday prep.

You’ve still got time to win BFCM

Black Friday doesn’t reward the biggest catalog or deepest discount, it rewards readiness. When your listings are clean, your pricing is sharp, and your channels are synced, you’re ready to win. Even small fixes now can unlock major growth when traffic peaks.

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Need help getting ready? Zentail can help you fix listings, sync inventory, and expand to new channels before the rush hits. Let's talk!