E-commerce checklist for Black Friday, Cyber Monday and 11.11
November's big sale days —11.11, Black Friday and Cyber Monday— squeeze a shop's busiest traffic of the year into a few days. In 2026, Black Friday falls on 27 November and Cyber Monday on 30 November. This checklist helps you work through infrastructure, payments, stock, discount rules, advertising and security preparation in order.
- 01
Infrastructure and speed: load test in advance
On campaign day, traffic can rise to several times its normal level. At least two weeks before the campaign, run a load test that includes the checkout step; compress images, check caching and content delivery network settings, and remove unnecessary plugins and tracking codes. Find out in advance how your hosting plan behaves under sudden load and how to reach its support team when something goes wrong.
- 02
Payments and checkout
Test your payment provider's peak-day limits and the 3D Secure flow, and offer more than one payment method. Surprise shipping fees in the cart and long forms increase abandonment; state shipping costs and delivery times clearly on the product page. Check in advance whether coupon codes can be combined with each other and with campaign prices.
- 03
Stock, shipping and returns
A product that is sold but not in stock is the campaign's most expensive mistake: check stock synchronisation across all channels, including marketplaces. Discuss pick-up capacity for campaign week with your shipping company and be honest with customers about possible delays. State return conditions and deadlines clearly on the campaign page.
- 04
Rules for discount prices
In Turkey, from 1 August 2026, the pre-discount price shown for goods must be the lowest price applied in the ten days before the discount starts; for services and perishable goods such as fruit and vegetables, the price immediately before the discounted price is used (Regulation on Commercial Advertising and Unfair Commercial Practices, Official Gazette 1 July 2026). In the European Union, the prior price in discount announcements is the lowest price applied in at least the 30 days before the reduction. Raising prices before a campaign and then showing a discount is misleading and can lead to sanctions; check local rules in other countries too.
- 05
Advertising and e-mail calendar
Automated bidding systems need time to learn; rather than launching campaign ads on the last day, warm them up a few weeks ahead and prepare retargeting audiences and your product feed in advance. Because competition rises on campaign days, click costs may increase, so plan the budget day by day. Let your e-mail list know in advance and check your SPF, DKIM, DMARC and one-click unsubscribe settings before sending.
- 06
Security and fraud
Busy days are on attackers' calendars too: fraudulent orders with stolen cards, mass login attempts on customer accounts, fake campaign sites imitating your brand and phishing e-mails are common in this period. Two-step verification on admin accounts, rate limiting and bot protection on the login page, rules for suspicious orders and up-to-date software reduce this risk. Inform your customers in advance about your official address and channels.
- 07
After the campaign
When the campaign ends, restore prices and campaign pages on time, respond quickly to returns and complaints and measure the results: which channel, which product and which message brought profit? A thank-you and reminder flow that brings new customers back for a second purchase determines the campaign's real gain.
Related pages
Articles that complete this topic, plus the matching service page.
Let's talk about your project.
Tell us what you need; we will define the scope together.