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Black Friday has become the most anticipated and challenging event for any eCommerce. What started as a day of discounts in physical stores in the U.S. is now a global phenomenon that concentrates millions of transactions in just a few hours.
In 2025, online sales during Black Friday are expected to exceed $82 billion worldwide, with a growth of 7–10% compared to the previous year. In Spain, the average spend per person will be around €210, and 73% of purchases will be made from mobile devices. Additionally, 50% of shoppers will use “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) options, reflecting a shift in consumer habits.
This scenario brings huge opportunities but also critical risks: server overload, stock shortages, eroded margins, and dissatisfied customers. A small mistake can multiply tenfold due to the extraordinary volume of traffic and orders.
In this comprehensive guide, we’ll cover the four key areas to successfully tackle Black Friday:
- Technical preparation: Ensure your platform doesn’t crash.
- Operational and logistics preparation: Meet demand without compromising customer experience.
- Commercial preparation: Design profitable offers.
- Marketing and acquisition: Reach customers before the big day.
Why Is Black Friday a Critical Challenge for Any eCommerce?
Black Friday concentrates the greatest technical, logistical, and commercial pressure of the year. The extraordinary volume of traffic and orders means any error multiplies by ten. A server crash, a delivery delay, or unclear return policies can ruin weeks of preparation.
Competition is fierce: tight margins, aggressive campaigns, and hyper-connected customers comparing prices in real time. According to recent studies, 84% of online retailers participate in Black Friday, but only 50% of shoppers fully trust the deals, making transparency and reputation essential.
What to Expect on Black Friday?
During Black Friday, online stores experience drastic changes in their usual operations:
Traffic Spikes
Traffic doubles, and conversion rates increase by 79%, rising from 1.9% to 3.4% on average. However, 77% of first-time buyers do not return within the next 12 months, showing that customer loyalty remains a challenge during this campaign.
Unpredictable Demand
Top-selling products can sell out in hours, while others remain in stock. In Spain, the strongest categories are technology, fashion, footwear, home, and beauty. BigBuy’s catalog offers a wide selection of these categories so you can quickly add them to your inventory while ensuring the best margins.
Operational Pressure
More orders, more support inquiries, more returns. Everything multiplies and demands solid, agile processes.
Technical Preparation: How to Ensure Your eCommerce Doesn’t Crash During Black Friday?o se cae durante el Black Friday?
The foundation of Black Friday success is a robust platform. If your website fails, it can trigger the dreaded domino effect: lost sales, overwhelmed support teams, frustrated customers, and damage to your reputation. That’s why technical preparation is not optional—it’s critical.
Here are the essential pillars you need to review before the big day:
Hosting and Scalability
What to check:
- Type of hosting (shared, VPS, dedicated, or cloud).
- Ability to scale resources in real time.
- Active server monitoring.
Why it’s critical:
Traffic can multiply by 5 or more. If your hosting can’t scale, your site will crash at the worst possible moment.
Risks if not prepared:
✔ Website downtime
✔ Lost sales and damaged reputation
Actionable steps:
- Choose scalable hosting (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure).
- Enable real-time alerts to detect overloads.
- Run scalability tests before the event.
Speed and Performance
What to check:
- Page load time on mobile and desktop.
- Image and script weight.
- Cache and CDN activation.
Why it’s critical:
Every extra second reduces conversions. A 1-second delay can cut sales by 7%.
Risks if not prepared:
✔ Slow loading → cart abandonment
✔ SEO penalties
Actionable steps:
- Optimize images (WebP format).
- Minimize unnecessary scripts and enable lazy loading.
- Activate CDN (Cloudflare, Akamai).
- Test speed with Google PageSpeed Insights and GTMetrix.
Load and Stress Testing
What to check:
- Server capacity under extreme traffic.
- Checkout and payment gateway performance.
Why it’s critical:
Simulating traffic spikes prevents surprises. If checkout fails, you lose sales.
Risks if not prepared:
✔ Checkout crashes
✔ Errors in customer experience
Actionable steps:
- Use JMeter or LoadImpact to simulate thousands of users.
- Test with traffic five times higher than usual.
- Document results and fix bottlenecks.
Security and Payments
What to check:
- SSL certificate status.
- Anti-fraud systems in payment gateways (3D Secure).
- Automatic backups.
Why it’s critical:
Black Friday is prime time for cyberattacks and fraud.
Risks if not prepared:
✔ Data breaches
✔ Payment failures → loss of trust
Actionable steps:
- Implement DDoS protection and monitoring.
- Verify all payment methods work correctly.
- Schedule backups every few hours.
Technical Checklist for Your Website
✔ Scalable hosting with monitoring
✔ CDN and cache enabled
✔ Speed optimization (images, scripts)
✔ Load and stress tests completed
✔ Enhanced security (SSL, anti-fraud, backups)
Operational and Logistics Preparation: What Really Drives Success
Selling a lot on Black Friday means nothing if you can’t deliver properly. Efficient logistics is key to customer satisfaction today. In fact, informed and sustainable logistics often becomes the decisive factor for customer loyalty—much more than the product itself.
At BigBuy, we help thousands of sellers across Europe streamline their logistics with our dropshipping service. Have you heard about it?
What are the most important aspects to consider for logistics during Black Friday?
Stock Management and Demand Forecasting
Review your inventory control processes and product turnover to avoid stockouts. Analyze historical sales and local trends to anticipate order spikes, especially during campaigns like Black Friday, Christmas, or seasonal sales. Implement forecasting tools and ERP systems that allow real-time inventory adjustments. Set up automatic alerts for high-demand products and plan purchases with local suppliers to reduce replenishment times.
Logistics Coordination and Delivery Times
Evaluate your order preparation and shipping workflows, as well as the capacity of your logistics partners in Spain. Anticipate order peaks using forecasts based on campaigns, seasonality, and historical data. Minimize delays by implementing solutions such as dropshipping to increase capacity without raising fixed costs. Use advanced tracking tools and dashboards to monitor SLAs and optimize routes, prioritizing reliable carriers like Correos, SEUR, or MRW to ensure fast deliveries.
Return Policies and Incident Management
Define clear return processes and communicate deadlines transparently, adapting them to local eCommerce regulations. Anticipate increases in returns after campaigns or product launches through predictive analysis. Reduce friction by applying flexible policies and automating incident management with CRM systems or customer service platforms. Implement controls to detect patterns and reduce errors in order preparation, offering options such as home pickup to improve the customer experience.
Commercial Preparation: How to Define Profitable Discounts and Offers for Black Friday
It’s not just about lowering prices—it’s about doing so without compromising margins while protecting your brand and the shopping experience. Here are the most important aspects to consider when defining your discount and pricing strategy for Black Friday:
Catalog Selection and Margins
Before applying discounts, analyze your catalog and determine which products are truly profitable. How?
- Identify winning products: Not just best-sellers, but those with high turnover and good margins. For example, in a fashion eCommerce, accessories often have higher margins than main garments. BigBuy’s catalog selects high-demand products from top brands for you, so you always make the right choice. Check out our recommended winning products for Black Friday.
- Calculate margins before discounting: If a product has a 20% margin, a 30% discount means a loss. Use your ERP or a spreadsheet to simulate scenarios.
- Practical example: If you sell tech products, instead of discounting a smartphone by 40%, offer a bundle with a case and charger, keeping a positive margin.
Pricing Strategies and Promotional Bundles
Aggressive discounts aren’t always the best strategy. What works better?
- Create bundles that increase average order value: For example, in cosmetics, a “cream + serum + free shipping” bundle is more attractive than discounting each product separately.
- Avoid eroding profits: Calculate the overall margin of the bundle before launching it.
- Practical example: If your average ticket is €30, design bundles that raise it to €50 without compromising profitability.
CRO and Checkout: Reduce Friction Before the Big Day
High traffic is useless if customers abandon at checkout. How to reduce abandonment rates?
- Simplify the purchase process: Fewer steps, clear forms, and guest checkout options.
- Offer popular payment methods: In Spain, include Bizum, PayPal, and credit card, for example.
Marketing and Acquisition: How to Reach Customers Before Black Friday
Success doesn’t start on Friday—it starts weeks earlier with a marketing and acquisition strategy optimized for your customers.
Audience Building and VIP Lists
Segment customers and create exclusive lists for early offers. 93% of users want to know about promotions up to 4 weeks in advance.
Automations and Pre-Campaigns
Activate emails, SMS, and push notifications to build anticipation and drive traffic before the event.
Cart Recovery and Remarketing
Implement strategies to recover abandoned carts and attract undecided customers.
Black Friday is not just a date—it’s a stress test for any eCommerce. Preparing in the technical, operational, commercial, and marketing areas is the difference between maximizing sales or missing opportunities.
Those who plan ahead win. Start today and make sure your business shines during the most important campaign of the year.
Want to learn more about how to prepare your online store for Black Friday? Download our free ebook with a selection of recommendations to make your eCommerce stand out during the campaign.
And if you need to expand your catalog or improve your logistics for this key date, you can rely on BigBuy’s dropshipping and wholesale solutions.
