BFCM (Black Friday and Cyber Monday) is a major sale event that marks the start of the year-end shopping season, and it's a great opportunity for consumers to find bargains. During this period, online shops in particular run special discounts and promotions, and many consumers try to get their hands on attractive products. In this article, we introduce how to make the most of Shopify for BFCM and recommend apps, along with tips for building an effective sales strategy.
What Is BFCM (Black Friday and Cyber Monday)?
What Is BFCM?
BFCM is short for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, referring to the major retail sale event held in the retail industry from late November through early December. During this period, many stores and online shops run special discounts and promotions, making it a great opportunity for consumers to find bargains.
What Is Black Friday?
Black Friday is a major sale held every year on the day after Thanksgiving, the fourth Thursday of November. In 2025, it falls on Friday, November 28. This sale began in Philadelphia in the 1960s. The name comes from the way the streets became crowded and looked "black" with shoppers, as well as from stores turning a profit ("in the black").
What Is Cyber Monday?
Cyber Monday is a major online shopping sale held on the Monday following Thanksgiving. In 2025, it falls on Monday, December 1. This sale started in 2005 to promote online shopping. The name "cyber" refers to the internet, and it has become popular as an opportunity to easily buy great deals amid a busy daily schedule.
What's the Difference Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the two biggest sale events representing the US retail industry. Each has its own distinct characteristics.
Black Friday
- Timing: The day after Thanksgiving (fourth Thursday of November)
- Characteristics: Originally a large-scale sale centered on physical stores
- History: A traditional sale that has continued since the 1950s
Cyber Monday
- Timing: The Monday after Thanksgiving
- Characteristics: A big sale for online shops
- History: Started around 2005
The Line Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday Is Blurring
In recent years, the line between Black Friday and Cyber Monday has become blurred. With the spread of online shopping, many online sales are now also run during Black Friday, and sale periods have expanded so that the two events increasingly overlap. This shift has allowed consumers to enjoy bargain shopping over a longer period of time.
7 Points for a Successful BFCM
Prepare Thoroughly in Advance
Starting your preparations one to two months in advance is the first step to success. At this stage, you need to optimize inventory management, secure sufficient stock of popular products, and prepare for risks that may arise in the supply process. At the same time, you should plan and prepare to execute a comprehensive promotion plan that makes use of social media and email.
Think Through Your Sales Strategy
It's important to think through an effective sales strategy. Clarify what you'll sell during the BFCM period — whether you want to clear out excess inventory, further boost sales of your best-selling products, or incorporate the latest consumer trends.
Research Your Competitors
Competitor analysis is also essential. Research what kinds of sales other shops have run in the past, and find ideas you can apply to your own strategy.
Promote via Social Media and Email Newsletters
Run effective promotions through social media and email newsletters. Rather than simply announcing your sale, it's important to include appealing visuals and copy that capture users' interest.
Improve Your Ecommerce Site's Speed
Your ecommerce site's speed is also an important factor. Since traffic spikes during the BFCM period, improve your site's load speed so users don't leave.
Get Your Shipping Operations in Order
You should also review your shipping operations. Since you'll need to ship a large number of products in a short period, consider hiring temporary staff if you're short-handed, and set up an efficient shipping system.
Prepare a Follow-Up System for After the Sale
Following up after the sale is also important. Gather customer feedback and use it to improve your next sale. You should also make upsell and cross-sell offers to drive further sales, while encouraging repeat purchases from new customers through loyalty program invitations. In addition, collect and analyze this year's results as data to inform next year's strategy.
Promotional Ideas to Boost Purchase Intent During BFCM
It's no exaggeration to say that how much success a store achieves during the BFCM period depends on its advance preparation. In this section, we introduce some promotional ideas that are useful for boosting consumers' purchase intent.
Offer Great Discounts
The simplest and most effective method is a price cut. Lowering your selling price may reduce your profit margin, but you can expect overall revenue to increase by boosting the number of units sold. Try out discount methods suited to your products, such as "X% off," "X yen off," or "buy 2, get 1 free."
The blog article below introduces recommended discount apps for Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
Increase Reward Rates Such as Points
A points program looks similar to a discount but has a different effect. By rewarding points while keeping your price the same, you can increase brand loyalty. Be sure to make use of this for your BFCM promotions.
The blog article below introduces recommended points apps for Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
Run Time- or Quantity-Limited Sales
If a large discount is difficult, you can limit the sale period or quantity instead. Creating a sense of exclusivity with a "flash sale" or "first 50 customers only" offer allows you to run an effective promotion while protecting your margins.
The blog article below introduces recommended apps for setting purchase quantity limits on Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
Offer Limited-Edition Products
If you want to protect your brand image while generating fresh buzz, prepare special BFCM-exclusive items or colors. Limited-edition products capture the hearts of core fans and boost purchase intent.
Run Member-Only Sales and Member-Only Offers
Running a special sale exclusive to members can be expected to provide benefits to existing customers while attracting new members. You can boost customer loyalty by creating a sense of exclusivity through member-only early access sales, additional discounts, or exclusive products. You can also use member data to offer personalized deals.
The blog article below introduces how to run member-only sales and member-only offers on Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
Give Away Freebies
Giving customers a small freebie with their purchase can boost purchase intent while also improving your brand image. Consider a variety of freebies, such as Black Friday-themed items or product samples.
The blog article below introduces recommended apps for distributing freebies on Shopify. Please use it as a reference.
Prepare Lucky Bags
Lucky bags (fukubukuro) are often associated with New Year's sales, but they're also popular during BFCM. Build excitement around the event with the thrill of not knowing what's inside.
Recommended Shopify Apps for BFCM
RuffRuff 予約販売 | For Member-Only Sales and Offers
RuffRuff 予約販売 is a Shopify app that makes it easy to offer pre-orders on your Shopify store. By making good use of this app, you can also run a variety of sales such as "limited-time sales," "limited-time offers," "coming soon announcements," "recurring sales," "member-only sales," "VIP-only sales," and "deferred payment." It also includes many unique features not found in other pre-order apps, such as "deferred payment," which lets you collect payment before the product ships.
It has also earned "Built for Shopify" status, Shopify's official mark of the highest-quality apps that meet standards for speed, ease of use, and reliability.
With product card badges in RuffRuff 予約販売, you can display text such as "Limited-time sale" on product images on collection pages. Product card badges are available on the Starter plan or higher and must be configured in both the app settings and the relevant rules.
(An example of a BFCM sale using the legacy pre-order badge in 2024. The legacy badge was retired on October 5, 2026.)
Source: Theragun official site
RuffRuff Order Limits | For Purchase Quantity Limits
RuffRuff Order Limits is fully localized for Japanese and is the first Shopify app in Japan to use the Cart and Checkout Validation API.
With this app, you can set a wide range of quantity limits, such as "up to 1 per order," "from 3 per order," "from 2 to 5 per order," or "in multiples of a specified quantity (such as 2 or 3 at a time)." Beyond quantity limits, it also offers many other features, including amount limits, translation, restriction range settings, product messaging, and design customization.
RuffRuff Selling Periods | For Limited-Time Sales
RuffRuff Selling Periods is a selling period app that lets you set a start and end date for sales on a per-variant basis.
It's fully localized for Japanese and, with simple setup, makes it easy to announce upcoming products or run limited-time sales. It's also the first selling-period app in Japan to use the Cart and Checkout Validation API, so it can prevent purchases outside the selling period even in cases that existing apps can't handle.
RuffRuff Order Bonus | For Freebie Distribution and Sales
RuffRuff Order Bonus is a Shopify app that lets you run a variety of reward promotions based on any condition you choose. You can flexibly set up a wide range of benefits, from discount promotions such as free shipping for VIP members only, discounts by member rank, and volume discounts, to member-only gift distribution, sample distribution on purchase of specific products, and freebie distribution for purchases over 10,000 yen.
Since it allows detailed conditional branching based on number of purchases, purchase amount, member attributes, product conditions, season, first-come-first-served order, and more, it's also ideal for special campaigns during the BFCM period. Because it was developed by a Japanese company, it comes with robust Japanese-language support, so it's safe to use even if you're not comfortable with English.
The blog article below introduces how to distribute freebies using RuffRuff Order Bonus. Please use it as a reference.
Conclusion
BFCM is a prime opportunity to draw out consumers' purchase intent to the fullest, and advance preparation is the key to success. By making use of the Shopify apps and promotional strategies introduced in this article, you can boost sales and improve customer satisfaction. By carefully planning and executing each step — competitor analysis, effective promotion, optimizing inventory management, and so on — you can maximize your results during the BFCM period. It's important to accumulate this experience as data for your next sale, aiming for further improvement.
Finally, the blog article below introduces recommended apps by category beyond BFCM, including apps for "customer acquisition," "sales growth," and "blog content enhancement." Please use it as a reference.
