Shopify BFCM 2026 Checklist: What Changed Since Last Year

Download the BFCM 2026 checklist (PDF)

When is BFCM 2026?

Thanksgiving is Thursday, November 26, 2026, Black Friday is November 27 and Cyber Monday is November 30. That gives you about six weeks from mid-October.

Last year set the bar. Shopify merchants sold $14.6 billion over BFCM 2025, up 27% on 2024, peaking at $5.1 million per minute at 12:01 p.m. ET on Black Friday. The average cart was $114.70, and 16% of orders were cross-border.

What changed on Shopify since BFCM 2025?

Twelve changes since last November affect how you run, measure and protect a Black Friday sale.

Market-driven shipping also started rolling out to existing stores on October 1, 2026, moving shipping settings into Markets. Every store moves by July 1, 2027. If yours has switched, recheck your BFCM shipping rates.

Why will your BFCM 2026 conversion rate look different?

Because Shopify changed how it counts sessions on September 21, 2026, not because shoppers changed. Shopify's default session reports now focus on human visitors and classify bot and system traffic more consistently. Shopify says sessions, conversion rate, add-to-cart rate, checkout conversion rate, bounce rate and similar metrics "might look different" after the update. Orders, sales and customer counts aren't affected.

What to do about it:

• Compare BFCM 2026 with 2025 on orders, revenue and average order value, which weren't affected.
• Treat September 21 as a new baseline for session-based metrics, as Shopify recommends. Compare BFCM conversion rate with October 2026, not with November 2025.
• Tell your team and investors before the weekend, so a jump or drop in conversion rate isn't misread as a result.

Is your store ready for AI shoppers this BFCM?

This is the first BFCM where AI agents can find, compare and buy from Shopify stores at scale. AI-referred traffic and orders to Shopify stores tripled year over year in Q2 2026. Three settings now decide how your sale appears to them:

• Agentic storefronts. On by default for eligible stores, sharing products with channels such as ChatGPT, Copilot, Google AI Mode and Meta. Turning a channel off can take up to 7 days, so decide by November 19 if you want anything off for Black Friday.
• Compare-at prices. Since October 9, AI tools can see your markdowns through Shopify Catalog, if compare-at sharing is on in Catalog Mapping. Make sure your compare-at prices are real reference prices.
• AI checkout. AI agents can complete checkout with the buyer's approval. Some agent checkouts don't fire your usual tracking pixels, so check your AI channel reports, not just GA4.

More detail: Meta Muse and Shopify agentic storefronts.

Your Shopify BFCM 2026 checklist, week by week

Now to November 1: fix what's broken

• Plus stores: confirm every former Shopify Script discount, shipping and payment rule has been rebuilt with Functions or an app.
• Check tracking on the Thank you page. Place a test order and confirm your ad platforms and analytics record the purchase.
• List your apps that use script tags. They still run until March 1, 2027, but ask each developer for their migration plan.
• Remove manual tax on US return shipping fees if you use Shopify Tax. Shopify starts taxing them on October 23.
• Recheck shipping rates if your store has moved to market-driven shipping.

November 2 to 15: test and set up

• A/B test your sale offer with Rollouts. For example, test 20% off against free gifts on part of your traffic. Partial-traffic tests run on the Online Store only.
• Test your sale theme with Rollouts against your current theme.
• Set holiday return windows with return window overrides for your BFCM collections.
• Set compare-at prices for every sale product, using genuine previous prices.
• Load up B2B catalogs with wholesale holiday pricing, if you sell B2B.

November 16 to 25: lock it down

• Decide your AI channel settings by November 19. Opt-outs can take up to 7 days.
• Schedule your discounts and theme changes in Rollouts so they go live at the right minute.
• Freeze the theme and apps. No new apps, theme edits or major settings changes after this point.
• Brief your team on the new conversion rate baseline.

November 26 to 30: run the weekend

• Watch orders, revenue and AOV as your main measures. Session-based metrics aren't comparable with last year.
• Check your AI channel orders in Shopify alongside GA4.
• Keep a rollback plan. Rollouts lets you end a scheduled change and return to your previous theme.

Download the BFCM 2026 checklist (PDF)

What should you not do before BFCM?

• Don't redesign your live theme in Canvas. A theme you edit in Canvas doesn't receive theme updates, and you can't download its files. Save Canvas for after the holidays. See Shopify Canvas: can AI replace your developer?.
• Don't start a test in the last week. A test needs enough orders to give a reliable answer. Start by mid-November.
• Don't turn off AI channels at the last minute. It can take up to 7 days to take effect.
• Don't judge the weekend on conversion rate alone. The session change makes year-over-year comparisons misleading.

Need help getting ready?

Solo Media Group is a Shopify Platinum Partner. For a pre-BFCM review of your tracking, Functions, Rollouts tests and AI channel settings, see our Shopify CRO service, or read our guide to Shopify conversion rate optimization.

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