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Black Friday is a big deal for beauty brands. And the best sales often start with the work done weeks before the shopping rush.
Cosmetics was Shopify’s top-selling product category during Black Friday Cyber Monday 2025. But here’s the interesting part: brands offering the smallest discounts saw the fastest growth.
That’s good news for smaller beauty brands. There’s plenty of room to attract customers, make sales, and keep healthy profit margins along the way.
A good Black Friday marketing strategy starts with getting the basics right. Having enough stock, putting together offers people actually want, and giving customers a reason to come back.
And there’s more to the season than one busy weekend. December is full of gifting opportunities, while January is a chance to turn holiday shoppers into regular customers.
What’s worth preparing now? Here’s how beauty brands can make the most of Black Friday 2026 and the weeks around it.
Key Takeaways
A Black Friday strategy for beauty brands should cover September planning, Cyber Week, December gifting, and January sales.
Discounts of 20-30%, skincare bundles, and gifts with purchase can help protect profit margins.
Email, SMS, and influencer marketing help beauty brands reach customers across different channels and online stores.
A well-planned marketing strategy balances stock availability, profitable offers, and repeat purchases throughout the holiday season.
The Black Friday Season Spans More Than a Weekend
Black Friday weekend gets most of the attention, but people start buying gifts and beauty products well before the big weekend arrives, and a long time after it’s passed.
The Selfnamed BFCM 2026 Guide brings together US online retail data from 2025. The numbers show just how much spending happens throughout the holiday season:
$257.8 billion was spent online in the US during November and December.
Around 17% of that spending happened during the five days of Cyber Week.
$88.7 billion in US online sales happened in October alone.
Think about a customer who restocks their favorite moisturizer in October, buys a skincare gift set during Black Friday, and comes back in December for a present for a friend.
Each purchase has a different purpose. Someone buying everyday skincare has different priorities than someone looking for a holiday gift. Loyal customers may already know exactly what they want, while first-time buyers might need a little help choosing.
That gives you several opportunities to connect with people throughout the season.
A good Black Friday marketing strategy takes these buying habits into account, building interest early, making the most of Black Friday deals, and keeping sales going throughout the season.
Your Black Friday Marketing Strategy, Month by Month
Start planning early. Getting enough stock, creating gift sets, preparing emails, and making sure customers can actually buy them takes a considerably longer time than just adding discounts.
September: Choose Your Offers and Order Stock
Start by looking at your 2025 sales. Which products were popular? Which promotions brought in a healthy profit? Use what you learn to choose this year's offers and set sales targets.
Then take care of a few essentials:
Check your margins. Include product costs, packaging, shipping, advertising, and discounts.
Order stock early. Confirm supplier lead times and aim to place private label orders in September or October.
Think about gift sets. Collection boxes can turn skincare favorites into lovely gifts, while sample sets are great for trying something new. If you're planning holiday packaging, Selfnamed's Design Studio lets you prepare your product designs ahead of the rush.
Start growing your email and SMS lists. Offer early access to give people a reason to sign up.
Planning a bundle? Make sure there's enough stock of every product inside it. One missing serum can hold up the whole set.
October: Get the Campaign Ready
October is when your Black Friday marketing ideas start taking shape.
Sort your email list into loyal customers, general subscribers, and people who haven't bought anything in a while. That way, you can send offers that feel relevant to each group.
Prepare your emails, SMS messages, landing pages, ads, and product photos. Give influencers and affiliates time to create their content, and start sharing a few hints about what's coming.
Before the sale, try buying something from your own website on your phone. It's a simple way to catch checkout problems or discount codes that aren't working.
Early November: Build Some Excitement
Now people can start getting a closer look at what's coming.
Show off the gift sets, share a few skincare tips, and let loyal customers shop early. A short video showing how two products work together can give someone a much better idea of what they're buying.
Behind the scenes, finish checking your email and SMS schedule, test the links and offers, and get your paid ads running.
For salons and spas, have gift cards and treatment vouchers ready by early November. Clients might be happy to pick up a Christmas present while they're already there for an appointment.
Cyber Week: November 26-30
The big week is here! In 2026, Black Friday falls on November 27, Small Business Saturday on November 28, and Cyber Monday on November 30.
There's room to give each day a slightly different focus. Friday can feature your main offer, Saturday can highlight the story behind your independent beauty brand, and Monday can bring a fresh bundle or final-day deal.
Keep an eye on stock and sales throughout the five days, and answer customer questions quickly.
One handy Cyber Monday marketing idea: prepare a backup offer. If your bestselling serum sells out on Friday, you'll already have another bundle ready to feature.
December: Help People Find Their Gifts
December brings customers who are looking for presents, often with a budget and a delivery deadline in mind.
Make things easy with gift guides, clear shipping dates, and skincare sets at different price points. Gift cards and salon vouchers are especially useful once the last shipping dates have passed.
It's also a good time to thank recent buyers, share product tips, and reconnect with people who visited during Black Friday but didn't order.
While the campaign is still fresh in your mind, write down what worked. Which bundles sold out? Which emails brought in orders? Those notes will come in handy next year.
January: Give Customers a Reason to Come Back
The holiday rush may be over, but US orders can still peak around New Year's. Keep your bestsellers in stock so you don't miss that extra demand.
It's also a good time to reconnect with Black Friday customers. Share useful skincare tips, recommend products that complement what they've bought, and ask for reviews once they've had time to try everything.
Before planning the next campaign, look at what actually worked. Which offers brought in the most profit? Which new customers came back for another order? Those answers can make next year's Black Friday marketing strategy much stronger.
Want the full plan, including email schedules, pricing tips, and a ready-to-use checklist? Download our free BFCM 2026 Guide.
Price for a Good Margin
It's tempting to offer 50% off when every other brand seems to be running a huge sale. But a busy checkout means little if there's barely any profit left afterward.
For many beauty brands, 20-30% off is a sensible starting point for Black Friday deals. It's enough to make an offer attractive while leaving more room to cover product costs, packaging, and shipping.
And bigger discounts don't always bring better results. According to Klaviyo's 2025 BFCM data, brands offering the smallest discounts saw 14% year-over-year growth. That's a useful reminder for ecommerce brands competing with much larger online stores.
Before cutting prices further, try making the offer more appealing:
Create routine bundles. Pair a cleanser, serum, and moisturizer at a better combined price. Customers get a complete routine, and the brand sells three products together.
Add a gift with purchase. A mini product or sample set can make an order feel special without reducing the price of every item.
Use flash sales selectively. A short promotion on a particular product can drive sales without putting the entire collection on discount.
For example, a serum selling for $30 with a $12 product cost leaves $18 before other expenses. At 20% off, that drops to $12. At 40% off, it drops to just $6. And shipping, packaging, and advertising still need to be paid for.
The best Black Friday promotions give customers a good reason to buy while leaving enough profit to make the extra orders worthwhile.
Black Friday Marketing Ideas by Channel
People discover beauty products in different ways. Some love getting skincare recommendations by email. Others trust their favorite creators. And salon clients often buy products their therapist recommends.
The best Black Friday marketing campaigns make use of those habits. Whether you're selling through your own website, marketplaces, or in person, it's worth thinking about which sales channels make the most sense for your brand.
Email: Make Every Email Worth Opening
A good Black Friday email marketing campaign gives people a reason to open each message. Sending the same sale announcement seven times gets boring pretty quickly.
Try this seven-email sequence:
A little preview. Show one product or gift set that will be included in the sale.
VIP early access. Give loyal customers a chance to shop first.
The big launch. Share the main offer, prices, and a clear link to the shop.
A closer look. Feature a skincare routine or explain what's inside a bundle.
Customer favorites. Highlight genuine reviews and bestselling products.
Cyber Monday. Share the final day's offer.
Last chance. Remind people when the sale ends.
You can also make skincare email marketing campaigns more personal by looking at what customers have bought before. Someone who loves your moisturizer might be interested in the matching serum. A new subscriber may find a starter set more appealing.
SMS: A Few Good Messages Go a Long Way
SMS works well for quick updates, especially when there's a deadline.
Use it to share an early-access link, announce a short flash sale, or remind customers that an offer is ending soon. Keep the message short and link straight to the relevant product.
One useful Black Friday marketing tip: if someone has already bought the featured set, leave them out of the reminders to buy it. They'll appreciate receiving fewer unnecessary messages.
Micro-Influencers: Let Customers See the Products
A beauty product is much easier to imagine using when someone shows it in real life.
A creator applying a moisturizer, showing the texture of a serum, or talking through their morning routine can answer questions that product photos might miss.
Look for micro-influencers whose followers are genuinely interested in the kind of skincare you sell. Read their comments and see how people respond to their recommendations.
Let creators speak in their own voice, too. A natural product demonstration will feel much more convincing than a scripted sales pitch.
Affiliates: Give Partners Something Easy to Recommend
Affiliates can introduce your products to people who already trust their recommendations.
Make their job easier by choosing a few products to focus on. A simple starter routine, a gift set, or a popular serum is easier to talk about than a long list of Black Friday deals.
Give partners their own tracking links and clear commission details. After the campaign, check how many orders each partner brought in and whether those sales were profitable.
A smaller partner who brings in regular customers may be worth keeping long after Black Friday.
Salons and Spas: Make Recommendations Part of the Experience
Salons and spas have a lovely advantage – clients can try products during their treatments and ask questions before buying.
If a therapist uses a moisturizer during a facial, they can explain why they chose it and recommend it for home use. With private label skincare for salons, you can even offer those products under your own salon brand. A small display near reception makes it easy for clients to pick up their favorites on the way out.
For holiday gifting, try pairing a treatment voucher with a travel-size skincare product. The customer has something ready to give, and the recipient gets to discover the salon.
Black Friday Marketing Tips From 2025’s Winners
Some beauty brands got creative with their Black Friday campaigns in 2025. And there are a few ideas and Black Friday tips smaller brands can borrow without needing a huge marketing budget.
The Ordinary. Ran its Slowvember sale with 23% off throughout November, then closed its stores and website on Black Friday. Giving customers a whole month to shop is an interesting alternative to the usual weekend rush.
La Mer. Offered luxury minis and gifts with qualifying orders. For a smaller skincare brand, adding a sample or travel-size product could make an offer feel more special without a bigger discount.
Rare Beauty. Gave customers $20 off a $50 order when they donated $10 to the Rare Impact Fund. It's a lovely way to connect a sale with something the brand genuinely cares about.
Lush. Used its email list, app, and rewards program to stay in touch with customers throughout the Black Friday weekend. It's a good reminder of how valuable those existing customer relationships can be during a busy sale.
The interesting part is how different these offers were. A month-long sale, a little extra gift, a good cause, or a message to loyal customers can all give people a reason to buy.
Lock Supply Before You Lock Your Offer
Imagine having your best Black Friday sale yet, only to run out of your bestselling moisturizer when customers come back to buy it again.
Getting stock levels right is one of the trickiest parts of the season. Order too little, and you miss sales. Order too much, and you're left with products that may need another discount to sell.
As Kristaps Birmanis, CEO of Selfnamed, explains:
“A big part of your success this BFCM week comes down to supply management. Finding the sweet spot between understocking and overstocking is one of the magic ingredients. You never want to run out of product, but you also do not want your discounts to last forever.”
And the stock plan needs to cover more than Black Friday. December gift orders and the New Year rush can keep suppliers busy well after the sale ends. In fact, our production orders from US beauty brands at Selfnamed reached 2.9 times their usual level during New Year week (December 29-January 4).
That's a good reason to think about January demand before deciding how much stock to put into Black Friday promotions.
Before launching an offer:
check how much stock is available;
how quickly your supplier can replenish it;
and what you'll need for December and January.
If you're selling gift bundles, remember that running out of one product can leave the whole set unavailable.
A little planning ahead can help keep bestsellers available when customers return. And that's good for customer retention long after the Black Friday sale ends.
Build a Black Friday Strategy for Beauty Brand That Pays Off
A successful Black Friday feels great when the orders start coming in. Even better when those sales bring healthy profits and customers who want to shop with the brand again.
And that's worth remembering when putting together a Black Friday marketing strategy. The biggest discount isn't always the most exciting offer. A skincare set that makes gifting easier, a little extra gift with an order, or early access for loyal customers can give people a good reason to buy.
There's also plenty of room to have fun with it. Some of the best Black Friday promotion ideas come from knowing what customers love about the products and finding a fresh way to share that with them.
As the holiday shopping season gets closer, choose a Black Friday strategy that suits the size of the business, the budget, and the people buying the products. Good customer engagement can be as simple as answering a skincare question, helping someone choose a gift, or checking in after their first order.
Because when the Black Friday banners come down and the last orders have shipped, it's lovely to have more to show for the season than a busy sales weekend. Happy customers, healthy margins, and a brand they're excited to come back to.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Start in September, especially if you need to order products or packaging. October is a good time to prepare emails, ads, and other marketing channels. By early November, everything should be ready so you can start showing customers what's coming.
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The numbers suggest otherwise. Cosmetics was Shopify's top-selling category during Black Friday Cyber Monday 2025. Black Friday shoppers are still spending, although a good offer matters more than ever. For smaller brands, it's worth trying promotional strategies that suit their products and profit margins.
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Try putting together a skincare set for a morning routine, adding a surprise mini to orders, or giving loyal customers early access. Salons could pair a treatment voucher with a skincare gift. These simple promotional strategies can help drive sales and encourage customer engagement throughout the holiday shopping season.
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Around 20-30% is a useful starting point, depending on your costs. You could also offer a bundle price or a free mini with qualifying orders. Both can help drive sales while keeping more profit from your marketing efforts and Black Friday campaign.
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