Black Friday Prep: Automating Discounts and Promotions in PrestaShop

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the most important sales events of the year for e-commerce. In Europe alone, online Black Friday sales exceeded 10 billion EUR in 2024. But the stores that win are not the ones with the biggest discounts — they are the ones with the best-prepared systems.

Start Planning Early

The biggest mistake PrestaShop store owners make is treating Black Friday as a last-minute event. Successful promotions require preparation that starts weeks in advance:

• 4 weeks before: Decide on your discount strategy, select products, and set profit margin floors.
• 3 weeks before: Configure all discount rules in PrestaShop and test thoroughly.
• 2 weeks before: Set up email campaigns, update banners, and prepare social media content.
• 1 week before: Load test your store, verify checkout flow, and enable all scheduled promotions.

Automating Discount Schedules

Manually activating and deactivating discounts at midnight is error-prone and stressful. Modern PrestaShop discount management should be fully automated:

• Scheduled start and end dates: Set your Black Friday discount to activate at 00:00 on Friday and deactivate at 23:59 on Monday. No manual intervention needed.
• Time-based flash sales: Create urgency with 2-hour flash deals that automatically rotate through different product categories.
• Tiered discounts: 10% off on Friday, 15% on Saturday, 20% on Sunday, 25% on Cyber Monday — all pre-scheduled.
• Automatic price restoration: When the promotion ends, prices revert instantly. No forgotten discounts eating into January margins.

Managing Discount Exclusions

Not everything should be discounted. Some products have thin margins, some are already on sale, and some are too new to discount. A robust exclusion system lets you:

• Exclude specific products or categories from store-wide promotions.
• Prevent discount stacking — when a customer has a loyalty discount and a Black Friday code, which one applies?
• Protect minimum margins — set a floor price below which no discount can push a product.
• Exclude products that are already on specific price rules.

Without proper exclusions, you risk scenarios where discounts stack unexpectedly and products sell below cost. This is a real problem that catches store owners off guard every Black Friday.

Creating Urgency That Converts

Discounts alone are not enough — you need urgency mechanics:

• Countdown timers: Show exactly how long the deal lasts. A visible timer increases conversion rates by 8-14%.
• Stock indicators: "Only 3 left at this price" drives action.
• Live purchase notifications: Showing that other people are buying creates social proof and FOMO simultaneously.

Performance Under Load

Black Friday traffic can be 5-10x your normal volume. Prepare by:

• Enabling OPcache and Memcached/Redis for session and object caching.
• Enabling CCC (Combine, Compress, Cache) for CSS and JavaScript.
• Optimizing images — every millisecond of load time costs conversions.
• Testing your checkout flow under simulated load.

Post-Black Friday: The Follow-Up

The sales event ends, but the opportunity does not. Customers acquired during Black Friday are your most valuable retargeting audience. Send follow-up emails, offer exclusive "thank you" discounts for January, and add them to your loyalty program. The real value of Black Friday is not the weekend sales — it is the customers you keep for the rest of the year.