Amazon Black Friday preparation checklist

Here’s the TL;DR checklist, with a more robust response below.

1. Submit deals
2. Adjust Amazon Ads
3. Check Amazon listings
4. Monitor your inventory
5. Don’t focus all your efforts on Black Friday.

1. Submit your deals before the deadline.

In 2024, you’re too late to do this as the deadline was on September 30th (give us a message if you’re panicking that you’ve missed this.) But this is something to keep in mind for Amazon’s Black Friday in 2025.

Deals should always be submitted ahead of time and Amazon will give deadlines a few months before.
You can make use of the several promos Amazon offers as well as run your own lightning deals such as buy one get one free. Haven’t offered free shipping before? Why not use this as a strategy to stand out against your competitors? Also, don’t forget to increase bids or push budgets for products within your ad campaigns and push up-sell & cross-sell sales.

To set up your deals in 2025, simply go to Amazon Seller Central, open the Deals dashboard, and choose Black Friday or Cyber Monday from the upcoming events. Then, select one of them in the scheduled box. Only listings eligible for deals will appear in the Deals dashboard. If a product is not eligible for deals, there are other promotion types available, such as Prime Exclusive Discounts or Vouchers.

2. Adjust your Amazon ads

You’ll want to adjust your ads roughly two weeks before Black Friday and ensure you have a post-Black Friday strategy as well.

Focus your ad strategy on the few days surrounding the weekend to maximise profit. Ensure maximum conversions by optimising your ad campaigns regularly and increase bids on top-performing keywords.

Don’t run out of budget during the busy periods and when increasing your ad budgets don’t just add significant budgets into your ads at the start of the weekend.

Try to encourage even spend: set an account-level budget, so you don’t overspend, then monitor & increase budgets regularly throughout the day. It’s key to reduce ad spend after the weekend too so that you don’t waste money and overspend post-Black Friday & Cyber Monday. It’s about finding the right balance so you don’t lose the post-weekend purchasing buzz.

For a deeper dive into this, see our top tips for increasing sales on Black Friday.

3. Check Amazon listings

This is the biggest shopping event of the year (sorry to keep repeating this line but we want to drill this home) so having your listings optimised is crucial. The overall purpose of optimising your Amazon content on product listings is to be in line with the algorithm but it also builds customer trust and is a reflection of your brand – you have potentially more eyes visiting your store, so you want to make sure it’s the best it can be. (It should be anyway, but let’s assume it is and this is just a friendly reminder to double-check)

Check your –

1. Images are high-quality and it’s clear what product you are selling. Main product images should be on a white background to comply with Amazon’s guidelines
2. Descriptions – Bullet points are useful here to break down USPs and information clearly.
3. A+ Content is being used to its full potential.
4. Titles are clear, concise and not cluttered with useless information.
5. Insert keywords into your titles, descriptions and bullet points.

4. Monitor your inventory

Don’t get caught up in the rush to sell, sell, sell, and forget to check the basics—such as ensuring you have enough inventory in stock to support your sales goals. ‘Understock’ is a dreaded word when it comes to Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

To avoid this, review historical sales data, noting past performance during these events and any recent trends in customer behavior. While you want enough supply to meet demand, overstocking can lead to surplus inventory after the event—so it’s a fine balance.

Ensure your inventory aligns with your ad strategy so you don’t waste budget on out-of-stock products!

Please note that Amazon is processing inbound inventory more slowly due to increased sales during Black Friday and Christmas. If inventory is not sent on time, it may not be processed by fulfillment centers in time for Black Friday. The deadline for the U.S. was October 19, and for the U.K., October 31.

5. And finally, don’t focus all your efforts on “Black Friday”

That statement seems a bit contradictory given the name of this article, but hear us out. Many brands become overwhelmed with the Black Friday concept and focus all resources and efforts on one day.

Amazon brands are using the whole week to capitalise on consumer buying behaviour so kick-start your strategy now and keep it in place until at least a day or two after Cyber Monday to take advantage of the halo effect as we move into December.

That being said, don’t overspend – monitor your budgets closely and reduce where necessary.

Our thoughts

A quick handy checklist as you prepare for Black Friday, we also always find it useful to check the results of the previous years to use when creating your strategies and preparing for the upcoming Black Friday. While there may be some slightly different trends, there can be a lot of learnings you can draw from.

Need our help?

Need to understand the Amazon algorithm in more depth and how these tactics look in real life? Our team of Amazon experts can do just that! Give us a call or send us a message to start your Amazon journey today.

Who are we?

This Is Unicorn is a full-service agency, supporting brands on Amazon. Our services are tailored for your brand. We help Amazon Sellers & Vendors like you to harness the power of the platform for growth. By working with you — not for you — we’re able to tailor and implement an Amazon strategy specific to your brand. Grow your performance with a great Amazon experience, done the Unicorn way.