11.11, Black Friday and the New Year season give a seller the most profitable weeks of the year — and the most expensive mistakes. You prepare for the peak a month ahead: stock, price, card, ads. Here is the preparation broken down stage by stage, from inbound shipments to the post-mortem.
Why preparation decides the outcome
During a peak everything rises at once: traffic, competition for impressions, bids in the auction. A product card that enters a sale event with no stock, a raw price history or a weak main image gets less from the platform than it could have — and competitors collect its demand in the meantime.
One month out: stock and logistics
- A sales plan for the peak. Start from your normal week and budget for a multiple increase on your traffic drivers — better still, lean on last year's season if you had one. The annual cycle of peaks and purchasing lead times — the seller's seasonal calendar.
- Ship in early. Inbound slots sell out in high season and warehouses are overloaded — the procedure and the pitfalls are in the guide on how to ship to Wildberries.
- Regional warehouses. Delivery speed during a peak affects both search ranking and conversion: a buyer shopping for a holiday will not wait a week.
Two to three weeks out: price
- Build the discount into your economics in advance, instead of carving it out of your working margin: use unit economics to work out the price at which you can join a promo campaign and stay profitable — the method is in the guide on how to calculate your price.
- Keep the price history clean. The platform sees your price dynamics: hiking the price a week before the campaign and then "generously" cutting it does not work — the discount is calculated from the real history.
- Joining a promo campaign is a decision made on numbers, not by default: the selection logic is in the guide on promo campaigns: to join or not, the discount arithmetic — promo campaign economics.
One week out: the product card
- Main image: a seasonal offer or badge is appropriate as long as it does not break CTR — and switch back to the regular version after the peak.
- Reviews and answers to buyer questions: during a peak buyers choose fast, and fresh negative reviews left without a reply scare them off harder than usual.
- Keywords: if the product is bought as a gift, check that seasonal queries are covered in your semantic core.
During the peak: ads and control
- Bids rise for everyone — keep ad spend share (DRR) inside the limit you set for the season instead of chasing a position at any cost.
- Daily caps go above your usual level: a campaign that stops on budget on a peak evening is a lost day of the year.
- Stock needs daily control: advertising a product at zero stock burns both money and statistics.
After the sale event
- Do not zero out the discount abruptly in a single day — a gradual exit holds the conversion and the positions you gained during the peak.
- Review the results SKU by SKU: what sold, what stalled, where DRR went out of range. That is a ready-made plan for entering the next campaign.
FAQ
"When should I start preparing for 11.11 and Black Friday?" A month ahead: build the sales plan, book inbound shipments and distribute stock across warehouses. Price and product card — two to three weeks out, the ad ramp-up — right before the peak.
"Do I have to take part in Wildberries sale events?" No, but during a peak non-participating cards lose visibility next to discounted ones. The decision is made on unit economics: if the promo price keeps the SKU profitable, taking part pays off.
"How do I avoid losing money on a sale event?" Build the discount into the price in advance, check the economics of every SKU before joining the campaign and monitor DRR daily rather than at the end of the week.
"What should I do after the sale event?" Exit the discount gradually, hold the positions you gained and review the results for every SKU — peak data shows better than any analytics tool what actually carries your assortment.
