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Squarespace October 2026

Your Holiday Sales Start in October, Not Black Friday: A Playbook for Squarespace, Wix, WordPress and Webflow Sellers

Four specific moves for holiday sales if you sell from Squarespace, WordPress or Webflow with Shopify as the backend — starting before Black Friday, not on it.

Start before Black Friday, not on it. Klaviyo found that 71% of holiday shoppers make at least one purchase before Black Friday, and 46% buy before November even starts (Klaviyo). Adobe expects $95.8B spent in October alone this year (Adobe). If you sell from Squarespace, WordPress or Webflow with Shopify running the backend, here are four specific moves to make this month, not after Thanksgiving.

How big is this holiday season?

Adobe’s 2026 forecast, published September 28, puts US online holiday sales (November 1–December 31) at $275.1B, up 6.7% year over year, with $95.8B of that landing in October alone (Adobe). Deloitte’s forecast runs higher: $316.1–318.9B in US holiday e-commerce, up 7.5–8.4% year over year, with online growth well ahead of total retail growth of 4–4.8% (Deloitte via MarketScale). More of the season’s spending is moving online, and more of it is happening before Black Friday weekend.

Strategy 1: Launch one early-bird offer before November

Since nearly half of shoppers buy before November, an offer that only starts on Black Friday misses that group entirely. Set up one discount — a flat percentage or a dollar amount off — with a start date in mid-to-late October and an end date before Black Friday. Shopify’s discount codes support scheduled start and end times, so the offer turns on and off on its own, in your admin’s timezone (Shopify). Because Buy Button Plus pulls live from your Shopify catalog, the discount shows up on your embedded button the moment it activates — nothing to re-embed.

Strategy 2: Stop at two sales for the season

Resist adding a third, fourth or fifth discount on top of the early-bird offer: a Black Friday flash sale, then a separate Cyber Monday deal, then a December push, then a clearance event. Shoppers who see that pattern coming learn to wait for the next discount instead of buying now. Treat Black Friday through Cyber Monday as one scheduled event — your only other sale of the season, your biggest discount, set up the same way as the early-bird code. Two sales hold their meaning; a constant stream of flash sales doesn’t.

Strategy 3: Keep the cart from resetting between visits

Holiday browsing spreads across multiple sessions. A shopper adds something to their cart, leaves to compare elsewhere, and comes back a few days later to buy. If the cart has reset, they start over — or don’t come back at all. Buy Button Plus’s Saved Cart keeps items in the cart between visits, so a shopper who leaves mid-browse finds their cart intact when they return (confirmed in our own testing).

Strategy 4: Offer a gift subscription

Holiday gifting is a chance to sell something other than a one-time purchase. If your product suits it — coffee, skincare, wine, pet treats, anything consumable — set up a short gift subscription, three or six months, timed for holiday checkout. It’s a SKU most sellers running a one-off Buy Button don’t have, and subscriptions are a core feature of Buy Button Plus’s Core plan and above, not an add-on.

Where Buy Button Plus fits

All four strategies above need features a free or built-in page-builder checkout usually doesn’t have. Buy Button Plus runs on Shopify’s backend, so it supports every Shopify discount type — promo codes, scheduled sales, BOGO — plus Saved Cart, the cart widget on every page, and physical and digital subscriptions starting on the Core plan at $14.99/month. We’ve gone through the full comparison against Shopify’s free Buy Button here.

Start your free 30-day trial and get your first scheduled discount live before the early shoppers start buying this month.

What to do this week

  1. Schedule your early-bird discount code for mid-to-late October.
  2. Schedule your Black Friday–Cyber Monday discount as the one other sale of the season.
  3. Confirm Saved Cart and the cart widget are switched on.
  4. If one of your products fits, set up a gift subscription option.

Nearly half of holiday shoppers buy before November starts, so a plan that opens on Black Friday opens after many of them are done. The timing and the offers are your call. Buy Button Plus makes them work on the site you already have: a scheduled Shopify discount shows up on your buttons the moment it starts, and the cart is still there when a shopper comes back a week later to finish.

Have your holiday setup done before November starts.

Start your free 30-day trial of Buy Button Plus

Frequently asked questions

When should I start holiday sales if my storefront isn't a Shopify theme?
Before November. Klaviyo found 46% of holiday shoppers buy before November starts, so a sale that only begins on Black Friday misses them.
How many sales should I run during BFCM?
Two: an early-bird offer in October and the Black Friday–Cyber Monday window itself. More than that, and shoppers start waiting for the next one instead of buying.
What happens to a shopper's cart if they leave without buying?
With Saved Cart on, their items stay in the cart until they come back, instead of resetting to empty.
Can I sell gift subscriptions through a Buy Button?
Yes, subscriptions are included starting on Buy Button Plus’s Core plan ($14.99/month).
How big is the 2026 holiday e-commerce season?
Adobe forecasts $275.1B in US online holiday sales; Deloitte forecasts $316.1–318.9B. Both are up year over year.

Sources