Running a business can feel a little like a video game—dodging obstacles and gathering rewards, only to have to do it all over again once you hit the next level. Sometimes you’re falling into a lava pit over and over. Sometimes you’re supersized, throwing fireballs at every challenge.
Then you reach the final level: Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM). In 2023, Shopify merchants reached a record $9.3 billion in sales over BFCM weekend—a 24% increase from the year before. From early Friday in New Zealand to late Monday in California, more than 61 million consumers globally purchased from brands powered by Shopify, peaking at $4.2 million in sales per minute.
The holiday season is fast approaching, exacerbating the usual challenges ecommerce stores face. From supply chain issues to shipping delays to customer satisfaction, you need reinforcements to help you capitalize on the busy shopping weekend. Shopify Black Friday apps are the 1UPs and invincibility stars you’ll need to get through this part of the game.
We looked at six challenges that Shopify store owners may face this holiday season, and matched them each with apps that can help overcome those challenges.
Apps to help you meet customers online
With buying trends shifting online and customer preferences moving toward brands with purpose, BFCM is truly a hybrid event.
Consumers have also changed the way they discover and buy new products, with younger generations adopting social selling channels. To keep up with changing demands and plan for more visitors to your site, make sure your website is ready with these Shopify apps that help you do more.
1. Boost AI Search & Filter
Try it: Free for up to 25 products. Paid plans from $29/month.
Powered by AI, Boost is a smart search app for Shopify stores that helps customers find the exact product they’re looking for on your site, with advanced filtering and search auto-suggest. You can even upsell and cross-sell within search results, helping you promote bestselling products and increase your average order value.
2. Libautech: Announcement Bar
Try it: Free plan available. Paid plan is $3.95/month with a seven-day free trial.
This app puts your Black Friday Cyber Monday deals in the spotlight—front and center at the top of your homepage. You can also use this space to share important news about your brand and store, like updated BFCM shipping information, free gifts, or bold discounts. Multiple filters and options mean you can target specific customers or regions.
3. TikTok Shopify app
Try it: Free to install. When running a campaign, you set a budget and ad spend is billed directly to your TikTok ad account.
Among the places younger generations are discovering products, TikTok is one of the most popular. Users trust influencer recommendations and peer reviews to help them make purchases. If your brand isn’t using TikTok for business, it’s time to start. You can even take advantage of TikTok Shopping features by downloading the TikTok app for Shopify.
4. Bulk Discount Code Bot
Try it: Free up to three codes. Paid plans start at $19/month.
This app lets you create multiple unique one-time-use discount codes for loyalty programs or pop-up email acquisition campaigns, helping you boost your BFCM marketing strategy.
🎯 Bonus level: Get your products in front of huge audiences this holiday season by enabling online sales channels like Google and Facebook, and explore even more apps to help you achieve peak sales online.
Apps for effective BFCM marketing campaigns
- Octane AI: Advanced Quiz Maker
- Shoppable Instagram, UGC & Videos
- TxtCart: SMS Marketing & AI
- Promo Video Maker
- Shopify Email
There’s a lot of information competing for your customers’ attention right now. And once Black Friday Cyber Monday sales are upon us, shoppers’ inboxes and Instagram feeds will be flooded with deals.
How can you stand out from other online retailers? How do you cut through the clutter and launch memorable and clickable Black Friday campaigns? These marketing tools take the guesswork out of peak-season marketing so you can launch BFCM campaigns with confidence.
5. Octane AI: Advanced Quiz Maker
Try it: Tiered pricing plans from $50/month. 14-day free trial available.
Octane AI is a one-stop marketing solution that lets you create quizzes, collect data, and offer personalized experiences and recommendations to customers. This app is fully customizable, compatible with your tech stack, and backed by powerful AI.
6. Shoppable Instagram, UGC & Videos
Try it: Free for up to $1,000 in earned revenue. Paid plans start at $19/month.
This app puts your organic Instagram posts to work, generating a clickable, shoppable clone of your feed on your Shopify store website. You can even pull your customers’ posts (user-generated content) into one place and power them with purchase links, too.
7. TxtCart: SMS Marketing & AI
Try it: Plans start at $29/month. 14-day free trial available.
TxtCart helps you rescue lost sales by texting customers who have abandoned shopping carts with prompts to re-engage with your brand. Real agents sit behind an AI to make conversations more human.
8. Promo Video Maker
Try it: Free to install.
Promo video maker helps you easily create promotional video content—no film school or expensive apps required. Enter some text and a few details and this app pulls content from your site into videos optimized for web, Instagram, or YouTube.
9. Shopify Email
Try it: Free to install.
Launch and track email campaigns right inside Shopify with Shopify Email. This app provides easy templates that pull logos, images, and copy directly from your store website. Super power your email marketing campaigns this Black Friday Cyber Monday.
🎯 Bonus level: Explore more apps to help you with Black Friday and holiday season marketing.
Apps for better BFCM inventory management
Throughout the year, Shopify store owners report inventory management as a challenge. During Black Friday Cyber Monday and beyond, you’ll need to be extra vigilant to keep items in stock, stay organized, and ensure customers stay happy.
You guessed it: There are apps for that.
10. Stockbot Inventory Forecasting
Try it: Free plan available; paid plans start at $9/month.
Stockbot Inventory Forecasting is the Home Shopping Network rotisserie of Shopify apps—“set it and forget it.” Simply determine low-stock levels for each of your products, and this app will notify you once you’ve hit them.
11. Inventory Planner Forecasting
Try it: Plans start at $249.99/month.
Inventory Planner Forecasting is an inventory management pain killer for your Shopify site. Give this app access to your sales trends and data, and let it prioritize your vendor orders and tell you when to make them.
12. TPOP: Eco Print on Demand
Try it: Free to install. You only pay for items once you sell them.
TPOP is good for when you have creative designs and ideas but can’t be bothered with inventory. Start a print-on-demand business and let this app take care of everything for you.
🎯 Bonus level: Explore more apps to help you manage Black Friday Cyber Monday inventory.
Apps for a memorable BFCM customer experience
With increasing competition in the ecommerce space, standing out among the big sellers can be achieved with personalized online and mobile shopping experiences that build customer relationships. As a smaller business, you’re more easily able to connect directly with your customers—but during the Black Friday shopping season, that may be harder to do.
Use these apps to improve the experience all along the customer journey. Create memorable connections and offer a smooth purchasing experience, even when you can’t personally engage with each one.
13. Glow: Loyalty Points & Rewards
Try it: 7-day free trial. Paid plans from $9/month.
Glow helps you set up a seamless rewards program to incentivize engagement with your brand, providing tools for rewarding loyal customers with points or credit toward future purchases when they refer new shoppers. Improve customer lifetime value and repeat purchases with a loyalty program powered by Glow.
14. Shopify Inbox
Try it: Free with Shopify plan.
Engage in real conversations with buyers, send product recommendations and discount codes, and bring the purchase experience inside the chat—all with Shopify Inbox. The app is built inside Shopify and is free to use with a Shopify plan.
15. LimeSpot Personalizer
Try it: Free to install; plans from $18/month.
Limespot enables you to create personalized shopping experiences to cross-sell, upsell, and recommend relevant products to each customer.
16. SC Product Options
Try it: Free to install. Paid plans from $14.99/month.
Bold Product Options is an essential app for products with overlapping customizations. Easily set up swatches and other options on product pages to allow customers to build one-of-a-kind products.
Apps for managing in-person Black Friday sales
If you run a retail store or are planning to sell at a pop-up or market, set yourself up for a successful weekend by installing apps that help you engage with customers directly and boost sales.
Conveniences like curbside pickup can improve the in-person shopping experience during the Black Friday season—and they can be added easily with apps.
17. In‑Store Reserver
Try it: 30-day free trial. Paid plans from $19/month.
This app lets customers pre-select items in your online store and ensure availability when they arrive to pay or pick up their orders, creating a better checkout experience.
18. Sesami: Appointment Booking
Try it: 30-day free trial. Paid plans from $19/month.
Sesami is perfect for brands that offer in-store services like personal shopping appointments. Your Black Friday customers can book predetermined time slots for shorter wait times and a more personalized sales experience.
19. Stockist Store Locator
Try it: 14-day free trial. Paid plans from $10/month.
Stockist is a fully customizable map app that integrates with your store’s branding. Plot your shop locations—or those of your stockists—so customers can easily find you IRL on Black Friday.
20. Bird Pickup Delivery Date
Try it: Free plan available. Paid plans start at $9.99/month with a seven-day free trial.
Bird manages your curbside and in-store pickups, as well as local deliveries, with a customizable calendar. Customers can select their own delivery or pick-up date and stores can set black out dates, cut off times, and a maximum number of deliveries per day.
🎯 Bonus level: Explore more apps to help run your omnichannel business this Black Friday Cyber Monday.
Apps for efficient shipping, delivery, and returns
If everything’s working out the way you planned, your Black Friday Shopify campaign has caught fire and the order notifications are lighting up your app. Take a moment to celebrate your success—but not too long. You have products to ship out!
Use these apps to help wade through the flood of pending orders, simplifying the process for you—and your customers.
21. Easyship
Try it: Free to install. Paid plans from $29/month with a 14-day trial.
Sync orders, automate workflows, and print labels with Easyship. The app gives you access to 250+ shipping carriers with reduced rates. Get transparent quotes for all-in shipping costs, including taxes, duties, courier fees, and delivery dates, ensuring a smooth Black Friday delivery for customers.
22. Parcelify
Try it: 14-day trial. Paid plans from $19.99/month.
Parcelify automates shipping options for Black Friday orders with rules you set based on product information like tags, types, collections, and SKUs. Hide or show specific rates to customers based on those filters.
23. AfterShip Returns & Exchanges
Try it: Free to install. Paid plans start at $23/month.
Aftership features a self-serve returns center that lets your customers create and monitor their own returns, including printing shipping labels generated automatically by the app—one of many automations that help make returns a more hand-off experience for store owners.
🎯 Bonus level: Explore more resources that take the mystery out of shipping, delivery, and fulfillment for your online store.
Make more Black Friday sales with Shopify apps
Whether you want to increase average order value, run flash sales, or execute seamless and timely fulfillment, consider installing apps that integrate with your Shopify store.
Black Friday apps are the powerups you’ll need to get through this Black Friday Cyber Monday weekend. They enable you to get more done, attract more potential customers, and process orders more smoothly during the busiest shopping weekend of the year.
Feature illustration by Alice Mollon
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Black Friday apps FAQ
How do you take advantage of Black Friday?
Store owners can take advantage of Black Friday by planning ahead of time, running effective marketing campaigns, delivering a smooth and personalized customer experience, and staying on top of inventory and shipping.
When should I start planning for Black Friday?
It’s never too early to begin planning for Black Friday. Ideally, you’ll start brainstorming your Black Friday Cyber Monday strategy during the summer, with actual preparations kicking into gear no later than Labor Day.
How do I create an online store for Black Friday?
Shopify makes it easy to create, launch, and manage an online store for any retail business, with features and apps to support store owners during Black Friday Cyber Monday.
What are the best Shopify apps for Black Friday Cyber Monday?
The best Shopify apps are those that solve a problem, automate your workflows to save you time or help you reach goals like increased sales. Browse the Shopify App Store to find apps for everything from inventory management to email marketing to help you run a successful BFCM campaign.
