Before You Move On From BFCM, Here’s How to Prepare for Next Year’s

It’s Cyber Monday — congratulations. You made it to one of the most chaotic times of the year.

While most people today stay glued to their dashboards watching every spike and dip, I prefer to focus on something else entirely: paying attention. I pay attention to the market, the macro shifts, the small micro trends that most people miss, and the patterns that will matter next year — not just this weekend.

So before we all move on from Black Friday and Cyber Monday, I want to talk about what you can do right now to set yourself up for a stronger BFCM and holiday season in 2026.

Some of you already do this well. Some of you may be better at it than I am. But here’s the reminder:

Data means nothing if you don’t use it — and plans mean nothing if you don’t follow through.

Don’t feel like reading all this?

What This Post Is About

This post is about using this year’s Black Friday / Cyber Monday performance to plan a stronger, better-positioned 2026 holiday season.

Big ideas:

• Look honestly at where you are now and how you got here. Don't sugarcoat your problems, just fix them.
• Use this week’s data while it’s fresh to understand what worked and what didn’t.
• Don’t rely on Amazon alone — Walmart, Target, and (sometimes) eBay matter.
• Make the hard strategic moves early in the year, not in October.
• Ensure your staffing and expertise align with the results you want to achieve.

If you remember one thing: next year’s BFCM isn’t won in November — it’s won by the brands that start planning months ahead.

What Do We Do Now?

What we do now is simple: we look at where we are, and we figure out how we got here.

Are you where you expected to be this BFCM season?
Are you far off in either direction?
Are you behind, ahead, or somewhere in the middle?

Whatever the answer is, there is always a reason.
Your job this week is to identify it.

Did a product take off unexpectedly?
Did one fall flat?
Is your category shifting?
Has conversion collapsed?
Are consumers spending differently?
Is the marketplace you’re relying on performing differently than expected?
Or are consumers simply somewhere else this year?

These questions matter because November and December results aren’t created in November and December. They are the outcome of months, often a year, of positioning, preparation, and strategy.

But this isn’t just about planning for Amazon.

Your holiday performance this year is tied to the macro trends that shaped consumer behavior long before Black Friday hit. Consumers moved. They shifted platforms. They changed spending patterns. They discovered new marketplaces. And a lot of brands simply weren’t there to meet them.

If I had to pick one thing this year that most brands missed, it would be this:

Too many brands were not present in all the marketplaces they could have been or should have been.

And that matters because shoppers weren’t only on Amazon this year. They were on Walmart. They were on Target. They were browsing alternative channels where your products weren’t available — even though the demand was. I’m not saying that Amazon isn’t the most important place to be, it’s just that it shouldn’t be the only place you’re selling (DTC doesn’t count this time 😉).

So before we look ahead, let’s take a real look at the marketplaces that mattered this season.

The Other Marketplaces You Shouldn’t Ignore in 2026

When I talk about marketplace opportunity, I’m mainly referring to three: Walmart, Target, and (sometimes) eBay. There are others, but these are the ones worth focusing on for 2026. And of the three, Walmart is the standout.

Walmart has been quietly building momentum for the last 18 months. If you’ve been paying attention to their public reports, leadership commentary, or talking to active sellers, you already know: Walmart is going for the gold. They won’t dethrone Amazon tomorrow, but history proves that those who rise— fall.

Walmart sees Amazon’s weaknesses and is building aggressively — WFS, major partnerships, in-store visibility, massive foot traffic, strong first-party data, cheaper advertising, and rapidly growing marketplace demand.

If you’re not on Walmart yet, you’re behind. I told people a year ago to get on Walmart early and start collecting data. That advice is even more important today.

Target has a long way to go technologically and their advertising platform isn’t strong yet. But the opportunity is in that emptiness — you have a chance to stand out because the platform isn’t overcrowded. Target isn’t going anywhere. They’re a legacy retailer with deep brand loyalty. Position yourself now, before everyone else shows up.

And then there’s eBay (I’ll forever mention them) — my roots. It’s still a great place for unique, niche, collectible, or refurbished products. Not the marketplace of the future, but always relevant.
Maybe you need to clear inventory? Maybe you’ve got a product that would benefit from the demographic of eBay, or maybe you just want to increase sales (even if it’s just single digit growth).

Bottom line: 2026 holiday success likely won’t come from being Amazon-only.

The Point

BFCM isn’t won in November. It’s won in the months leading up to it.

The sellers who dominate 2026 won’t be the ones who simply worked the hardest this weekend. They’ll be the ones who captured their data while it was fresh, understood their performance honestly, embraced efficiency tools where it made sense, and expanded into the marketplaces that actually have consumer attention.

Before you move on from BFCM, take the time to learn from it.
Because the brands that win next year won’t be the fastest reactors —
they’ll be the earliest planners, and they’ll be the ones willing to make the hard strategic decisions early.

That means January and February.
That means launching on new marketplaces sooner rather than later.
That means ironing out logistics and inventory months before Q4 even enters the conversation.
That means hiring the human capital required to make it all happen.
And even if it has nothing to do with what I just mentioned, it means tackling the uncomfortable decisions now, not postponing them until it’s too late.

The brands that win aren’t lucky.
They’re early.
They’re prepared.
And they’re decisive.