One in six European DTC brands is already in Black Friday mode

Black Friday falls on 27 November, but one in six independent European direct-to-consumer brands had already started by 11 November, according to data from The Checkout, which captures hundreds of brands' online shops every day.

Of the 454 brands tracked, 75 (17%) were already promoting Black Friday or another sale event, up from 5% on 29 October. 47 had a discount live. The other 28 were building up to one: 16 were collecting sign-ups for early access, and 12 were teasing the event. But they are not all at the same stage. On 11 November the active brands sat across three: teasers, early access and a live sale.

The share of brands in sale mode rose from 5% to 17% in two weeks

Share of the brands captured each day, by how far along they were

No captures on 31 Oct or 1 Nov. Brands joined the list in batches, from 184 on 29 Oct to 454 on 11 Nov, so each bar is a share of that day's captures. 11 Nov was checked by hand; earlier days are as the rules read them.

Data: The Checkout, daily captures of brands' online shops, 29 Oct to 11 Nov 2026

Teasers

Twelve brands were simply flagging that something is coming. Most do it with a banner or a navigation link, such as Gymshark and Boux Avenue. A few add urgency or a non-price sweetener: CLUSE ran a homepage countdown, Fest Amsterdam told shoppers "Black Friday is coming," and Olistic teased two Black Friday prize draws rather than a discount.

Early access

Sixteen brands were using Black Friday to grow their databases before discounting anything, and the ask is overwhelmingly an email address, with 14 of the 16 collecting sign-ups. Some pay for it: Monpure offers 15% off and a free gift to join, Pai Skincare enters waitlist sign-ups into a draw to win their whole order, and Murdock London sends its code only to subscribers.

Notably, a couple are pushing owned channels beyond email. Astrid & Miyu asks shoppers to download its app for early access, turning the Black Friday rush into app installs rather than just newsletter sign-ups, while Le Col funnels shoppers into its free membership community.

Live sales: mostly 30%

Forty-seven brands already had a discount live, and the typical headline is 30%, with 11 going to 50% or more. The brands furthest along put the offer everywhere at once: Bouclème runs the same 25% code in its announcement bar, hero and product pages, and Emma Sleep's hero has carried "up to 40% off" since at least 29 October, when tracking began.

How brands phrase it splits by sector. Fashion, furniture and sleep brands mostly hedge with "up to", as with Coast and Rohan at up to 60%, while beauty brands lean on flat codes of 5% to 25%. As many brands put the offer on product pages as in the announcement bar (15 each), so the discount is often on the product itself, not just the banner.

Product pages carry the offer as often as the announcement bar

Brands with a live sale, by each place it showed (47 brands; most show it in several)

Data: The Checkout, captures of brands' online shops on 11 Nov 2026

Singles' Day is doing the warming up

Of the 75 active brands, 17 named Singles' Day (11 November) rather than Black Friday, and 14 had a Singles' Day offer live. Two turned the date into the discount, with Johnny Urban and PrettyLittleThing both offering 11% off.

Who's moving first: beauty, home and Germany

Across categories, beauty and home are leading, with 28% of each active against 14% in fashion and just 2% in food and drink. By country, German brands are furthest ahead: 29% of those tracked were already promoting Black Friday or another sale event, and 20% had a sale running, against 18% and 11% of British brands.

Beauty and home brands are furthest ahead

Share of each sector's brands showing Black Friday or another sale event on 11 November

Data: The Checkout, captures of brands' online shops on 11 Nov 2026, 454 brands