Short answer: Singles' Day (11.11) falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2026 and is the big sale day ahead of Black Friday. Preparation comes down to four jobs: a short product selection, approved product data with correct prices, a frictionless checkout and a budget aimed at warm audiences. Black Friday is on November 27, so build the 11.11 offer separately from it.
What is Singles' Day 11.11 and why does it matter for e-commerce?
11.11 started in China and has grown into one of the largest online shopping events in the world. In many e-commerce markets it now works as the big sale day ahead of Black Friday. In 2026 it falls on Wednesday, November 11. Because it is a midweek day, build the campaign around time slots within the day rather than around weekend shopping.
This guide covers 11.11 only. As of its publication date, 11.11 is 17 days away and the sections below show how to use that time. For what comes after it, see our guides on reducing cart abandonment and email marketing automation.
In Turkey the season also goes by local sector names, both for the whole of November and for November 27. They are general sector names and not the campaign of one marketplace. If you sell into Turkey you will see them in the market, and the preparation logic is the same under every name.
How does 11.11 differ from Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
The three dates reach the same customer but do not carry the same offer. 11.11 is the customer's big shopping move before Black Friday, Black Friday is the broadest offer day of the year and Cyber Monday is the last chance for remaining stock. Spreading the same discount across all three erodes your margin and teaches customers to wait for the next wave.
| Date | Day | Customer intent | Offer structure | Main risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 11, 2026 | Wednesday | First purchase, price hunting | A clear, time-limited offer on selected products | Discounting the whole catalog and eroding margin |
| November 27, 2026 | Friday | Looking for the strongest offer of the year | Wide selection, tiered and bundle offers | Audience fatigue, expensive cold traffic |
| November 28-29, 2026 | Saturday and Sunday | Weekend comparison | Continuation of the Black Friday offer | Stock and shipping load |
| November 30, 2026 | Monday | Last chance | Remaining stock, digital and tech focus | Discounts spilling into December |
What should be done, and when, before 11.11?
The order is built to close the most expensive mistakes first. Check your carrier's cut-off dates and your team's calendar for the period, including public holidays in your own market.
The product data row looks short in the table but it is critical. According to Google's product data specification, the id, title, description, link, image_link, availability and price attributes are required, and when a required attribute is missing the product cannot be shown in ads or in free listings. Confirm with a test order that the feed updates the moment you enter the campaign price.
| Date | Job | Output |
|---|---|---|
| October 25-28 | Product selection, price and stock decision | A list of 10 to 20 products, with cost and campaign price for each |
| October 30-November 2 | Product data and tracking test | Feed price matches the site price, test order shows in analytics |
| November 3-6 | Creative launch and audience warm-up | Vertical video and static set live, add-to-cart pool growing |
| November 7-10 | Early access and budget cap | Announcement sent to your list and permission-based channels, daily budget cap raised |
| November 11 | Live monitoring | Hourly sales, stock and payment error tracking |
| November 12 | Reading and handover | Product, creative and time-of-day notes fed into the Black Friday plan |
How do you choose the product selection for 11.11?
On 11.11, success comes from a clear selection and not from catalog breadth. Instead of discounting the whole catalog, choose three kinds of product: an entry product that brings a first-time customer in, a main product with a high margin and plenty of stock, and a complementary product or bundle that grows the basket.
Calculate the break-even ROAS for each product before you discount it. A deep discount on a thin-margin product pushes break-even ROAS up quickly. For thin-margin products, consider a gift or a shipping benefit instead of a percentage discount.
Price display needs care. If you show a previous price next to the sale price, set your reference price before the campaign starts and keep a record of it, because the prior-price rule differs by market. In the EU, a discount announcement must show the lowest price applied during at least the 30 days before the discount, which our campaign localization guide explains. That makes your October and early November prices the reference for 11.11. Check the rules of every other market you sell in. This is not legal advice.
- Entry product: a low-risk product for the first-time customer
- Main product: a high-margin product with plenty of stock
- Complementary product or bundle: an offer that grows the basket value
- Leave out: thin-margin, limited-stock or high-return products
How do you set up the 11.11 ad budget and audience?
Because 11.11 lasts one day, the learning period is short. You have no days to give a platform to learn a new campaign, so campaigns must be live days before and not on the morning of November 11. We covered the learning phase of a new Meta campaign in our Advantage+ Shopping guide.
Put the weight of the budget on warm audiences and not on cold ones: people who added to cart in recent days, people who browsed a product page and permission-based customers on your list. In a cold audience 11.11 mostly attracts price hunters, while in a warm audience you carry someone who already knows you to the last step.
Raise the daily budget cap on the evening of November 10 and check performance by hour on the morning of November 11. Keep 11.11 as its own line in your November budget so that it does not eat into Black Friday.
How do you protect checkout flow and site speed on 11.11?
Ads bring the customer on 11.11 and the checkout flow loses them. According to the Baymard Institute's list compiling 50 separate studies, the average cart abandonment rate is 70.22%. That means roughly seven of every ten users who add a product to the cart leave without buying. You cannot bring that rate to zero, but you can find the biggest loss in your own flow.
According to Baymard's 2024 measurement, checkout flows have 11.3 form fields on average, while 8 are enough for most sites. Count the fields in your checkout form before 11.11 and remove the unnecessary ones. Keep guest checkout and the wallets and local payment methods your customers use switched on. To see which step the loss concentrates in, see our guide to reducing cart abandonment.
On speed, Google's thresholds are clear: for a good experience, LCP should stay under 2.5 seconds, INP under 200 milliseconds and CLS under 0.1. Measurement is taken at the 75th percentile of page loads, separately for mobile and desktop. Because most shopping happens on phones, check your mobile values first.
Marketplace or your own site on 11.11?
Do not run both with the same offer. Marketplace campaign applications and wave dates are announced in the seller dashboard, so read dates as expected and confirm the exact schedule there. Marketplace discount waves are expected to start in early November, with the busiest period in the week of November 23-29. On your own site, build the offer differently from the marketplace: an extra benefit, a gift or free shipping. We compared the two channels in marketplace vs own website.
Keep a price history for every channel you sell on, so that you can show what you charged before the sale.
What should you do after 11.11 ends?
The first job on the morning of November 12 is reading the results. Which product, which creative and which hour brought sales, where did the loss happen at the payment step and which product ran out of stock. These notes are the input to your Black Friday plan. Put the audience that added to cart on 11.11 but did not buy into a warm pool for November 27, and speed up the reminder flow with email marketing automation.
Close the campaign at the hour you planned. An 11.11 offer that runs long teaches customers to wait for the Black Friday price. For how to prepare Black Friday ads, see our ad creative guide.
Frequently asked questions
What day is Singles' Day 11.11 in 2026?
Singles' Day (11.11) falls on Wednesday, November 11 in 2026. Black Friday is Friday, November 27 and Cyber Monday is Monday, November 30. Marketplace discount waves are expected to start in early November and peak in the week of November 23-29, so confirm the exact dates in your seller dashboard.
Is 11.11 the same as the November sale season?
No. 11.11 is a single day. Turkish marketplaces run their own November sale seasons, spread across the month. 11.11 is the big sale day that comes before Black Friday. Preparation is the same under every name: a clear offer, correct prices and a fast site.
Should I discount my whole catalog on 11.11?
No. Presenting a clear offer on selected products is safer than discounting the entire catalog. Lead with high-margin products that have plenty of stock, and use a gift or a shipping benefit on thin-margin products. Run every offer through a break-even ROAS calculation before you publish it.
Should a small store take part in 11.11?
It can, but it should focus on its own audience and not compete with large brands in cold audiences. Your email list, permission-based message channels, visitors who added to cart and past buyers are the lowest-cost audiences. It is better to enter with few products, a single offer and a clean checkout flow.
When should 11.11 ads go live?
Do not leave it to the morning of November 11. Creative and audience setup should be done days earlier so that campaigns can finish learning, and product data and tracking should be confirmed with a test order. Warm-up and the early access announcement start in the week before November 11, and the budget cap is raised a day ahead.
Should the 11.11 discount be deeper than Black Friday's?
Usually not. Black Friday is the broadest offer day of the year and keeping the 11.11 offer narrower and time-limited protects your margin. Your prices in the weeks between also feed the reference price for later sales. In the EU, the prior price is based on the lowest price applied during at least the 30 days before the discount, so what you charge between 11.11 and Black Friday matters. Check the rules in each market you sell in.
Related articles
- Black Friday and November Sales: How to Prepare Ad Creative
- Campaign Localization: Don't Translate Your Ads, Rebuild Them for the New Market
- How to Reduce Your Cart Abandonment Rate: A Practical Guide
- Marketplace vs your own website
Let's look at the gaps between 11.11 and Black Friday together. In the free November Readiness Audit we look at your ads, tracking, site, creative and price labels.
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