Business Casual My Anti-Black Friday Strategy
Feb 23, 2026
A founder recounts testing a no-discount Black Friday strategy and the surprising 34% revenue drop. They explore how seasonality changes the need for sales and why frequent promos can train buyers to wait. The story covers longer-term traffic trends, email tactics used over the holiday, and the decision to bring back guarded discounts next year.
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Overwhelmed By A $10 Book Sale
- Matt ran a $10 Black Friday discount on the Pool Care Handbook in 2024 and shipped ~400 books that weekend.
- The volume overwhelmed Matt and Steph, and they decided not to repeat that shipping burden.
No Discount Guardrail To Avoid Conditioning Buyers
- Matt adopted a no-discount guardrail to avoid training customers to wait for sales and hurting regular purchase cadence.
- He compared it to Bed Bath & Beyond where constant coupons forced inflated baseline prices and conditioned shoppers to wait.
Seasonality Changes How Discounts Work
- Seasonal businesses already have built-in urgency during season, so off-season discounts create artificial demand that may be necessary.
- For pools, buyers only need the book when the pool issue occurs, so November lacks natural urgency.