Black Friday has slowly become a worldwide sales phenomenon. It started as a post-Thanksgiving shopping spree, but now it has become a great opportunity for sellers all over the world, including Indian exporters. This time of the year is especially important for people who sell school supplies, learning tools, or classroom materials. During this time, schools, parents, and international educational institutions ask for more…..like a checklist, more like a Black Friday checklist!
That being said, getting ready for this season isn’t just about offering people discounts. To ensure your products reach international buyers on time, you need to plan, be proactive with logistics, and maintain strict records.
This full Black Friday checklist will help you get your export businesses ready for the busy sales season ahead with confidence and clarity.
Export Operations Planning for Black Friday
Instead of just thinking of Black Friday as a sales event, think of it as a full scale business operation. Planning ahead helps reduce pressure and meet customer expectations, especially when shipping internationally.
What You Should Do:
- Examine your last year’s performance: use past data to figure out how much demand there will be and what will sell best.
- Work with your freight partners: check to see if there is enough space, how long will it take to reach your destination. Also, make sure to check if there are any restrictions for Black Friday that you need to abide by.
- Set deadlines for your own work: Set deadlines for shipping, processing, and hiring staff
- Coordinate With Sales Teams: Make sure that the marketing, sales and logistics teams are all aligned on promotions and order volumes.
If you’re new to selling internationally, now is a great time to make a formal export operations plan to help you deal with a lot of orders and customer requirements.
🔥 Black Friday Peak Season Checklist
✅ Good preparation means smoother shipping, faster fulfillment, and fewer returns.
International Shipping Preparation and Risk Management
During the week of Black Friday, global logistics networks see a big rise in volume. It’s common for things to get delayed, rerouted, or stuck in customs. If you’re prepared, you can get through these problems with ease.
Pre-Holiday Shipping Tips:
- Confirm delivery timelines with shipping partners, including deadlines for different countries
- Depending on how quickly you need the shipment and what kind of product you have, you can choose between Air Waybill (AWB) for faster air shipments or Bill of Lading (BOL) for ocean freight.
- If your products are fragile or need to get there quickly (like electronics for school or paper goods), you might want to use air freight with end-to-end tracking.
- Use digital shipping tools to print labels, make paperwork, and set up pickups ahead of time.
Logistics Risk Management Strategies:
- Don’t depend on just one shipping company; work with more than one.
- Get freight insurance to cover loss, damage, or delays while your goods are in transit.
- Make sure you have backup shipping options for important places like the U.S., UK, or EU.
- Talk to buyers ahead of time about possible delays and ways to track their orders.
For international shipments during this time of year, it’s best to leave a buffer of at least 5 to 7 days.
Export Compliance Checklist and Documentation
It’s not enough to just move goods; you also have to do it legally and openly. A single mistake in the paperwork can result in fines, penalties, or the shipment being turned away at the destination port.
📄 Essential Documentation for Export
Proof of shipment required to claim goods at destination.
Shows products were made in India — critical for EU trade benefits.
Details product, quantity, value, and buyer information.
Double-check names, addresses, and codes like VAT or EORI for EU.
Needed only for restricted items like chemicals or electronics.
Your official exporter ID from DGFT — mandatory for all exports.
Lists box contents, weights, and handling instructions.
Required for plant-based kits or any educational consumables.
📦 Having these ready avoids last-minute clearance issues and ensures smooth delivery worldwide.
Warehouse Scheduling and Tracking
You will need to make your warehouse processes bigger so they can handle the high number of orders on Black Friday. At this point, delays or disorganization can cause a chain reaction that affects when your packages arrive.
Best Practices for Warehouse Management:
- Divide your group into working shifts to get more hours of work.
- The easiest way to facilitate shipping is to pack by geography grouping orders by country or zone.
- In case of the inability of the current capacity to process the volume, consider warehouse automation or third-party fulfillment centres.
- Pickups with courier partners should be scheduled in advance to prevent missed pickups.
- Look into warehouse automation or third-party fulfillment center in case the volume is beyond what you are capable of executing.
The education-oriented exporter is particularly concerned with warehouse preparedness because in most cases educational institutions and schools do large orders that should be fulfilled in due time.
Exporter Readiness for Peak Demand
The ability of your business to succeed in the global sales season relies correspondingly on how your team is ready to cope with the unexpected increased communication, documentation, and returns.
How To Get Your Team Ready
- Educate the train personnel regarding exporting documents, packaging regulations and customer service guidelines.
- Write templates of the common questions such as holding of deliveries or returns.
- The team leads to be assigned in documentation, logistics coordination, and customer support.
- Install live dashboards that will be used to monitor the shipments, delays, and order status.
Another thing to do is to develop a post-sale support mechanism, particularly for your international customers which will involve dealing with returns or giving them digital guidelines on how to use your products.
Global Sale Season Preparation For Indian Exporters
If your buyers are based across countries like the U.S., Canada, Germany, or the UAE, then you’ll want to optimize your approach to meet international expectations.
Key Considerations
- Offer product listings in international currencies like USD, GBP, and EUR.
- Clearly communicate shipping timelines, duties, and taxes on your product pages.
- Enable international payment gateways and flexible return policies.
- Partner with trusted third-party couriers like DHL, ShipGlobal, or India Post that have experience in customs clearance and global shipping.
- Launch early-bird promotions to encourage bulk orders from schools and organizations.
Even simple steps like including a customs-friendly invoice can improve your delivery rate and reduce order returns.
✅ Final Black Friday Checklist
Before the sales season kicks off, use this checklist to ensure you’re fully prepared:
Activate international options on your eCom platform.
Share delivery time expectations up front.
Include COO, IEC and country-specific paperwork.
Prepare packaging for all major SKUs.
Ensure compliance for top buyer destinations.
Finalize your export operations plan.
Set up inventory tracking and fast fulfillment workflows.
Monitor shipments closely and address delays fast.
Prepare staff and communication templates.
Don’t forget to purchase freight insurance.
🎯 When you’re ready on all fronts, your Black Friday can be smooth, scalable, and successful!
By following this Black Friday checklist, Indian exporters can take full advantage of the Black Friday season while ensuring efficient logistics, timely delivery, and international compliance. A well-prepared export business not only meets deadlines it also builds long-term trust with global buyers in the education sector and beyond.
Now is the time to start planning, organizing, and shipping with confidence.
Let your products reach the world on time, every time, with this Black Friday checklist
