Black Friday 2025: Switching suppliers, seasonal bestsellers & marketing 101
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Black Friday 2025 is on 28 November. If you're still deciding what print on demand products to promote, you're not alone, and you're definitely not too late.
But if you're also questioning whether your current print on demand supplier can handle peak season without falling apart, that's the more urgent problem. Because the best Black Friday strategy in the world means absolutely nothing if your supplier can't fulfil orders when it matters most.
While everyone's shouting about "30% off everything!", the sellers who really clean up are the ones selling products people genuinely need right now, backed by print on demand suppliers who can actually deliver them — not the ones making delivery commitments they can't keep because their fulfilment partner has gone suspiciously quiet.
We're talking about the stuff that solves a specific, seasonal problem and a supplier infrastructure that won't let you down during the busiest shopping period of the year.
Why seasonal print on demand products outperform generic discounts
Black Friday typically attracts two types of sellers: Those competing on price and those competing on need.
The first group slashes 40% off everything and hopes volume makes up for vanishing margins. They're selling products customers could buy any time of year — the same stuff they were marketing pre-November, only cheaper. When everyone's offering similar discounts on similar products, price becomes the only differentiator.
The second group sells products people are actively searching for right now. Greeting cards because Christmas is just around the corner. Wrapping paper because the presents are bought but nothing's wrapped. Calendars because January's fast approaching. By selling seasonal products, you're competing on factors beyond price alone, which means healthier margins.
Seasonal bestsellers that solve real problems
Calendars
Calendars are the ultimate bridge product in your print on demand catalogue. You can start promoting them early because they're needed from January, giving you a much longer selling window than most seasonal products.
Prodigi print on demand calendars come in A4 and A5 sizes with Wire-O binding that lays flat for easy wall mounting. You can choose dated calendars or undated versions where you control the entire layout — perfect for niche audiences needing specific formats.
Focus on designs with clear use cases: Family planners, themed designs and branded layouts for professional settings.
Daily diaries
Similar to calendars, as well as allowing you to keep track of important dates and events, our daily diaries also provide space for writing daily to-do lists and priorities. They sit on desks and get opened daily, which also makes them feel more personal and intentional as gifts.
Start selling them in November to tap into that annual surge of optimism about getting organised. Prodigi's custom daily diaries come in A4 and A5 sizes with professionally designed interior pages featuring space for contact details, notes and monthly calendars.
Available in spiral binding (hardback or softcover) or PUR binding (paperback with a printable spine), all you have to do is provide the cover designs. Bundle them with calendars and you've got the complete "get organised for 2026" package.
Greetings cards
Before you skip this section thinking "cards are boring", consider this: 1.3 billion Christmas greeting cards are sold each year in the US alone, making Christmas the highest-selling occasion for personalised cards. Plus, they're an easy upsell for existing customers with a built-in deadline, and most people need more than one.
Cards also pair well with other print on demand products. Someone buying a calendar? Offer a card to go with it. Someone ordering wrapping paper? Suggest a matching card. The result? You've just increased your average order value — and if you are offering a Black Friday discount, you're making more per transaction even with the discount applied.
Prodigi fine art greeting cards offer flexible self-send and direct delivery options, and can be personalised inside and out.
Wrapping paper
Wrapping paper has one huge advantage: It's consumable. Unlike a Christmas jumper that someone might wear on repeat each year, wrapping paper gets used up — which means people buy it every single year, often multiple times per season.
The psychology’s simple. When someone's wrapping 15 presents, they want paper that looks impressive but doesn't cost a fortune. Print on demand wrapping paper hits that sweet spot — unique enough to feel special, affordable enough to use liberally.
Our custom gift wrap comes in both sheets (single or 3-packs in two sizes) and rolls (1m, 2m, 3m or 5m) — perfect for bold patterns, personalised business gifts or coordinated sets with matching cards. The 95gsm satin finish paper cuts smoothly and folds easily too, making wrapping a breeze.
Why reliable fulfilment matters more than your Black Friday discount
Let's talk about something that doesn't get mentioned in most Black Friday guides: What happens when your print on demand supplier can't actually deliver during the busiest selling season of the year.
It's not hypothetical. Every November, a handful of print on demand sellers discover — usually at the worst possible moment — that their supplier is struggling with fulfilment times, quality control issues or worse. By the time they realise there's a problem, they've already promoted their Black Friday offers and made promises to customers they can't keep.
If you're having doubts about your current print on demand supplier, now’s the time to switch. Here's why:
Global fulfilment network
Prodigi works with 70+ fulfilment centres in 10+ countries, including our own in-house facilities in the UK, mainland Europe and the US. Our global network means faster delivery times and lower shipping costs for your customers — which is crucial during peak season when every day counts. Products like greeting cards, wrapping paper and calendars are fulfilled from multiple locations, so if one centre hits capacity, your orders don't grind to a halt.
Transparent order tracking
When you're managing Black Friday volume, the last thing you need is radio silence from your supplier. Our dashboard gives you real-time visibility on order status, production times and shipping updates. No guessing whether orders are stuck somewhere. No chasing support for basic updates. Just clear information when you need it.
Responsive customer support
Our customer service team offers 24-hour email support Monday to Friday, with live chat available 8am–6pm Monday to Thursday and 8am–4pm Friday (UK time, excluding bank holidays). We launched a chatbot called Pablo earlier this year, but you can always request to speak to a human if you prefer. For Prodigi Pro members, dedicated support is available 24/7.
Prodigi Pro: Built for serious sellers
If you're expecting a significant amount of orders this Black Friday, Prodigi Pro gives you the infrastructure to handle it:
- 10–25% discount across our product ranges
- 75% savings on all custom packaging inserts
- Early access to new features
- Dedicated account manager
- 24/7 customer support
3D mockups: Turn browsers into buyers
Product images always matter, but during Black Friday when competition is fierce, they matter even more. Our free 3D mockups show your products from multiple angles with realistic lighting, shadows and texture, building trust and reducing returns. Create them directly within your Prodigi dashboard — no design skills needed.
Switching print on demand suppliers may feel risky, but sticking with a supplier whose infrastructure falls apart every November is riskier.
If you're even slightly concerned about your current setup, migrate to a more reliable print on demand platform now. Our dropshipping integrations with major platforms — including Shopify, Etsy, Amazon and TikTok — take minutes to set up, not days.
Black Friday marketing that actually converts
Black Friday marketing often falls into familiar traps. Shouty subject lines. Artificial urgency. The word "LIMITED" in all caps despite there being, quite literally, unlimited stock in print on demand.
Here's what really works:
Lead with the solution, not the discount
- Instead of: "30% OFF ALL CARDS THIS WEEKEND!"
- Try: "You've got 47 people on your Christmas card list and three weeks to post them."
The second version acknowledges what's actually stressing your customer out. The discount becomes a nice bonus rather than the main event.
Extend your selling window
Don't cram everything into Black Friday weekend. Launch your offers early — think early November rather than 28 November. Many successful print on demand merchants now run extended campaigns throughout November, which spreads demand more evenly, reduces shipping pressure and gives customers breathing room to shop thoughtfully rather than panic-buying.
The benefit? You're not competing in the noisiest 48 hours of the year. You're capturing early planners who prefer to avoid the rush, while still being a reliable option for last-minute shoppers.
Bundle intelligently
Here's where the print on demand products we mentioned above become genuinely powerful. Create bundles that solve the "I need to sort out Christmas in one go" problem:
- The Organised Person Bundle: Calendar + daily diary + card set
- The Last-Minute Lifesaver: Cards + wrapping paper
- The Small Business Pack: Corporate calendars + thank you cards
Price bundles at a slight discount, but frame it as convenience rather than savings. "Everything you need in one order" is more appealing than "SAVE £2.47!"
Why timing is everything
Black Friday isn't a single event. It's comes in three distinct waves, with each one attracting different types of shoppers:
Wave 1: Early birds, 1–27 November
These shoppers are organised, know what they want and are hunting for the best deal. They'll comparison shop. Focus on product quality and unique designs rather than deep discounts.
Wave 2: The main event, 28 November–1 December
Peak traffic, peak competition. This is when bundles and free shipping offers work best. People are decision-fatigued and want to tick multiple items off their list in one transaction.
Wave 3: The panickers, 2–18 December
These buyers aren't looking for discounts anymore — they're looking for guaranteed delivery by Christmas. Shift your messaging to "order by X date" and emphasise reliable fulfilment.
Your Black Friday to-do list
If you're questioning your current print on demand supplier, switch now — two weeks is enough time to migrate your catalogue and test a few orders.
- Create your free account — it takes less than one minute, and you only pay for what you sell.
- Order a sample through our manual order form. If it’s your first time placing an order for one of our print on demand products , we’ll give you a 50% refund. Alternatively, you can order one of our sample packs.
- Generate pricing and shipping information in just a few clicks with our pricing and shipping tool.
- Browse our available ecommerce integrations. Simply connect your store, create your product listings and configure your products for automatic fulfilment. We'll handle the printing, packing and dropshipping.
- Don’t forget to explore our range of 3D mockups — our hyper-realistic image previews are proven to increase sales and reduce returns.
Summary
Skip the generic Black Friday playbook. Focus on seasonal print on demand products people genuinely need right now — greeting cards, wrapping paper, calendars and daily diaries. These solve specific demand, encourage repeat purchases and stand out from oversaturated markets. Market them by addressing real customer stress points, create smart bundles and make mobile checkout effortless.
Most importantly: If you're questioning your print on demand supplier's reliability heading into peak season, switch now while there's still time. Black Friday success isn't about the biggest discount — it's about dependable fulfilment and making it easy for overwhelmed shoppers to find what they need.
Ready to get started? Sign up for a free Prodigi account and get 50% off your first sample order.
