Black Friday and holiday emails for specialty food shops and makers
Food is the gift people know will be used. Specialty food shops and makers can win the holidays with gift boxes, honest shipping dates and a taste of the story behind the product.
Sell gift boxes and be clear about shipping
Perishables have the strictest deadlines of any shop. Your emails should make the cut-off dates impossible to miss, and make ordering a ready-made gift box one click. A shopper who sees “ships in time for Christmas if you order by Dec 14” trusts the shop and orders.
The five emails
- Early access to gift boxes (the week before Black Friday). Introduce your gift boxes and sets, with quantities if they are limited.
- Black Friday: the box deal. A discount on a gift box, free shipping over a threshold, or a free sample with every order. Keep it one clear offer.
- Small Business Saturday: the maker story. Who makes it, where, and why it tastes different. A short, real story with photos works best. Examples.
- Corporate and bulk gifts (early December). Businesses buy gifts in bulk. A separate email for office and client gifts with order-by dates opens a second customer group.
- Last day to ship. Put the exact date in the subject; add pickup and local delivery options for the last-minute crowd. Template.
What to put in a food shop’s emails
- Appetizing photos of the product being used, not only the package.
- Ingredients and allergens, briefly, for the products you feature.
- Ship dates and shipping rules for perishables (cold packs, weekdays only).
- A serving idea or pairing in one line.
A short template: the gift box email
Hi [First Name], Our holiday gift boxes are ready. [Box name], [$ price]: [what is inside, one line] [Second box], [$ price]: [what is inside, one line] [Small gift / stocking stuffer], [$ price] Black Friday through Cyber Monday: [offer]. [Shop the gift boxes -> link] Shipping: order by [date] and it arrives before Christmas. Want to pick up? We are open [hours]. Thank you for supporting a small shop, [Your name], [Shop Name]
See our specialty food sample email for a finished version.
Want to see this built from your own products?
Paste your store's address into our free mockup tool and get a Black Friday email made from your real products. No card needed.
Prefer to skip the writing? We write and design the whole run for your shop, ready to import into Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Omnisend or Shopify Email, in 72 hours.