Hot Sale 2026 Strategies: What Top-Selling Brands Are Doing

From May 25 to June 2, 2026, Mexico will experience the most competitive edition of Hot Sale in its history.

Hot Sale 2025 figures make it clear: $42.725 billion pesos in sales, a 23.7% growth compared to the previous year, with 19.2 million purchase orders generated in just 9 days. Furthermore, 74% of traffic during the event came from mobile devices, and 6 out of 10 buyers made their purchases exclusively online.

Mexican e-commerce is not in an adoption phase. It's in a consolidation phase — and Hot Sale is where it's decided who grows and who falls behind.

But here's the problem: everyone offers discounts. Everyone sends emails. Everyone activates their best prices. In a sea of promotions, the winner is not the one who lowers the price the most — it's the one with the smartest strategy.

In this blog, we share exactly that: what winning brands are doing. Real cases of Getmore clients who are already executing campaigns that go far beyond "30% off", and advanced strategies that the most prominent e-commerce agencies in the world are recommending for this type of event.

If you have a Shopify store and want Hot Sale 2026 to be your best season, keep reading.

 

What our clients are already implementing (and you can too)

1. Nook & Scent: The smart cart that unlocks progressive discounts

The strategy: Buy More, Save More with Rebuy Smart Cart

Nook & Scent, a home fragrance brand, found a brilliant way to go beyond the classic "10% off". Although they communicate up to 30% savings, the actual mechanism works progressively: the more products the user adds to the cart, the more discounts are automatically unlocked.

This is implemented with Rebuy, a personalization and upsell tool that Shopify has available in its app ecosystem, and which we at Getmore constantly implement for our clients.

Why does it work so well?

Because it activates what behavioral psychologists call the "goal gradient effect": when the customer sees that they are only $100 pesos away from unlocking a higher discount level, the urge to add another product to the cart is almost irresistible. It's exactly the same principle credit cards use when they show you "you need X more points for your next reward."

A well-configured smart cart can increase the average ticket between 10% and 15% without needing to lower the base price of your products.

In addition, Nook & Scent includes subscription as an option.

This is a strategy that few Mexican brands are taking advantage of during high-demand seasons: converting a one-time purchase into a recurring customer. Hot Sale is the perfect time to offer an additional discount to those who subscribe, because they already have high purchase intent and the emotional cost of committing is low. The customer perceives the subscription as an advantage, not an obligation.

How to replicate it in your store:

• Configure your smart cart with Rebuy to show progress towards the next discount level.
• Define between 2 and 3 ticket thresholds (e.g., $500 = 10% off, $900 = 20% off, $1,400 = 30% off + free shipping).
• Add the subscription option with an exclusive benefit only for those who subscribe during Hot Sale (a permanent discount or access to automatic replenishment).

2. Hermanos Koumori: The Bundle Builder that lets the customer choose

The strategy: Customizable Bundle to increase average order value

Hermanos Koumori implemented something that goes a step beyond the predefined bundle: a Bundle Builder where the user creates their own kit by choosing the products they want to combine.

The psychology behind this is powerful: when the customer builds their own selection, the perceived value increases considerably. It's not "we sell you what we want to move." It's "you decide which combination makes the most sense for you, and we reward you for it."

In the context of Hot Sale, this can be enhanced with additional layers of incentive:

• Tiered discount based on the number of products added to the bundle.
• Free shipping when completing a kit of X products.
• Surprise gift when creating a bundle of 4 or more products.

This mechanism also reduces choice friction: instead of the customer having to navigate through dozens of SKUs trying to figure out what to buy, the Bundle Builder presents them with a guided flow where each decision brings them closer to checkout.

It can also be implemented with Rebuy, which has native functionalities for customizable bundles within the Shopify ecosystem.

How to replicate it in your store:

• Identify 2-3 product categories that make sense to combine.
• Create a Bundle Builder flow where the customer chooses 1 product from each category.
• Add a progress message: "Add 1 more product to unlock free shipping".
• Activate an automatic discount when the complete bundle is finished.

To delve deeper into how to optimize the average ticket in your Shopify store, we recommend our article on how to double sales without investing more in marketing.

3. Skindion: The kit with a gift that surpasses the discount in perceived value

The strategy: Sell less, give more — and earn more

Skindion did something counterintuitive that worked very well: instead of competing on who gives the biggest percentage discount, they built a Beauty Kit with an aggressive gift proposition.

The kit includes several additional items such as a usage playbook, a masterclass, a second product from the line at 100% discount, and other elements that elevate the perceived value far above what simply offering 40% off would cost.

Why does a gift work better than a discount?

It is supported by research in consumer psychology. The word "free" activates a distinct emotional response in the brain: it generates a feeling of gain without loss, while a discount always implies the idea that "something was not gained."

A widely cited study by Ariely, Shampanier, and Mazar confirmed that consumers consistently choose the free item over the discounted item, even when the economic value of the latter is objectively greater. Research published in the Journal of Retailing also shows that free gift frames better maintain the perceived quality of the main product, while discounts can generate negative inferences about quality.

The key to Skindion's model: the gifts don't necessarily have to be expensive for the brand. A digital playbook, access to a masterclass, a sample of a new product, a branded fabric bag — all have a low cost but high perceived value for the customer.

How to replicate it in your store:

• Identify which digital assets or low-cost products you can use as gifts (ebooks, guides, samples, slow-moving accessories).
• Frame the kit as "X products + exclusive gift", not as "kit with discount".
• Communicate the suggested total value of the gift so the customer can make the mental comparison.
• Use the gift to introduce products from your catalog that the customer might not have known about.

 

What the most successful DTC brands in the world do during their sales events and how to apply it to your Hot Sale

Black Friday / Cyber Monday in the United States is, in scale and level of competition, the North American equivalent of Hot Sale and Buen Fin for Mexico. Every year, high-growth DTC brands test, optimize, and publish their results. This data is public, and what emerges from it is not what most Mexican stores are doing.

Here are the tactics that have shown the most impact, with real names, numbers, and examples.

4. VIP list with early access: sell before everyone else

The tactic: 24 to 72 hours before the official start of Hot Sale, your most valuable customers receive exclusive access to your best offers.

This works on multiple levels:

1. Generates early conversions before competitors saturate your customers' feeds.
2. Strengthens loyalty of your frequent buyers, who feel they are treated differently.
3. Tests your offers in a controlled segment before the main rush.

The hair care brand TANIT Botanics is a concrete example: they christened their Black Friday "Change Friday" and activated a VIP list with exclusive early access for their best customers, with gift bundles and combined site discounts. Early access generates conversions for them before the rest of the market starts competing for the same audience and makes their most loyal customers feel part of something special, not just a mass sale.

A beauty brand that replicated this mechanism with a 48-hour VIP window "buy any serum + travel set free" reported +32% in average order value compared to their public sale and double the CTR in their emails.

Tools to implement it on Shopify:

• Klaviyo to segment your highest LTV customers and send early access.
• A password-protected collection or a hidden presale page on your Shopify.
• An SMS campaign with the access link the day before (SMS open rate: +90%).

5. Advanced campaign segmentation in Klaviyo: don't talk to everyone the same way

This is the biggest difference between brands that truly win their sales event and those that simply participate.

Ridge, the slim wallet brand that exceeds $100 million in annual sales, is very public about it: their position is that no one should receive the same email during a sales event. Brands that generate the most revenue during Black Friday divide their base into at least 4-5 segments and send completely different messages to each:

A DTC fashion brand that segmented its Black Friday campaign in this way achieved 2.4 times higher open rates and 29% more revenue than the previous year with a generic campaign.

To better understand how to leverage Klaviyo with your Shopify store, visit our article on email marketing for e-commerce.

6. Cart gamification: the "goal gradient effect" applied to Hot Sale

We already saw this in the Nook & Scent example, but some brands go much further with gamification mechanics throughout the event. Set Active, the sportswear brand, implemented an experience during their Black Friday where customers could "color" a virtual product on the pre-sale page, with the possibility of redeeming it later. The result: pre-purchase engagement that converted better than any discount banner.

Without going that far, these mechanics have a high impact and can be implemented today:

• Progress bar in the cart: "You need $180 more to unlock free shipping." This message alone can increase the average order value by up to 20%.
• Limited-time purchase challenges: "Complete your purchase before 11 pm and get X as a gift."
• Accumulative badges and rewards: "You are a Hot Sale VIP — buy twice during the event and gain access to our autumn pre-sale."
• Frequent buyer leaderboard: Displaying in real-time who has purchased the most during the event, with prizes for the top 10.

The psychological logic: customers are more motivated to complete a task the closer they are to the goal. If a customer has already put $700 in the cart and sees that with $100 more they unlock free shipping and a gift, there's a very high probability they'll add another product.

7. Dedicated Hot Sale Landing Page: Don't send your customers to your Homepage

Practically all DTC brands that sell the most during Black Friday have one thing in common: they don't send their traffic to the homepage. They create a landing page dedicated exclusively to the event, separate from the rest of their store, and concentrate everything there.

Why does it matter so much?

• A focused landing page eliminates distractions and concentrates the buyer on event offers.
• It has a specific conversion flow: enter → see offers → add to cart → buy. No unnecessary menus, no other categories, no noise.
• For SEO: a page with the event name well optimized can rank for searches like "Hot Sale [your brand] 2026" and capture organic traffic.
• For paid advertising: your Meta or Google ads for Hot Sale should direct to this page, not the homepage.

Shopify allows you to create custom pages with its theme editor. If you use an OS 2.0 theme (Shopify Online Store 2.0), you have total flexibility to build a landing page with dynamic sections, countdown timers, urgency banners, and filtered collections.

8. Post-purchase upsell: the sale that happens after checkout

One of the most underutilized and most profitable strategies on Shopify: offering a complementary product immediately after the customer has completed their purchase, on the confirmation page.

At that moment, the customer has already overcome the psychological barrier of buying. They don't have to re-enter their card, they're not afraid it's a fraud, they're not comparing prices. They simply have the option to add one more product with a single click.

Conversion rates for well-configured post-purchase upsells range from 10% to 30%, depending on the relevance of the offer.

In Shopify, this can be implemented with apps like Rebuy. At Getmore, we implement these conversion strategies as part of our continuous optimization service.

What to offer in the Hot Sale post-purchase:

• The accessory or natural complement to the recently purchased product.
• A slow-moving product.
• A sample or trial size of another product in your line.
• An upgrade of the same category at a special price "only for completing your purchase today."
• Subscription to the product they just bought, with a discounted first month.

9. Mystery Box or limited edition drop: exclusivity that generates real urgency

Brands like Piecework Puzzles and several independent beauty lines in the US have turned the Mystery Box into one of their best-selling products during sales events. The mechanic is simple but psychologically very effective: creating a surprise box or a limited edition bundle that is not available the rest of the year.

The mechanic:

• A Mystery Box is launched with a market value that clearly exceeds the selling price (e.g., "box worth $1,200 pesos, Hot Sale price: $699").
• The content is partially revealed: one or two items are shown, the rest is a surprise.
• A genuinely limited stock is communicated.
• It works very well for moving slow-moving inventory along with best-selling products.

The appeal isn't just the price: it's the thrill of not knowing exactly what you're going to receive. Mystery Boxes generate much more user-generated content (UGC) than a normal product because people want to share what they got.

10. Hyper-personalized abandoned cart flows for Hot Sale

During Hot Sale, consumers add products to multiple carts in multiple stores. The abandonment rate goes up because people are "saving" options while comparing. Brands that best handle this during their sales events don't use the same old abandoned cart flow; they set up one specifically for the event:

• Message 1 (30-60 min later): Time urgency — "Your Hot Sale ends in X days, the products in your cart have a special price."
• Message 2 (4-8 hours later): Value reinforcement — show what each product includes, customer reviews.
• Message 3 (24 hours later): Additional incentive — "Complete your purchase today and add free shipping / a free sample."

The key difference from the normal flow: the message always refers to the event and the temporality of the special price. It's not "you forgot something in your cart" — it's "the Hot Sale price of your products ends soon."

Technical Checklist before Hot Sale 2026

Before activating any marketing strategy, make sure your store is technically ready:

Speed and mobile: 74% of traffic during Hot Sale comes from mobile. If your store takes more than 3 seconds to load on mobile, you're losing sales. Run a test on PageSpeed Insights before May 25th.

Optimized checkout: The biggest reason for checkout abandonment is lack of trust. Add 2 to 3 attributes of your brand in the banner. Make sure your payment flow is as short as possible. In Shopify Plus, you have access to Checkout Extensions to customize this flow.

Interest-free months activated: For the Mexican consumer, the possibility of paying in interest-free installments can be the decisive factor in the purchase decision. Make sure you have this correctly configured with your payment providers.

Product page: Remember that this is where your customer decides whether or not to buy from you. Make sure you have all important elements in the first fold and effectively communicate payment and shipping information. 

Inventory and stock communication: Showing low stock counters ("Only 3 units left") generates real urgency. Configure this for your most popular products.

To understand which technical aspects of your store might be affecting your conversions today, you can review our article on how to increase the conversion rate on your product page.

Is your store ready for Hot Sale 2026?

The difference between a store that sells well during Hot Sale and one that merely "participates" isn't about who offers the biggest discount. It's about who has the right infrastructure, strategy, and optimization to convert high-intent traffic into real sales.

At Getmore, as a Shopify Premier Partner—part of the top 2% most specialized Shopify agencies worldwide—we have been helping Mexican brands build stores that not only look good but sell more for over 10 years. From setting up Rebuy and custom bundles to optimizing checkout and Klaviyo integration, we have the expertise to make your Hot Sale your best season yet.

Want to check how ready your store is for Hot Sale? Review our services or write to us directly. We'd love to diagnose your store and help you implement strategies that truly move the needle.

Frequently Asked Questions about Hot Sale 2026

When is Hot Sale 2026 in Mexico?

Hot Sale 2026 will take place from May 25 to June 2, 2026. These are 9 days of online sales organized by the Mexican Online Sales Association (AMVO). It is Mexico's largest e-commerce event and one of the most important in Latin America.

How can I participate in Hot Sale 2026 with my Shopify store?

To officially participate, you must register your brand on the AMVO website (hotsale.com.mx). In parallel, you need to prepare your store with active offers, ensure your technical infrastructure can handle additional traffic, and activate your email and social media campaigns in advance.

What Shopify tools are essential for Hot Sale?

The most recommended by specialized agencies are: Klaviyo (segmented email and SMS), Rebuy (smart cart, upsells, and bundles), a loyalty app like Smile.io, and Shopify's native tiered discount functionalities. On Shopify Plus, you also have access to Checkout Extensions and advanced Shopify Flow automations.

How far in advance should I prepare my Hot Sale campaign?

Brands that achieve the best results start preparing 4 to 6 weeks before the event. This includes defining offers, configuring email flows in Klaviyo, adjusting store design, preparing the event landing page, and building the VIP early access list.

Is it worth creating a VIP waitlist for Hot Sale?

Absolutely. Data from e-commerce agencies in the US shows that customers with early VIP access convert at rates 2-3 times higher than public traffic, and have a higher AOV. Additionally, it generates conversions before the official launch, which reduces pressure during the first few days.

Is it better to offer discounts or gifts during Hot Sale?

Consumer psychology research is clear: gifts generate greater perceived value than equivalent price discounts, especially for everyday consumption products or those with low perceived risk. Discounts are more effective when the product has a high perceived risk (high-value purchases). The ideal is to combine both: a fair and competitive base discount, plus a gift that elevates the value proposition.

What are the best strategies to sell more during Hot Sale 2026?

The strategies that work best during Hot Sale 2026 are those that go beyond flat discounts and work on conversion from several angles simultaneously:

1. Tiered discounts with smart cart. Instead of a fixed discount, set progressive thresholds: the more the customer adds to the cart, the greater the benefit they unlock. This model activates the "goal gradient effect" — the psychological tendency to complete a goal when you're close to it — and can increase the average order value by 15% to 30% without touching your base price.

2. VIP list with early access. Activate your frequent customer base 24 to 72 hours before the official launch. The Hot Sale 2026 consumer already arrives with their purchase decision made — AMVO studies confirm that the influence window is in the weeks leading up to the event, not during it. Giving early access to your best customers generates conversions before the competition saturates their feeds.

3. Customizable bundle. Allows the user to build their own kit by choosing the products they want to combine, with a discount or benefit upon completion. Generates a greater perceived value than a predefined bundle and reduces decision friction.

4. Kit with a gift instead of just a discount. Consumer psychology research is consistent: gifts generate greater perceived value than equivalent discounts, especially for everyday consumer products. Gifting a digital product (guide, masterclass, exclusive access) or a physical sample has a low cost for the brand but a high emotional impact on the buyer.

5. Cart abandonment flow specific to Hot Sale. During the event, users compare multiple stores at the same time. A recovery flow with three messages—time urgency, value reinforcement, and an additional incentive—can recover between 10% and 20% of abandoned carts that would otherwise be lost.

6. Dedicated event landing page. Brands that convert the most during the Hot Sale do not send their traffic to the general homepage. A landing page focused exclusively on event offers eliminates distractions, improves the conversion rate, and can organically position itself in searches like "hot sale [your brand] 2026."

7. Post-purchase upsell. Immediately after the customer completes their purchase—when their psychological guard is down—offering them a complementary product with a single click has conversion rates between 10% and 30%, with no additional acquisition cost.

The difference between a store that sells well during Hot Sale and one that simply participates is not in the size of the discount. It's in having built the right infrastructure, flows, and value proposition before the event starts.

Can I implement Rebuy or Bundle Builder without Shopify Plus?

Yes. Rebuy is available on basic Shopify plans, although with more limited functionalities than on Shopify Plus. The same applies to Bundle Builder. However, if you are looking for the maximum potential for customization and advanced checkout configuration, Shopify Plus is the recommended option.

You may also be interested in

• What are Shopify Partners and why do they matter for your business?
• Email marketing: examples to boost sales in your e-commerce
• How to double sales in your e-commerce without investing more in marketing
• How to get more recurring customers in your Shopify store

Do you want us to help you implement any of these strategies in your store? Write to us at hola@getmore.mx or visit getmore.mx. We are a Shopify Premier Partner and have been growing online stores in Mexico for over 10 years.