What changed
Walmart holiday events grow to 14 days from 10
When
Nov 12 to 15, Nov 23 to 29, Nov 30 to Dec 2, 2026
Who it affects
Walmart Marketplace sellers, WFS sellers, suppliers and advertisers
What to do
Re-forecast stock and split Walmart ad budget across all three events

Key takeaways

  • Walmart's 2026 holiday events total 14 days, up from 10, with Cyber Monday growing to three days.
  • Walmart+ early access now reaches the first 24 hours on select deals, versus five hours in 2025.
  • Most Marketplace items are excluded from the Walmart+ free holiday delivery offer, per Walmart's footnote.

Walmart holiday 2026 calendar

  1. Early Black Friday Deals

  2. Black Friday Deals, stores from Nov 27

  3. Cyber Monday, online

What Walmart announced

Walmart set three events. Early Black Friday Deals run November 12 to 15, starting online at 12:01 a.m. ET and in stores at 6 a.m. local time. Black Friday Deals run November 23 to 29 online, and in stores from November 27 at 6 a.m. Cyber Monday runs November 30 to December 2 online. Stores stay closed on Thanksgiving, per coverage of the announcement.

In 2025 the same three events ran November 14 to 16, November 25 to 30 and December 1, for 10 days in total, Retail Dive reports. Every event got longer this year: the first by one day, the second by one and Cyber Monday by two.

The detail most coverage skips: Walmart+ gets a longer head start

In 2025 Walmart+ members got five hours of early online access before each event, from 7 p.m. ET the night before. This year's release describes something bigger. Early access to hot Deal drops begins at 12:01 a.m. ET on November 12 and November 23, and remaining items open to everyone at 12:01 a.m. the next day. Select online-only deals are reserved for members for the first 24 hours, while supplies last.

So the first day of each event now skews toward members on those items, and the public peak on them may land a day later. That is our reading of the terms, not a Walmart statement, and it matters for when you raise bids.

Retail Dive also notes that Walmart gave no specific discount levels and named no products this year, unlike its 2025 preview. The only stated price hooks are thousands of gifts under $20 and a toy list with 25 toys under $25. Check whether your hero SKU has a bundle or size that fits them.

Walmart holiday events: 2025 vs 2026

20252026
Total sale days1014
First eventNov 14 to 16Nov 12 to 15
Black Friday eventNov 25 to 30Nov 23 to 29
Cyber MondayDec 1Nov 30 to Dec 2
Walmart+ head startFive hours24 hours on select deals

One footnote Marketplace sellers should read

Walmart promotes free holiday delivery for Walmart+ members, but the footnote says most Marketplace items are excluded, along with freight and other exceptions. If you ship your own orders, you may not sit inside the main delivery message of the season. Walmart's August holiday guide, as reported by ChannelX, says items with the Fulfilled by Walmart tag and delivery in two days or less see 50% GMV growth on average, which is Walmart's own figure.

So what: the math on four extra days

Four more days is 40% more calendar, but it will not be 40% more sales. Walmart is spreading a shopping season across more days, so the risk is running out of budget or stock early, not missing demand.

Worked example, with illustrative numbers. A home brand sells a $30 item on Walmart and spends $500 a day on Sponsored Search during events. Last year's 10 days cost $5,000. Holding $500 a day this year costs $7,000. If the item earns $9 after fees and product cost at the deal price, that extra $2,000 has to produce about 223 extra units just to break even on ad spend. Some of those units would have sold anyway, so weight budget to the days that matter rather than spreading it evenly.

What Walmart sellers should do this week

Walmart's reported inventory arrival targets for its October and annual events were September 1 and September 15, and sellers also cite an October 1 WFS cutoff, so confirm what is still possible in Seller Center before you book freight.

  • Owner or ops lead: extend the deal calendar in your forecast to all 14 days, in the Seller Center inventory view, and check that weeks of supply cover December 2. Metric: no top SKU out of stock before December 3.
  • Ops lead: check Walmart's guidance of 8 to 12 weeks of supply for top SKUs. If you use Walmart Multichannel Solutions, count those orders against the same WFS stock. Metric: in-stock rate.
  • Ads manager: split Walmart PPC budget by event in Walmart Connect, and schedule higher bids for the first full public day as well as the launch day. Metric: return on ad spend by day.
  • Ads manager: raise daily caps before 12:01 a.m. ET on November 12, November 23 and November 30, since those starts fall overnight. Metric: hours lost to budget caps.
  • Pricing lead: test a bundle or smaller pack near the $20 line for gift demand. Metric: Buy Box win rate and contribution margin per order.
  • Owner: confirm deal margin at the deepest price over seven days, not one. Metric: contribution margin after ads.

When this advice does not apply

If you sell low-margin replenishment goods with little gift demand, a longer event may just pull forward orders, so keep bids near normal. If your delivery promise is slow, fix that before adding ads.

What this means for Amazon sellers

If you run both channels, Walmart's early event starts well before Black Friday week, so plan the overlap against what Amazon has confirmed for Black Friday. PPC Spider's Walmart marketplace agency team sets target ACoS from product margin after fees, and SpiderOS watches bids, budgets and stock through events like these. More updates are on our Walmart seller news channel, and if you want your ad split checked before November 12, start with a free Amazon audit.

Sources

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