Lululemon BFCM Email Breakdown

Imagine beating your own holiday forecast by $100M - that’s what Lululemon did, here’s how:

Most brands treat the holiday season like a discount arms race. Sitewide 30–40% off, “extended” promos, margin bleed everywhere.

Lululemon went the other way.

I know what you’re thinking - they’re Lulu, they can do whatever they want - and it some regards, you’re right.

But here are the tactics you CAN implement in your BFCM strategy:

Control your discounts, protect margin

They kept all of their discounts in one corner of the site, their “We Made Too Much” section. Promotions lived there, not across the whole store. This allowed them to be selective about what was on sale, and only choose products that they could maintain margin with the deep discounts. It also acts as a billboard, getting people into the store.

They created reasons to pay full price.

Fresh drops, limited colors, and seasonal styles kept product feeling new and giftable. Scarcity and newness replaced discounting as the buying trigger. So while people came to the store to see the Lulu items on sale, there were exclusives that were only around for the BFCM period.

They rewarded loyalty.

App users and insiders got early access to holiday deals. That drove urgency and gave their best customers a VIP experience. When you run limited edition products and drops, a strategy like this is sure to generate a large influx of purchases from your most faithful customers.

The lesson for Q4 2025:

Holiday sales don’t have to mean margin erosion. With a disciplined promo strategy and a product pipeline that feels fresh, you can grow top-line and protect profitability.

1. Keep discounts just to products you can afford them on

2. Use limited editions and scarcity to drive full price purchases during the period

3. Show everything to your best customers first

Click on the images to access.

Email Swipe File