Fewer Brands Discounted This Labor Day. Here's What Worked for the Ones Who Did.

Fewer brands discounted this Labor Day, and the ones that did earned less than last year.

We looked at 3,000+ Shopify brands over the Friday-to-Monday window and compared each one to its own normal, non-promo days. Fewer brands ran an offer, and the ones who did spent about the same as last year. But the return was smaller: brands that discounted earned less from it than they did last year.

Fewer brands ran an offer

34% of brands changed their price or discount for Labor Day, down from 41% last year. That's 1,000+ brands discounting out of 3,000+.

The ones who discounted didn't pull back

Brands that ran an offer discounted just as hard as last year. The typical brand discounted about the same share of orders too: 62% in 2025, 65% in 2026.

Takeaway: fewer brands, but no shallower offers.

Percent-off discount still wins; but GWP discounts are gaining

Only 2% of brands cut list prices. The rest ran offers. Percent off led at 64%, down from 69%, while gift with purchase climbed from 8% to 10% and free shipping more than doubled its share.

Takeaway: Labor Day is primarily an offer holiday, not a price-cut holiday.

The payoff got smaller

Revenue lift for discounting brands fell from 31% to 22%. Brands that ran nothing still gained 3% just from holiday traffic.

Takeaway: a promo weekend still beats sitting out, but by less than it used to.

Small discounts did nothing, while more meaningful ones paid off better

Brands that gave back less than 2.5% saw revenue drop 2%. Brands that ran no offer at all gained 3%. The highest return in any bucket was 20%+, at 89%.

Takeaway: a token discount costs you margin and buys you nothing. Go meaningful or skip it.

What this means for your BFCM plan:

1. Compare your last promo to your own non-promo numbers, not to last year's total.

2. Find your smallest recent offer. If it performed like no offer, that's your floor.

3. Test the mechanic, not just the number. Gifts and free shipping both gained share this year.

What's next

We'll run this same readout for Black Friday and Cyber Monday, plus cuts by industry and product price.

Want the full picture on building offers without the last-minute chaos?

More on promo strategy in this episode of IntelliJAMS.

Get the BFCM playbook →