🗓️ Getting your online store ready for Morocco's peak seasons: Black Friday, year-end, Ramadan, Eid, back to school

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Morocco's 2026-2027 retail calendar with the known and estimated dates, then a complete method to prepare each peak: offer, stock, product pages, advertising, cash-on-delivery confirmation, logistics, customer service, returns and the post-season review.

Updated: October 2026

This is not legal advice. The 2027 dates of religious holidays are estimates: they will be set by the Ministry of Habous and Islamic Affairs after the crescent moon is sighted.

In short

Morocco's retail year runs on two calendars: a fixed one (Black Friday, year-end, back to school, summer) and a lunar one (Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha), which moves about 11 days earlier each year and whose exact date is only known the evening before.
Black Friday 2026: Friday 27 November, Cyber Monday on Monday the 30th. The big platforms spread the campaign over the whole of November.
Ramadan 2027 is expected to start around Monday 8 February 2027, with Eid al-Fitr around 9 or 10 March. Eid al-Adha is expected around 16 or 17 May 2027. These are estimates.
The law does not change during the holidays: honest strikethrough prices, offer duration displayed, a 7-day withdrawal period, refunds within 15 days, delivery within 30 days unless agreed otherwise (Law 31-08).
A peak is prepared a month ahead and ends two weeks after: profitability depends as much on refusals, returns and reviews as on order volume.

The 2026-2027 retail calendar

Peak	Dates	How reliable the date is	What is at stake	Start preparing
Black Friday and Cyber Monday	Fri. 27/11/2026 and Mon. 30/11/2026; the big platforms spread the campaign over November	Certain (calendar)	Discounts, electronics, fashion, beauty; heavy competition for ads	End of October
School holidays	6 to 13/12/2026	Official (order no. 047.26)	Toys, leisure, short trips	Mid-November
Year-end	Thu. 31/12/2026, Fri. 01/01/2027 (public holiday)	Certain	Gifts, party wear, decoration, gift boxes	End of November
Independence Manifesto Day and Amazigh New Year	Mon. 11/01/2027 and Thu. 14/01/2027 (public holidays)	Certain	Public holidays: slower deliveries; local produce and crafts around Yennayer	End of December
School holidays	24 to 31/01/2027	Official	Leisure, sport, travel	Early January
Ramadan 1448	Start estimated around Mon. 08/02/2027	Estimate (moon sighting)	Food, cooking, tableware, then clothes and gifts for Eid; evening shopping	Early January
Eid al-Fitr	Estimated around 9 or 10/03/2027	Estimate	Children's clothes, traditional outfits, pastries, gifts; last order date for delivery before Eid	During the first week of Ramadan
School holidays	21 to 28/03/2027	Official	Leisure, travel	Early March
School holidays	9 to 16/05/2027	Official	Leisure	End of April
Eid al-Adha	Estimated around 16 or 17/05/2027	Estimate	Appliances (refrigeration, mincers), utensils, knives, barbecues; household spending and travel concentrated on the feast	Mid-April
Summer and the return of Moroccans living abroad	In 2026, Operation Marhaba ran from 5 June to 15 September; 2027 dates not yet published	Indicative	Fashion, luggage, gifts, weddings; summer sales set by each retailer	May
Throne Day	Fri. 30/07/2027 (public holiday)	Certain	Public holiday, slower deliveries	Mid-July
Back to school	Early September 2027, to be confirmed (7 September in 2026, 8 September in 2025)	Estimate	School supplies, schoolbags, clothes, laptops and tablets	End of July
Black Friday 2027	Fri. 26/11/2027	Certain (calendar)	Year-end discounts	End of October 2027

Two notes on this table:

Morocco has no legal sales season. Law 31-08 regulates how sales are run, but sets no dates, unlike France or Tunisia. Each retailer picks its own calendar.
Lunar dates move by a day. Morocco sets the start of each month by its own crescent sighting, often one day after other countries. Plan with two scenarios (D and D+1), and never promise "delivered before Eid" on an order placed the day before.

What the law says during promotions

The legal framework does not change during the holidays. These are the rules of Law 31-08 on consumer protection that matter most during a peak:

Strikethrough prices: Article 21 prohibits any advertising "likely to mislead" about the price. For sales, Article 54 requires the word "soldes" (sales), the old price struck through, the new price and the start and end dates, and states that "the old struck-through price may not exceed the lowest price actually charged [...] during the 30 days" before the sale. To be safe, apply this rule to all your promotions, Black Friday included. Fines: 50,000 to 250,000 DH for misleading advertising (Art. 174), 2,000 to 10,000 DH for sales (Art. 181).
Offer duration: in distance selling, the offer must state how long it and its price remain valid (Art. 29).
Free gifts: selling with a premium, meaning a gift that is a different product, is prohibited, with exceptions (identical product, low-value items, samples; Art. 56). A "buy this, get a free gift" offer must therefore be checked before you announce it.
Contests and prize draws: they require filed rules and an inventory of prizes (Arts. 60 to 64).
Confirmation: on the phone, state your identity and the commercial purpose of the call (Art. 31). The customer must receive written confirmation no later than delivery (Art. 32), otherwise the withdrawal period goes from 7 to 30 days (Art. 36).
Delivery and stock-outs: orders must be fulfilled within 30 days unless agreed otherwise (Art. 39); if an item is out of stock, inform the customer and refund them within 15 days if they have paid (Art. 40).

The legal texts and fines are detailed in my article on Black Friday 2026.

The method: nine work streams for each peak

The advice below comes from practice, not from a statistical study. Adapt it to your volume.

1. The offer: start from the margin, not the percentage

A discount is decided from what is left per delivered order, not from what the competitor does. Before announcing "-30%", do the full calculation: product cost, delivery, advertising cost per order, refused parcels and returns. The profitable promotion calculator shows the margin left and the volume you need to earn as much as before the discount; the COD profit calculator adds the cost of refusals.

A few formats protect your margin better than a flat discount: the bundle (two complementary products), free delivery above a minimum basket, a discount reserved for existing customers, a limited quantity displayed honestly.

2. Stock: only sell what you have

Count your real stock, not the one in the spreadsheet.
For imported products, add shipping and customs clearance times: for Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, the supplier order often goes out in December.
Set an alert threshold for each product and stop advertising an item before it runs out, not after.
If you sell a product you no longer have, the law requires you to inform the customer and refund them if they have paid (Art. 40). With cash on delivery, it is mostly a lost customer.

3. Product pages: prepare before, not during

Photos and descriptions finished at least a week ahead, in French and Arabic if your customers expect it.
An honest strikethrough price (the lowest price of the last 30 days), offer dates displayed, delivery fees visible on the product page.
A realistic delivery time written in plain words, with a last order date for Eid or year-end.
A landing page for the peak ("Ramadan Special", "Black Friday") that gathers the offers: it is the destination for all your ads.
Test the full journey on an entry-level phone over 4G. The platform matters too: see my WooCommerce, Shopify and YouCan comparison.

4. Advertising: start early, cut fast

Launch campaigns one to two weeks before the peak so the algorithms learn before bids go up; on the day itself, competition is at its highest.
Set your maximum cost per order in advance, and calculate it on delivered orders, not orders received. The ad calculator gives your ROAS, break-even point and budget.
Prepare several creatives per peak, in Arabic or Darija if your audience relates to it.
During Ramadan, habits change: many customers shop in the evening, after iftar. Look at your own hourly statistics and schedule your campaigns and replies accordingly.

5. Cash-on-delivery confirmation

This is the work stream that protects your margin most during a peak.

Confirm every order before shipping, by phone or WhatsApp, within hours: the longer the wait, the more likely the customer is to change their mind.
Prepare your WhatsApp messages in advance with the order confirmation messages: confirmation, reminder, shipping, delivery.
Add a WhatsApp button to your store with a pre-filled message using the WhatsApp link, button and QR code tool.
Plan extra staff: if one person usually confirms 80 orders a day, how many do you expect on the big day?
The full method is in my cash on delivery guide. If you are adding card payments for the holidays, see how to receive payments in Morocco in 2026.

6. Logistics

Call your courier at least three weeks ahead: expected volume, pickup cut-off time, delivery times during the peak, how often COD cash is paid back, days closed around the holidays.
I found no public announcement by Moroccan couriers about their capacity during promotions: ask for written commitments rather than assuming.
Prepare packaging and labels in advance; the batch shipping labels tool prints all of the day's parcels at once.
Before Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, set a last order date for "delivered before the feast" with a two- to three-day buffer, and tell customers that deliveries resume after the public holidays.

7. Customer service

Write an FAQ for the peak: delivery times, areas served, exchanges, withdrawal, last order date before the feast.
Set reply hours and stick to them. During Ramadan, announce them clearly, evenings included.
A customer who gets no answer often refuses the parcel: every unanswered message is a potential refusal.

8. Returns

Your customer has 7 days after receipt to withdraw, without giving a reason (Art. 36), and must be refunded within 15 days (Art. 37). Put these rules in writing in your terms of sale with the legal notice and terms of sale generator.
Budget for refusals and returns in your margin calculation.
Track every refused or returned parcel until it is back in stock: an untracked return is an invisible loss. The COD returns analyzer shows where and why your parcels are refused.

9. After the season

A review with figures within two weeks: orders received, confirmed, delivered, refused, returned, cash actually paid back, advertising cost per delivered order, final margin.
Customer reviews: ask delivered, satisfied customers for a review; the Google reviews kit creates the direct link, a QR poster and the request messages.
Leftover stock: decide quickly (bundle, post-season price, return to supplier) rather than letting it tie up your cash.
Notes for next year: what was missing, what cost too much, when you should have started.

What is specific to each peak

Black Friday: a month of promotions more than a single day. Your edge is not the biggest discount, but being ready when your customers compare.
Year-end: the delivery date matters more than the price. Display a last order date for 31 December.
Ramadan: demand changes over the month, from kitchen and tableware products at the start to clothes and gifts for Eid at the end. Prepare two waves of content.
Eid al-Fitr: the rush is concentrated in the last days. A clear cut-off date avoids promises you cannot keep, and refusals.
Eid al-Adha: household spending is concentrated on the feast itself; related products (storage, cutting, cooking) sell before, and in my experience the rest often sells better afterwards.
Summer: Moroccans living abroad coming home, weddings, holidays. Summer sales have no legal season: display your dates and follow the 30-day rule.
Back to school: demand is concentrated in August and the first days of September, with a lot of price comparison. "Back to school" bundles work well in practice.

Checklist

D-30

[ ] Peak chosen and dates noted, with a D+1 scenario for lunar holidays.
[ ] Offer calculated on the real margin, refusals and returns included.
[ ] Prices of the last 30 days recorded for every product on promotion.
[ ] Stock counted and supplier orders placed.
[ ] Courier called: volumes, delivery times, closed days, cash payback.
[ ] Terms of sale up to date (withdrawal, refunds, delivery times).
[ ] Ad budget and maximum cost per delivered order set.

D-7

[ ] Product pages and peak landing page live, tested on mobile.
[ ] Strikethrough prices checked, offer dates displayed.
[ ] Ad campaigns launched.
[ ] Confirmation, reminder and delivery messages ready.
[ ] Packaging, labels and extra staff organized.
[ ] FAQ and customer service hours published.

On the day

[ ] Stock checked several times a day, ads cut before stock runs out.
[ ] Orders confirmed within hours.
[ ] Parcels handed over before the pickup cut-off.
[ ] Customer messages handled within the announced hours.
[ ] Ad cost per order compared with the threshold you set.

After

[ ] Refused and returned parcels tracked until back in stock.
[ ] Refunds made within 15 days.
[ ] Cash paid back by the courier reconciled with deliveries.
[ ] Reviews requested from satisfied customers.
[ ] Review with figures and notes for the next peak.

What I could not verify

To be honest about this guide's limits: the official 2027 dates of religious holidays, the 2027 back-to-school date, the dates of Operation Marhaba 2027, the capacity announced by couriers during peaks, and any sales figure specific to Ramadan or Eid in Morocco. I will update this guide once this information is official.

Sources

Need help?

I get Moroccan online stores ready for their peak seasons: offer pages, checkout journey, campaign and refusal tracking. See the e-commerce service, or contact me.

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