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What happens to a WHOOP tracker when its owner upgrades? The old device could sit in a drawer. WHOOP would rather put it on someone else’s wrist.
That handoff gives a friend two months to experience the product. And the owner earns a reward only if the friend becomes a paying member.
Today:
We break down WHOOP’s device handoff, look at STOQ’s early BFCM preorder data, catch five commerce updates and make a Shopify discount apply from the first click.
Today’s Deep Dive
WHOOP Turns an Old Device Into Its Next Customer
When a WHOOP member upgrades, the old tracker could end up in a drawer.
The old WHOOP 4.0 can become a friend’s first WHOOP.
Instead, WHOOP gives that member a reason to put it on somebody else’s wrist.
They can pass their WHOOP 4.0 to a friend, who gets a two-month trial of WHOOP Peak. The friend gets to try the product with real hardware. The original owner gets a $50 WHOOP Shop credit only if the friend becomes a paying member.
That last condition matters. This isn’t a reward for handing out free gear. The credit comes after the trial converts.
What to copy
The device is specific to WHOOP. The move is bigger: take something your customer has already outgrown and make it the easiest way for a friend to experience your product.
Find the transferable asset. An older device, starter kit, reusable container or first-use tool can carry your product into a new household.
Make the first experience easy. The friend should be able to use it, not just hear about it.
Reward the outcome. Tie the thank-you to a paid customer, not merely a referral click.
Your next customer might already be sitting in your current customer’s drawer. See WHOOP’s upcycling rules →
Presented by STOQ
What 500,000 Preorders on Shopify Reveal About Black Friday
STOQ tracked more than half a million preorders across Shopify stores using the app, from September 2025 to early January 2026. Here’s how the season played out:
Late October: Weekly orders were already 70%+ above the September average, four weeks before Black Friday.
Black Friday week: Roughly 65,000 orders, about 3.6× September.
December: 20,000–25,000 orders a week, still above September levels.
The catch: October is also when holiday inventory may still be on the water. If the product page says “Sold out” or “Coming soon,” that early demand has nowhere to go.
Preorders let shoppers pay in full or leave a deposit now, then receive the product when stock arrives. You capture the October climb and see real demand before reordering for December.
Three things to set up this week:
Turn on preorders for holiday stock that hasn’t arrived yet.
Show the expected ship date on the product page.
Keep preorders open past Cyber Monday. December demand doesn’t return to September levels.
Reader offer: Use code BFCM26 for 60% off any STOQ paid plan for three months.
While You Were Building
In the Headlines
Cotopaxi is making November 1–11 a reason to come back. Its “Cotodays” campaign releases limited-edition products every other day before BFCM. Watch the cadence: newness gives shoppers a reason to visit before the discount fight starts.
Shopify lets you tailor product data by sales channel. You can preview and map the title, images and other fields a channel receives. Check your top holiday products before sending more traffic to an incomplete listing.
Shopify Messaging adds WhatsApp recovery flows. New templates cover abandoned browse, cart and checkout. If WhatsApp is relevant to your customers, check consent and test a recovery message before peak traffic.
App activity can now appear inside Shopify Analytics. Supported apps can send events such as emails sent or rewards redeemed into reports. Look for “App Events” before comparing app performance in separate dashboards.
SimGym can now test a whole shopping journey. Shopify’s AI shoppers can investigate discovery and add-to-cart confidence, then show where they got stuck. Treat it as a friction-finding tool, not a substitute for real conversion data.
On Socials
1/ Your Google ad may promise a delivery date you can’t meet. Menachem Ani points to the Merchant Center cutoff, handling and transit settings behind “get it by” dates. Check them before Black Friday week.
2/ Don’t reshoot every Black Friday ad. Fraser Cottrell suggests giving a proven creative a sale-specific frame. A smart test when time is shorter than your shot list.
The How-To
Make Your BFCM Discount Apply From the First Click
A shopper clicks your sale email, lands on the right product, then has to remember a code at checkout. You can remove that step.
In Shopify, create and save an active discount code for the products or collections in your offer.
Go to Discounts → your discount → Promote → Get a shareable link.
Choose the destination: the product, collection or home page. Copy the link into your email, ad or social post.
Open it in a private mobile window. Add an eligible item and reach checkout. Confirm the discount appears and doesn’t combine with another promotion in a way you didn’t intend.
The link carries one discount and applies it automatically to the shopper’s cart. Shopify’s instructions →
In Case You Missed It
Grüns put Tinder on its sales page.
See how the ad creates the reason to try, while the landing page makes choosing a flavor feel effortless.
Funnel Library: See the ads top DTC brands run beside the exact pages they send shoppers to. Explore the Funnel Library →