How Margin-Smart Brands Win BFCM

Turning major sales events like BFCM into launchpads, not losses.

Author

Pietro Saccomani
July 31, 2025

It’s easy to misinterpret the actual benefit you get from seasonal sales like Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

It looks like a massive win: spikes in traffic, orders and revenue. Product going out the door faster than you can track.

But these short-term spikes don’t always translate to long-term wins. Often, the reality is that you just sold a lot of products at razor-thin (possibly negative) margins, put more work on your team’s back, and all that just for customers who don’t care about you until the next major sales event.

That doesn’t mean you have to opt-out of BFCM and the holiday season. Far from it. You just need to approach it tactically; thinking about sustained benefits, not vanity metrics.

That’s what we’re going to look at in this week’s Retention Edge: turning BFCM into ongoing momentum, not a January crash.

The Promo Trap

Picture this: BFCM is over. Your dashboards are lighting up. Record-breaking revenue, more orders than you’ve ever seen, a dopamine hit for the whole team. This DTC game is easy, you think.

Then your accountant calls. “We’re out of cash.”

You’ve cleared inventory, your ops team is exhausted, and those shiny new customers? Most won’t come back unless you hit them with another 50% off coupon.

That’s the Promo Trap: when the short-term rush masks long-term pain.

Here’s how it happens:

  • Discounts that kill margins → Chasing competitors’ discounts erodes your profit per order. You end up just breaking even (if you’re lucky) on each sale.

  • Operational overload → Support tickets spike, refund rates jump, and overtime costs crush net profit. More customers means more strain for your team.

  • Paid media inflation → Everyone and their mother is running Meta ads. Ad costs skyrocket during BFCM, potentially doubling your CAC just to keep up.

  • Discount-only buyers → Many BFCM shoppers are one-and-done; studies show up to 79% won’t purchase again at full price.

  • Resentment from loyal customers → Brands often focused their promos around bringing in new buyers, and existing customers & VIPs don’t get the same benefits.

  • No lasting lift → A revenue spike without repeat business isn’t growth. It’s a treadmill.

The lesson: a “successful” promo weekend isn’t defined by topline revenue.

It’s defined by cash left in the bank and customers who stick around when the discounts are gone.

How to Turn BFCM Into a Momentum Builder (Not a Trapdoor)

BFCM doesn’t have to be a margin-crushing race to the bottom. It can (and should) be a transformative period for your brand.

Done right, it can drive short-term wins and set you up for long-term growth. The key is to design your promotion strategy with profit and retention in mind, before the sale kicks off.

1. Protect Your Margin Before You Discount

Deep discounts feel like the easy button for driving volume, but they can destroy your unit economics.

Instead of playing the “who can discount the most” game:

  • Bundle and save → Increase AOV while protecting margin (e.g., “buy two, get one” or curated gift sets).

  • Add value instead of slashing price → Think free gifts, exclusive limited-edition drops, extended warranties, or free upgrades.

  • Run the numbers ahead of time → Model your contribution margin with realistic CAC, support costs, and fulfillment overhead before you launch, not after.

Key takeaway: Discounts are a tool, not a strategy. Design offers that keep margin intact and give customers a reason to buy beyond just “it’s cheaper today.”

2. Treat Your VIPs Like VIPs

Your best customers shouldn’t feel like they’re just another line item in a big sale.

Yes, BFCM is a major opportunity to bring in new customers. But you’re shooting yourself in the foot if you do it at the expense of your loyalists.

  • Segment your offers → Give loyalty members, subscribers, and high-LTV customers early access, exclusive perks, or special SKUs.

  • Reward loyalty differently → Early shopping windows, bonus points, or access to limited products beat giving first-time buyers better deals.

  • Make it feel special → Use messaging that speaks to status and appreciation, not just “you saved $X.”

Key takeaway: Your most valuable customers deserve a better experience than your cold audience. Protect loyalty and make them feel seen.

3. Think Retention First

A one-off purchase during BFCM is nice, but a repeat customer is where the real money is.

That means preparing your post-purchase journey before the sale even begins.

  • Retention flows ready to fire → Post-purchase education, cross-sells, replenishment nudges, and onboarding flows for first-time buyers.

  • Promote repeat-friendly products → Subscriptions, consumables, and high-frequency-use items make repeat behavior easier.

  • Customer experience matters → Fast shipping, clear communication, and proactive support all improve LTV. Remember, your buyers are buying from 10 other stores during BFCM. You need to work hard to make your experience memorable.

Key takeaway: The sale is just step one. Focus on turning new buyers into repeat customers before the dust settles.

4. Compete Where Others Aren’t

During BFCM, inboxes overflow, ad CPMs spike, and customer attention is harder to grab. You don’t have to play the same crowded game as everyone else.

  • Go early → Pre-sale access for subscribers or VIPs avoids peak ad costs and inbox competition.

  • Use owned channels → Mobile apps, push, and on-site experiences can stand out when inboxes are saturated.

  • Lean on partnerships and communities → Collabs, affiliate drops, and ambassador programs are harder for competitors to copy.

Key takeaway: Don’t fight for the same slice of attention as every other brand. Find channels and timing that give you space to breathe.

5. Why Mobile Apps Win Black Friday

Mobile apps are one of the best tools you can have during high-volume sales events.

When everyone else is blasting inboxes and competing for clicks on Facebook, push notifications via your own app cut through the noise.

  • Push outperforms email/SMS → Higher CVR, higher AOV, and longer session durations for app users.

  • App-exclusive sales drive loyalty → Rewards for downloading and shopping via app create a moat competitors can’t easily replicate.

  • Apps keep the conversation going → Having an app as the promo incentive keeps you in touch with the customer, instead of them disappearing once Cyber Week is over.

  • Recovery rates soar → You can bet on a lot of abandoned carts during BFCM. Push notifications are easily the most effective way to reach out and recover abandoned carts. You could add five-six figures in revenue over Cyber Week from this feature alone.

Key takeaway: Apps are a retention and engagement engine that can outshine paid channels when it matters most.

Bottom Line: Play the Long Game

BFCM should be a powerful moment for your brand. But the only brands that get long-term results are those thinking long-term.

Make sure you’re clear on why you’re doing it. Busy dashboard and record sales numbers might look good on LinkedIn, but the real win is how many customers stick, how much cash you keep, and how much momentum you carry into Q1.

We’re talking BFCM here, but it applies to any other major sales event; seasonal events like Memorial Day, Back to School sales, even your brand’s own events (like new product launches).

You want to approach all with a long-term outlook. Because sales without margin is just a vanity metric.

New Report: How Successful Brands Use Push

We just put together a bumper new report, which you can check out for free.

This report shows real push notifications that some of the most successful DTC brands are sending to their customers.

We looked at:

  • Frequency

  • Tone

  • Objectives & overall push strategy

It also includes a swipe file of 250+ notifications, a quickstart guide, and push templates you can copy & paste to use right now.

In short — everything you need to start using push notifications (except for an app; if you don’t have one, go here to get a free preview).

Quick Hits

Here’s what’s been happening in the ecom world this week.

AI-Powered Store Summaries in Chrome

The Chrome web browser is trying out a new AI summary feature for US shoppers. With this feature, Google auto-generates an overview based on reviews, ratings, and whatever else it can find about your brand.

This could be one of the first steps in a major shift for ecommerce, taking control out of the hands of the brand — even on their own site.

AI Shopping Visibility Index

If you’re interested in AI SEO, this is a must-read. It’s a deep (and I mean deep) dive into the state of AI shopping and search visibility for beauty brands.

The insights are far from category-specific, though. Here are some of the highlights:

  • Brands visible across multiple channels (direct-to-consumer, retail, social, and SEO) perform better in AI recommendations.

  • The top 3 brands account for 13% of total AI visibility; the top 10 brands account for 37%.

  • Perplexity triggered shopping results for 92% of prompts, heavily integrating product recommendations (ChatGPT only triggered shopping in 24% of prompts).

  • Shopify brands ranked well in ChatGPT shopping mode, while Salesforce and BigCommerce brands generally had broader AI visibility.

  • AI relies heavily on third-party reviews, rankings, and influencers, not just brand websites.

Klaviyo Introduces AI Shopping Assistant

Klaviyo is branching out into the agent game with Klaviyo Service: an AI shopping assistant that guides customers through the buying journey.

It’s more than just a chatbot. It includes Klaviyo’s “Customer Hub”, which is essentially a dedicated site, personalized for each customer.

The potential for this is wild. Makes me think ecom is going to be unrecognizable in just one or two years’ time.

Who Wins With Agentic Commerce?

Agentic Commerce is coming, that much is for sure. But who — of the big names — benefits the most?

Trust is Still a Barrier in AI Commerce

Despite all the hype, there is still a barrier to overcome before we get full, mainstream, adoption of AI-native shopping.

That barrier is trust. And the majority of shoppers are still hesitant to fully trust AI assistants.

DTC Index: Present Spending Sentiment

While 2025 has been rough, there are signs that things are starting to rebound.

As data from DTC Index shows, consumer spending sentiment seems to be rebounding, and is now around the same area it was a year ago.

Amazon Removes All Google Shopping Ads

Amazon turned off all advertising on Google Shopping last week, in a wild move.

It’s a major shift — but one that has been coming, as the giant has been slowly drawing back on this channel for a while.

Google Shopping Ads Coming to Gmail

Amazon may be ditching the channel, but there’s about to be more real estate for Google Shopping ads.

Google is testing shopping ads in the Gmail promotions tab, creating a shoppable experience within the inbox.

It’s a significant change, particularly for brands heavy into email marketing. While it’s an opportunity for brands to extend the reach of their ads, it’s another thing adding clutter and crowding to the inbox, furthering the importance of avoiding the promotions tab (or investing in other retention channels, like push).

Google “Managing Your Subscriptions” Feature

In similar news, Google is rolling out a new feature that makes it easier to unsubscribe from emails.

The result? More control for users over their inbox, and less control for marketers.

Just another reason why you need to start building alternative channels to connect with your customers.

That’s all for now.

I’ll be back in touch next week, with more on how successful brands are doing CX and retention right.

If there’s any topic you’d like to see us dive into, for either the newsletter or the podcast, just shoot me a message here.

Until next time,

Pietro and The Retention Edge Team

PS: want to boost retention, revenue and profitability? If so, launching your own app could be the best move you make this year.

See how: go to our website to get a preview of your app for free, or shoot me a DM on LinkedIn to talk about it.