Takeaways from studying 100+ apps over BFCM

BFCM is the ultimate stress test for ecommerce brands, and a great time to review data and compare channels.

Everything’s amplified. Small changes show up fast.

This BFCM, I reviewed 100+ shopping apps from some of the most popular DTC brands as well as ecom heavyweights - from True Classic to Gymshark to Sephora - to see how they were approaching BFCM.

Alongside that I analyzed the results of brands we worked with at MobiLoud, to see how apps moved the needle over BFCM.

Here are five stats that stood out to me; and what you can take away from the data.

1. 75% of brands were running BFCM promos before Black Friday

By the Monday before Black Friday, 75% of brands were already running BFCM promotions in their app.

In other words, for most brands, BFCM was already in full swing well before the traditional Friday-Monday window.

Brands are spreading BFCM activity over a longer window, likely to capture attention earlier, before peak days become saturated, and to smooth demand rather than concentrate it into a single weekend.

This is a solid idea. But it also runs the risk of diluting urgency. Harder to push the customer to act quickly when your deal starts on the 24th.

2. App users spend at least 25-35% more per order

For our customers, average order value from app users was consistently higher than mobile web during the BFCM period.

This was true across multiple categories. AOV was typically 25-35% higher, with some brands seeing even larger gaps.

• One fashion brand saw app AOV of $116 vs $93 on mobile web

• A luxury fashion brand saw $533 vs $397

• A beauty and professional supplies brand saw $309 vs $145

This pattern shows up across fashion, beauty, home, and specialty retail.

What’s notable is that most of these apps largely mirror the brands’ websites. So this lift isn’t coming from radically different UX.

Part of it is the kind of customers who shop in apps. They’re higher intent, more loyal… just better customers.

Part of it comes from context: app shoppers are more focused, spend longer in-session, and tend to build larger baskets during peak promo traffic.

3. Apps generated 2-7x higher revenue per user than mobile web

On a per-user basis, apps delivered significantly more revenue.

Across categories, we found revenue per user was consistently multiple times higher in apps than on mobile web during BFCM:

• A fashion brand: $19.51 per app user vs $7.11 on mobile web

• A luxury fashion brand: $42.41 vs $5.41 (that’s nearly 7x higher)

• A beauty brand: $11.16 vs $3.08

• A pet supplies brand: $7.92 vs $2.55

As mentioned above, some of this is due to a higher quality of customer in your app.

But that’s not the whole picture. Apps change customer behavior. They keep users engaged longer and build stronger loyalty.

Shifting someone from your website to your app almost always results in a lift in revenue too.

4. Median push volume jumped from ~3-5 per week to 7+ during BFCM (yet nearly 1 in 5 brands sent none)

As you’d expect, brands were sending more push notifications than normal.

The median brand sent ~7 push notifications during the week of Nov 24–30 (average: 8.6).

For context, the average at regular times is roughly 3-5 per week.

There was quite a bit of variation, though.

Several brands sent 20+ notifications over the week. One (who will remain nameless; but is now permanently burned into my lock screen) sent 44 notifications in just this one week.

At the same time, nearly 20 brands didn’t send any push notifications at all during BFCM.

Takeaways? One might be that there’s no “right” volume for push notifications. It depends on your audience.

But during BFCM, you can almost certainly get away with sending a lot more than usual. You’re not going to overdo it by sending two pushes per day.

The biggest takeaway, though, is that a surprisingly large number of brands were hardly utilizing their app’s biggest feature for the year’s most important 1-2 weeks.

5. Only 26 brands used abandoned cart push; some recovered $30k+ during BFCM alone

Among the apps I reviewed, only 26 brands were sending abandoned cart push notifications during BFCM.

That was surprising, considering the impact abandoned cart notifications can have (and how simple they are to set up).

Our user data showed some strong results from brands who did have abandoned cart notifications set up and running.

• One beauty brand saw a 152% increase in abandoned cart push revenue during BFCM, while total store revenue rose just 29%

• A wellness brand recovered $30,000+ from abandoned cart push notifications during the BFCM period alone

• In several cases, cart recovery accounted for a meaningful share of total push-attributed revenue

Abandoned cart push is automated and runs quietly in the background - in short, you do nothing, and the sequence recovers would-be lost revenue on autopilot.

With more traffic, more add to carts, and a lot more distractions during BFCM, the potential impact of this one notification is even stronger.

Make sure you have this set up for next year.

What stood out overall

The biggest thing that stood out to me is just how hard it is to stand out.

There are so many brands, so many killer promos, and it’s so difficult to stand above the noise.

I’ve come to realize that your BFCM results don’t actually come from BFCM.

They come from year-round engagement, building loyalty, and building the kind of connections with your customers that, when they see your email, your push notification, your full-site takeover, it stands out. Not because you’re doing something different, but because they care about your brand more.

Keep this in mind over the rest of the holidays and into the new year. Your prep for BFCM 2026 has already started.

The engine behind stronger retention, loyalty and LTV

There’s no better time to launch your own mobile app than right now.

You see the impact an app can have. Stronger AOV, stronger conversion rates, direct reach to your customers, and more revenue per user.

I predict having your own channels, under your full control, like apps, will just become even more important in 2026.

MobiLoud turns your existing site into an app, with no rebuilding, nearly no work to maintain, and full feature parity with your website. It’s the easiest way for your brand to launch an app and build a closer connection with your best customers.

Click here to get a free preview of your app

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.