What winners do differently on Black Friday

Most brands see BFCM as a sprint. The winners use it as a launchpad.

Author

Pietro Saccomani
September 11, 2025

For most ecommerce brands, Black Friday feels like a win. The huge spike in your sales dashboard gives you a rush of dopamine, and the feeling that your business is on an upward trajectory.

But by mid-December, the truth sets in:

  • Margins were thinner than expected, thanks to discounts + high CPMs.

  • Newly acquired customers don’t come back.

  • Post-BFCM results aren’t a lot different to before.

Turns out, the “record-breaking” weekend was just that: a weekend.

The mistake? Treating BFCM as a one-off sprint, when it can be a launchpad for growth.

The common thread with brands who are able to parlay the excitement and momentum of Black Friday into real, sustained growth do so with the help of an asset that only 4.24% of seven-figure Shopify brands have:

A mobile app.

Our new report breaks down everything you need to know about the role of mobile apps and push notifications in your Black Friday/Cyber Monday strategy:

In this edition (and a few more to come), I’m going to share some of the key takeaways from the report, explain why you need an app for Black Friday, and how to build a BFCM strategy that drives long-term wins.

Why mobile apps are such a powerful tool for BFCM

Cyber Week is an explosive time. And it comes with significant variance.

High traffic and intent = high potential. But most brands aren’t making the most of that potential.

Why?

  • Margin squeeze: high discounts + high CPMs means you keep less from each sale than you normally do

  • Everyone’s running promos, sending emails and SMS, making it harder to break through and capture attention

  • With more noise, more distractions, it’s easier to lose out on sales to competitors

  • Many customers acquired during BFCM are fleeting, “deal-seeker” types, who don’t come back and buy again

This is where mobile apps are a competitive advantage.

  • Apps drive sales at higher margins (returning customers/no ad spend)

  • Mobile push notifications give you a channel significantly less saturated than email/SMS

  • Push costs $0 to send (perfect for BFCM, when send volume is highest)

  • Apps convert 3-7x higher, and drive 10-50% higher AOV, making more from your BFCM traffic

And perhaps the best part is that apps keep the relationship going after Cyber Week ends, turning your BFCM from a short-term sales event into a long-term momentum builder.

Turning short-term spikes into momentum

Most BFCM shoppers disappear by December. The excitement wears off, prices go back to normal, and bringing these customers back to make another purchase, through traditional retention channels, is extremely difficult.

It’s different when you use your app as a hub for your BFCM promos.

The app is a more persistent connection. It stays on your customer’s home screen after BFCM ends, with a more reliable re-engagement mechanism, with push notifications.

Running exclusive promos through your app encourages customers (new and existing) to download your app, which instantly creates a closer and deeper relationship than someone who’s on your email or SMS list.

That connection keeps the engagement going after Black Friday.

Deal seekers vs loyalists

It’s not always that black and white, but the truth is, a lot of customers you acquire during BFCM are one-and-done buyers, who rarely come back and buy at full price.

Apps change that dynamic:

  • App-specific promos (early access and exclusive discounts or drops only available through the app) create a VIP experience

  • Apps make buyers feel like insiders; part of a tribe.

  • They also cement loyalty to a stronger degree with existing customers, moving them from casual buyers into true loyalists who stick around.

Instead of attracting customers who only care about the coupon, you’re building a community that cares about your brand.

Your BFCM mobile app strategy

An app-first BFCM makes the week into a long-term growth moment, rather than a short-term sales event.

It enables you to:

  • Capture customers into an owned channel

  • Convert them more efficiently during Cyber Week

  • Retain them into Q1 and beyond

The key is to start your push as early as possible.

It’s not about saving everything for Friday. You want to build momentum in your app in the weeks leading up to Black Friday, so it has the biggest impact during the main event.

We put together a full playbook on how to do exactly that — including campaign examples, offer structures, and tactics you can deploy now to build your app user base ahead of Black Friday.

And if you don’t have an app yet, it’s not too late. With MobiLoud, you can turn your site into a fully branded iOS & Android app in weeks, not months. That means you can still be live before Black Friday.

Get a free preview to see what your app could look like.

Quick Hits

Is iOS Tracking Busted?

Another day, another iOS update, another hammer blow for marketers trying to measure the impact of their marketing campaigns.

Click ID attribution seems to be impacted with the newest update, breaking certain attribution models. Just another reason why you need to bring more of the customer experience into channels that you own.

Postscript Suing the State of Texas

I shared recently about the new regulations governing SMS marketing to Texas residents.

Some don’t seem to happy about it, notably Postscript (one of the game’s biggest SMS marketing providers), who are part of a group who are suing the state and claiming the regulations violate the First Amendment.

DHL + Shopify Partnership

DHL just expanded its international shipping services directly into Shopify, giving U.S. merchants easier access to affordable cross-border delivery.

For brands, this means simpler global reach, better shipping options for customers, and fewer hurdles when selling internationally — potentially a big boost with US landed costs hurting.

How Social Search is Changing Consumer Behavior

More and more are now using social media platforms as search tools — especially among younger users who want discovery to come on channels where they’re used to consuming content.

Important for brands to understand this shift, and act accordingly. If you’re invisible on social, you’re almost certainly missing out on potential customers.

How to Avoid Losing Money This Black Friday

I thought this was a good breakdown of how to think about your BFCM metrics. It goes along nicely with what we’re saying in the report — many brands have beautiful vanity metrics, but the underlying numbers (i.e. contribution margin), which are more important, are actually not so good.

Psychological Frameworks to Boost CVR

Nick Shackleford (Brez) laid out an amazing post on how to boost conversion rates, using a few simple psychological frameworks.

Some straightforward wins to be had here.

(I’ll add on, you should launch an app — your repeat customers on mobile will convert 3-7x higher through the app).

TikTok Shops Can Make You a Millionaire — But…

Sean Frank (Ridge) is always good for useful tidbits. Here he explains the DNA behind the kind of stores that win on TikTok Shops (and why Ridge isn’t a good fit).

That’s all for now.

Remember — the BFCM Mobile App Playbook is out now. Get it free for a deep dive into the impact of mobile apps for your BFCM strategy, and an 8-week sprint to launch and grow your app in time.

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.