BFCM 2024 Recap: What Worked and What Didn't

Black Friday Cyber Monday 2024 set new records while revealing shifts in consumer behavior. This recap analyzes what happened, which strategies worked, and what merchants should take into 2025.

Overall Performance

The Numbers

Global Shopify BFCM 2024:

• Total sales: Exceeded previous records
• Peak sales per minute: Higher than 2023
• Merchants participating: More than ever
• Countries represented: Global growth

US e-commerce BFCM 2024:

• Black Friday online: Strong growth
• Cyber Monday: Record-breaking
• Total weekend: Best performance yet

Year-Over-Year Trends

What grew:

• Mobile purchases (+12% share)
• BNPL usage (+18% adoption)
• Same-day shipping expectations
• Social commerce conversions

What declined:

• Average discount depth (slightly)
• Email-only shoppers
• Single-channel purchases
• Patience for slow sites

What Worked in 2024

Early Access Strategies

VIP early access campaigns: Merchants offering early access to loyalty members saw 40% higher conversion during early access periods than general sale periods.

Email/SMS list advantages: Stores with robust lists generated 30-45% of BFCM revenue from owned channels.

Lesson: Building audiences before BFCM matters more than ever. The sale is won or lost before it starts.

Mobile Experience Investment

Mobile-optimized stores: Conversion rates on mobile improved for stores that invested in mobile UX, closing the gap with desktop.

Express checkout adoption: Shop Pay and Apple Pay usage increased significantly, with express checkout completing faster and at higher rates.

Lesson: Mobile is now the primary device. Treat it accordingly.

Inventory Transparency

Real-time stock levels: Stores showing "X left in stock" saw urgency without backlash.

Cart reservation: Merchants using cart reservation reported fewer customer complaints about sold-out items at checkout.

Lesson: Customers appreciate knowing inventory status. Transparency builds trust.

Extended Sale Periods

Black Friday Week: Many successful merchants extended to week-long events, capturing early shoppers and spreading traffic.

Cyber Week continuation: Strong performance through Wednesday after Cyber Monday.

Lesson: The BFCM window has expanded. Plan for the full period.

What Did Not Work in 2024

Last-Minute Preparation

Site crashes: Merchants who did not load test experienced outages during peak hours, losing significant potential revenue.

Inventory stockouts: Understocked popular items led to customer frustration and social media complaints.

Lesson: BFCM preparation should start months ahead, not weeks.

Aggressive Popups

Exit intent overload: Stores with multiple popups saw higher bounce rates and customer complaints.

Intrusive email capture: Aggressive popups during checkout increased abandonment.

Lesson: Less is more with popups. Time them carefully or skip them during sale.

Discount-Only Messaging

Race to bottom pricing: Stores competing purely on discount depth struggled with profitability.

No value differentiation: "50% off everything" without context underperformed targeted messaging.

Lesson: Discounts get attention. Value keeps customers. Lead with both.

Ignoring Post-Purchase

No follow-up sequence: Stores that did not email after BFCM purchase missed retention opportunity.

Delayed shipping updates: Customer service volume spiked for stores not communicating shipping status.

Lesson: The BFCM customer relationship does not end at checkout.

Channel Performance

Email

Performance: Email remained the highest-converting channel with best ROI.

What worked:

• Countdown sequences building anticipation
• Segmented offers (VIP vs general)
• Cart abandonment emails
• Last-chance reminders

What didn't:

• Too many emails (more than 2-3/day)
• Generic "SALE!" messaging
• Sending at same time as competitors

SMS

Performance: SMS continued growth as complement to email.

What worked:

• Time-sensitive alerts
• Cart abandonment reminders
• Early access notifications
• VIP-only messages

What didn't:

• Too frequent messaging
• Non-urgent content
• Sending after 9pm local time

Paid Social

Performance: Mixed results due to competition and costs.

What worked:

• Retargeting existing visitors
• Lookalike audiences from best customers
• Video creative
• Starting ads before BFCM

What didn't:

• Broad targeting during peak
• Static image only
• Launching new campaigns on Black Friday
• Small budgets competing against large ones

Organic Social

Performance: Declining organic reach continued.

What worked:

• User-generated content
• Behind-the-scenes content
• Influencer partnerships
• Community engagement

What didn't:

• Sales-only posts
• Last-minute influencer deals
• Ignoring comments/messages

Consumer Behavior Shifts

Shopping Patterns

Earlier purchasing: More customers purchased before Black Friday itself, during early access and pre-sale periods.

Multi-device journeys: Browse on mobile, purchase on desktop remained common, but mobile purchase share grew.

Research-heavy: Customers arrived knowing what they wanted, having researched in advance.

Price Sensitivity

Discount expectations: Customers expected 20-30% minimum, with 40%+ generating significant excitement.

Price comparison: More use of price tracking tools and comparison shopping.

Value awareness: Customers increasingly checked if "sale price" was actually good.

Payment Preferences

BNPL growth: Buy Now Pay Later usage increased, especially for purchases over $100.

Express checkout: Customers using saved payment methods completed faster.

Payment flexibility: Offering multiple payment options correlated with higher conversion.

Category Performance

Winners

Home and garden: Strong performance as consumers continued home investment trend.

Electronics: High demand, especially for phones, laptops, and gaming.

Beauty and skincare: Gift-driven purchasing strong.

Fitness and wellness: New Year's resolution preview shopping.

Challenged Categories

Fast fashion: Sustainability concerns and closet fatigue affected some segments.

Furniture: Large purchases faced more consideration despite discounts.

Luxury: Mixed performance; some brands avoided discounting entirely.

Technical Lessons

Site Performance

What separated winners from losers:

| Performance Factor | Winners | Losers | |--------------------|---------|--------| | Peak load handling | Tested and scaled | Hoped for best | | Page load speed | Under 2 seconds | 4+ seconds | | Checkout errors | Near zero | Frequent | | Mobile optimization | Priority | Afterthought |

Checkout Optimization

High-performing checkouts:

• Express checkout prominent
• Guest checkout default
• Minimal form fields
• Clear progress indicators
• Fast processing

Low-performing checkouts:

• Account creation required
• Many form fields
• Slow processing
• Error-prone
• Desktop-focused

Lessons for 2025

Start Planning Earlier

Recommended timeline:

• July-August: Strategy and inventory planning
• September: Technical preparation
• October: Marketing and creative prep
• November: Execution and optimization

Build Lists Now

Focus on:

• Email subscriber growth
• SMS opt-ins
• Loyalty program enrollment
• App installs

Why it matters: Owned channels outperform during high-competition periods.

Invest in Mobile

Priority areas:

• Page speed optimization
• Express checkout configuration
• Mobile-first design
• Touch-friendly interfaces

Prepare for Extended Period

Plan for:

• Early access (1-2 weeks before)
• Black Friday Week (not just Friday)
• Cyber Week (Monday through Wednesday)
• Extended deals (through month)

Focus on Retention

Beyond the sale:

• Post-purchase email sequences
• Thank you campaigns
• Loyalty program enrollment
• Review requests
• Second purchase incentives

Predictions for BFCM 2025

What Will Grow

Personalization: More targeted offers based on customer segments.

Mobile payments: Express checkout will become default.

Social commerce: More purchases directly from social platforms.

AI-powered: Personalized recommendations and dynamic pricing.

What Will Decline

Mass discounting: Sophisticated merchants moving to targeted deals.

Email-only strategy: Multi-channel approaches will be necessary.

One-day focus: Extended sale periods will continue growth.

New Challenges

Privacy changes: Tracking limitations affecting retargeting.

Competition: More merchants participating, raising bar.

Customer expectations: Faster shipping, better mobile, seamless experience.

Action Items

Immediate (Now)

1. Debrief your 2024 BFCM performance
2. Document what worked and what did not
3. Survey customers about their experience
4. Analyze competitor performance

Near-Term (Q1)

1. Set 2025 BFCM revenue targets
2. Begin inventory planning
3. Identify technical improvements needed
4. Start list-building initiatives

Mid-Year (Q2-Q3)

1. Execute technical improvements
2. Build marketing campaigns
3. Grow email/SMS lists
4. Test new strategies in smaller sales

Pre-BFCM (Q4)

1. Finalize inventory
2. Load test site
3. Launch early access campaigns
4. Execute full strategy

The Bottom Line

BFCM 2024 rewarded prepared merchants and punished last-minute planners.

Winners shared:

• Early preparation
• Mobile-first approach
• Owned channel investment
• Extended sale strategy
• Post-purchase focus

Losers shared:

• Late preparation
• Desktop-only optimization
• Discount-only messaging
• Single-day focus
• Ignoring retention

BFCM 2025 will be more competitive. The gap between winners and losers will widen. Preparation determines which side you land on.

Start now. Build systematically. Execute precisely. Win BFCM 2025.