Black Friday strategies for retailers: 4 expert tips to win Black Week

Black Friday and Cyber Monday have outgrown their status as single-day sales events. What used to be a chaotic 24-hour flash sale is now a full-scale, week-long test of every part of a retailer’s business—from marketing and personalization to customer support, logistics, and platform performance.

At Voyado, we teamed up with four leading retail technology experts — Ask Phill, Kindly, and Ingrid — to unpack how retailers can turn this high-pressure season into a springboard for long-term growth. Here are four game-changing advice that can help make your Black Week a huge success.

1. Build loyalty before the discount

During Black Week 2024, total spending rose by nearly 5%, but the real winners were those who started early and personalized every touchpoint. Voyado’s Black Week benchmarks show that spending peaked early in the week, Monday through Wednesday, while Sunday, despite the highest discounts, saw sales drop.

Voyado’s data shows:

• Monday–Wednesday saw the highest growth (+13% to +20%)
• Black Friday grew by only 0.15%
• Sunday (with the highest discounts) saw a 9% decline in revenue

Retailers who used first-party data to tailor messages around timing, behavior, and value achieved stronger conversions and loyalty. Here are a few examples of messages retailers can use to achieve results:

• Early-access campaigns for loyal customers timed with payday.
• Product recommendations aligned with browsing history and average spend tier.
• Personalized post-purchase journeys, including branded delivery updates and thank-you offers that turned one-time buyers into returning customers.

That insight highlights a clear shift: Personalization isn’t about doing more marketing; it’s about doing smarter marketing.

2. Make your platform perform under pressure

A high-converting Black Friday starts with speed and scalability.

According to Ask Phill — Shopify Plus experts in large-scale migrations — even a one-second delay can slash conversions by 7%. Retailers like Patta and Veloretti saw conversion lifts of 15%+ after streamlining their mobile UX and checkout flows ahead of peak season.

Black Friday website prep tips:

• Load test your platform well before November
• Simplify your checkout flow
• Optimize mobile navigation—because most of your traffic will come from mobile

Their tip: Fewer clicks mean more completed orders — and a smoother experience for shoppers under pressure.

3. Automate support before your team burns out

Black Week doesn’t just test your website — it tests your people. Support teams face a tsunami of “Where’s my order?” and “How do I return this?” messages. Kindly’s AI support platform helps retailers automate up to 50% of inquiries, freeing human agents to focus on complex issues that truly build loyalty.

A great example: Unisport, who integrated Kindly’s chatbot before the 2022 World Cup and BFCM season — achieving a 52% automation rate and 95% success rate for self-service responses.

Their tip: Automate the repetitive before peak season hits, and let AI agents scale empathy and efficiency in tandem.

4. Deliver on your promises

Delivery can make or break the customer experience. Ingrid’s data shows that during Black Week 2023, late deliveries increased 70%, and one in three customers blamed the brand — not the carrier.

Their solution is simple but strategic:

• Widen your estimated delivery windows slightly during peak season.
• Offer a free fallback option to reduce cart abandonment.
• Implement real-time carrier management to dynamically remove underperforming carriers.

Their tip: Reliable delivery equals trust — and trust drives retention well beyond November.

Let’s sum it up

Black Week 2025 isn’t just about short-term sales; it’s a chance to build long-term loyalty and smarter retail systems. Here’s the winning formula:

• Voyado → Personalization and loyalty strategy
• Ask Phill → Performance-first platform optimization
• Kindly → AI-powered support automation
• Ingrid → Seamless delivery and fulfillment experience

Together, these Black Friday retail tips help you move from reactive to proactive retailing—predicting behavior, meeting customer expectations, and scaling what works.

For more insights, download the guide here.