Black Friday is not a discount campaign. It is the biggest opportunity of the year to acquire new customers, activate your database and turn one-time buyers into repeat customers.
Most ecommerce businesses approach it by improvising. Those that work on their strategy from September onwards do not just sell more on the day itself: they build an asset that helps them generate sales throughout the entire year.
This is exactly what we achieved with one of our clients: a beauty ecommerce business with a daily-use product and a naturally high repeat purchase rate. The results do not come only from Black Friday — they come from a system that works throughout the entire year.
The numbers that prove it.
Direct comparison of BFCM days between 2024 and 2025:
| Metric | BFCM 2024 | BFCM 2025 | Change |
| Gross sales | 3.635 € | 5.651 € | +55,4% |
| Orders | 75 | 117 | +56% |
| Repeat customers. | 12,32% | 42,73% | +246% |
Impact throughout the entire month of November:
| Metric | Nov 2024 | Nov 2025 | Change |
| Gross sales | 14.816 € | 23.763 € | +60,4% |
| Orders | 371 | 557 | +50,1% |
| Repeat customers | 7,32% | 36,66% | +400% |
| The most important figure: +400% in repeat purchases. We do not just sell more on Black Friday, we create customers who come back. This has a direct impact on LTV and acquisition cost. |
Why repeat purchases increase: the year-round retention strategy.
This client has three factors that naturally build repeat purchases: a product that works and creates a habit, a customer service experience that takes care of every order, and social media content that keeps the brand top of mind between purchases.
On this foundation, we built an email automation system that supports the customer at every stage: welcome, post-purchase, reactivation and repurchase sequences adapted to the product usage cycle.
The result is a database that reaches Black Friday highly engaged. These are not cold subscribers who do not even remember signing up — they are customers who have already purchased, trust the brand and are waiting for the best offer of the year to come back.
This explains the increase from 12.32% to 42.73% in the repeat customer rate during BFCM: when Black Friday arrives, most buyers already know the brand. The discount is the trigger, not the reason.
The Black Friday strategy: 6 steps
1. Building your database throughout the year
Black Friday starts in January. All the email marketing, automation and social media content work carried out throughout the year generates cumulative returns that peak in November. Without a qualified database, there is no audience to launch the campaign to.
In this client’s case, the combination of a product with a high repeat purchase rate and a well-built automation system turns one-time buyers into active subscribers throughout the year. That is the foundation of Black Friday.
2. Dedicated Black Friday landing page (4–6 weeks before)
We create a dedicated landing page with a single objective: capturing emails in exchange for early access to the offers. Clear messaging, no distractions, no friction.
A user who leaves their email six weeks before Black Friday has very high purchase intent. They are not cold traffic — they are a lead who has already decided to buy and is simply waiting for the right moment.
3. Early access for subscribers
We open Black Friday 24–48 hours earlier for those who have subscribed. The effects are threefold: orders before the official date, a genuine sense of exclusivity, and a finding that surprised us in the first year — some customers made repeat purchases within the same early-access period.
In addition, spreading orders over time reduces logistical pressure on Friday and improves the delivery experience.
4. Amplification with influencers aligned with the brand.
In a beauty ecommerce business, social proof is especially relevant. We activate collaborations with profiles aligned with the brand — not based on follower count, but on audience fit — coordinated with the early-access launch.
The goal was not to generate direct sales from the influencer, but to drive qualified traffic to the lead capture landing page. A subscriber acquired through a relevant influencer converts better than one acquired through cold paid traffic.
5. A real Black Friday — the biggest discount of the year.
In beauty, trust is everything. If customers realise that the discount is not genuinely special — that the “sale” price is the usual price under a different name — they do not just avoid buying: they lose trust in the brand.
Black Friday must be the biggest discount of the year, without exceptions. The urgency has to be real. A sold-out product communicates more than any countdown timer copy.
6. Stock and operations management.
The worst Black Friday is not the one that does not generate sales — it is the one that generates sales but cannot deliver. Before activating any campaign, we review stock by product, order fulfilment capacity and delivery times. A poor post-purchase experience in November destroys exactly the repeat business we have built throughout the year.
The core idea: Black Friday as an acquisition and retention engine.
Most ecommerce businesses measure Black Friday success by the sales generated on the day. We measure it across three factors: sales, new subscribers acquired and the month’s repeat purchase rate.
When someone subscribes to get early access to offers, they give us three signals: they are interested in the brand, they are willing to buy and they give us permission to continue communicating with them. In a beauty ecommerce business with a daily-use product, that permission is worth much more than a one-off sale — because that customer will need to repurchase in 30, 60 or 90 days.
Black Friday is the beginning of the relationship, not the end of a transaction.
When does Black Friday start?
| Period | Action |
| All year round | Email automations, social media content, active retention |
| 4-6 weeks before | Specific BF lead capture landing page active |
| 2-3 weeks before | Influencer activations, audience warm-up |
| 48-72h before | Early access email for subscribers |
| BF day | General launch, reminders, real urgency due to stock |
| Post-BF | Welcome sequence for new customers, reactivation of repeat customers |
