What is Black Friday in a marketing context?

Here’s what it’s all about:

• Black Friday Marketing Explained Simply and Clearly
• Differences from Related Concepts
• The foundation of every marketing strategy

Black Friday is originally a North American retail phenomenon that dates back to the day after Thanksgiving—historically the start of the Christmas season and, statistically, one of the highest-revenue shopping days of the year. In Germany, it has rapidly gained traction since around 2013 and is now firmly established in the retail calendar. For marketing professionals, Black Friday isn’t just a single day, but a high-pressure period that spans from pre-Black-Friday campaigns through Cyber Monday to Cyber Week. During this period, consumers decide for or against brands—often based on price comparisons, but increasingly also on brand values, storytelling, and customer experience.

Growth and Establishment in the German Market

When Amazon Germany announced its first official Black Friday sale in 2013, German retailers were initially hesitant. Within three years, however, the event had become one of the highest-revenue shopping days in the German retail sector. Today, according to Statista, more than 70 percent of all German online retailers actively participate in Black Friday—from large corporations to small D2C brands. This trend is intensifying competition, while consumer expectations are rising at the same time: Any retailer that fails to promote a Black Friday deal simply falls out of the relevant set this week.

Distinctions: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Cyber Week

Black Friday traditionally refers to the Friday after American Thanksgiving—in Germany, it always falls on the fourth Friday in November. Cyber Monday, originally conceived as the online counterpart for the following Monday, is now virtually indistinguishable from Black Friday in many sectors. Cyber Week covers the entire period from the Monday before Black Friday through Cyber Monday and has become standard practice, particularly in the fashion and tech retail sectors. For marketing professionals, this means that those who focus solely on Friday are ceding potential to competitors who use the entire week as a promotional window.

Implications for Brands: Both an Opportunity and a Risk

Keep in mind:

• Black Friday marketing strengthens your brand and customer loyalty
• Direct impact on brand awareness and conversion
• Long-term growth always pays off

Black Friday is the ultimate marketing paradox: It attracts customers like no other day—but it also erodes margins, brand perception, and trust in pricing if handled incorrectly. Those who offer the deepest discounts at any time train their customers to buy only during sales. Those who ignore Black Friday lose visible market share to more active competitors. The solution lies in a clear strategic decision: be a discount leader, go anti-Black Friday, or prioritize experience over discounts.

Facts and Figures: What Really Drives Black Friday

According to Statista, Black Friday 2023 generated over 3.7 billion euros in sales in the German e-commerce sector in a single day—roughly three times the amount of an average Friday in November. At the same time, conversion rates and CLV studies show that a significant proportion of new Black Friday customers never make a regular purchase again: Depending on the industry and the depth of discounts, the 90-day repurchase rate for first-time Black Friday buyers is 30–50 percent lower than that for regular new customers. So, those who optimize solely for volume end up sacrificing long-term margin stability in exchange for short-term sales spikes.

Strategic Importance Beyond Revenue

Black Friday is more than just a sales event—it’s a data collection day. No other week of the year provides such a dense stream of signals about which segments make purchasing decisions in what ways, which products convert at which price points, and which channels attract which types of customers. Cleverly implemented A/B tests during the pre-Black Friday phase (various teaser texts, discount logic, product bundles) provide insights that inform pricing and campaign strategies for the entire following year. Furthermore, Black Friday is the only time period during which even premium brands can test product categories without causing lasting damage to their brand’s perceived value—provided that their messaging clearly frames the promotion as a limited-time offer.

Discount Leader Strategy

Brands like Amazon, MediaMarkt, and Zalando treat Black Friday as purely a conversion event: maximum discounts on well-known products, high visibility, and record sales. This strategy requires purchasing power, inventory management, and a price-sensitive customer segment as the primary target audience. It’s a valid approach, but not suitable for all brands—those positioned as premium risk long-term erosion of price expectations.

Anti-Black Friday as a Brand Stance

Patagonia is the most famous example: With its “Don’t Buy This Jacket” ad on Black Friday 2011, the brand communicated sustainability over discounts—and thereby generated more PR and brand awareness than with any traditional promotion. REI closes its stores on Black Friday (“OptOutside”) and thereby builds more loyalty than a 30% off coupon could. For brands with a strong set of values, anti-Black Friday can be the most effective strategy.

A well-known example of this is IKEA’s“BuyBackFriday” campaign, in which the brand rewards customers for returning old IKEA furniture—thereby promoting the circular economy through discounts rather than subsidizing new purchases in the traditional way.

Strategic Use: Email, Social Media, and Paid Advertising During Black Friday Week

Here’s how it works:

• Clearly Define Your Goals Before You Start
• Integrate Black Friday marketing strategically into your marketing mix
• Test, measure, and continuously optimize

Successful Black Friday campaigns don’t start on Friday—they start weeks in advance. Building a waitlist combines email list growth with anticipation marketing. Pre-Black Friday drops (early access for newsletter subscribers or loyalty members) create a sense of exclusivity that generates urgency without publicly advertising discounts. Email is the highest-performing channel during the week itself: open rates rise by 20–30% compared to the annual average because consumers are actively looking for deals. Personalized promotional emails perform significantly better than generic mass emails. Social media strategies focus on countdown content, UGC integration, and creator collaborations that present product recommendations in an authentic way. Paid channels become extremely competitive and expensive during this week—which is why owned media activation (newsletters, app push notifications) is the more efficient lever for brands with an established customer base. Cyber Monday extends the momentum for those who didn’t buy on Friday: a “second chance” email with a slightly adjusted offer or an added benefit often converts this group at a lower CPA than new customers.

Step-by-Step: Setting Up the Pre-Black Friday Phase

List building begins six to eight weeks before Black Friday: opt-in landing pages promising exclusive early access, targeted paid social campaigns to capture email addresses, and initial teaser posts. Four weeks before, the existing customer list is segmented based on purchase history and product preferences—because a Black Friday email that shows an existing customer exactly the product they’ve searched for most often converts significantly better than a generic email. Two weeks in advance, countdown formats launch on social media and the first creator briefings go out. One week in advance, early access opens for loyalty members. On Friday itself, the focus is on creating a sense of urgency: real-time inventory updates, timer overlays, and hourly email or push notification sequences for waitlist members.

Channel Mixing and Common Mistakes

The most common mistake during Black Friday week is launching a campaign too late: Brands that don’t start communicating until Thursday evening are already competing against dozens of rivals in crowded inboxes. A second classic mistake is the lack of a clear Cyber Monday plan—many brands exhaust their entire budget on Friday and have neither creative nor financial resources left for the extended post-sale phase on Monday. Equally problematic is undifferentiated messaging that targets all segments with the same discount level. Offering the same 40% discount to regular customers who make purchases on a consistent basis as to new customers who have never converted is giving away profit margin without a strategic reason.

Best Practice Examples

The most important thing:

• Leading brands prioritize consistency
• The courage to be different pays off
• Define measurable KPIs from the very beginning

For years, Apple hasn’t held a Black Friday sale in the traditional sense—instead, it offers gift cards worth 25–75 € with certain product purchases. The result: Apple fully protects its list price, yet still creates a sense of a sale and keeps its premium positioning intact. IKEA responds to Black Friday with Green Friday campaigns that focus on sustainable products and secondhand shopping. Amazon uses Black Friday purely as a day to break traffic records and combines it with hours of Prime-exclusive deals. Zalando is building up to Black Friday with waitlists for personalized deals, thereby creating an email list-building event ahead of the actual sale day. Edeka has subversively commented on consumer expectations with humorous Black Friday commercials, generating strong brand awareness—without offering a single cent in discounts.

Positioning Strategy: Apple and the Gift Card Logic

Apple’s approach is a prime example of how a premium brand can participate in Black Friday without undermining its own pricing structure. Instead of offering percentage-based discounts on iPhones or MacBooks—which would reduce regular customers’ willingness to pay in the long run—Apple offers gift cards as a bonus incentive. A customer who buys an iPad for €499 and receives a €50 gift card experiences a Black Friday benefit without Apple having lowered the list price. The gift card also ties the buyer into the Apple ecosystem: it’s used for apps, music, or accessories—which generates additional revenue that wouldn’t have been generated without the Black Friday incentive.

Sustainability Ratings: A Comparison of Patagonia, REI, and Edeka

Anti-Black Friday strategies don’t work for every brand—but for those with a credible set of values, they’re often the strongest way to stand out. Patagonia positions environmental consciousness as a core part of its identity, which is why its “Don’t Buy This Jacket” campaign was immediately perceived as authentic. REI’s “OptOutside” movement mobilized not only customers but also thousands of employees who voluntarily spent the day in nature—a PR effect that far exceeded the value of a traditional advertising budget. Edeka’s humorous commercials work particularly well in the German context because they reflect the collective weariness with the hype surrounding discounts, thereby resonating with a broad audience that extends far beyond the company’s own loyal customer base.

According to Statista, Black Friday sales in the German online retail sector totaled more than 3.7 billion euros in 2023 — the strongest single day on the German e-commerce calendar.

Conclusion: Black Friday as a Test of Brand Strategy

Conclusion:

• Black Friday marketing is indispensable in modern marketing
• Think strategically, implement consistently

Black Friday reflects a brand’s strategy: Those without a clear positioning instinctively offer discounts and lose profit margins without building lasting customer loyalty. Those who know their positioning—whether as a discount leader, a values-driven brand, or a premium provider—use this day to reinforce their core message. The most successful Black Friday campaigns aren’t created in the last week of October, but rather as part of a year-round CRM, content, and pricing strategy. If you want to succeed on Black Friday, you need to start by September at the latest.

When should you start planning your Black Friday campaign?

Successful Black Friday campaigns start 6–8 weeks in advance with teaser content and building a waitlist—the actual campaign structure (offers, budgets, creatives) is ideally finalized in September.

How do premium brands protect their pricing strategy on Black Friday?

Premium brands like Apple rely on gift cards instead of direct discounts, limit Black Friday deals to select entry-level products, or take a clear stance (anti-Black Friday) that prioritizes brand image over sacrificing profit margins.

What is the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?

Black Friday primarily targets broad consumer groups with the largest volume of deals, while Cyber Monday originally emerged as its online shopping counterpart and is now used primarily for latecomers and second-chance deals.

Which channels perform best on Black Friday?

Email is the most effective channel this week (with the highest open rates of the year), followed by app push notifications and organic social media content — paid channels are becoming more expensive due to intense competition.

How do you measure the success of a Black Friday campaign?

In addition to revenue and new customer acquisition, the retention rate of Black Friday shoppers (do they make regular purchases again?), customer lifetime value, and margin trends are the keylong-term KPIsfor measuring success.

What is the TikTok Shop?

The TikTok Shop is an integrated e-commerce platform within the TikTok app. Users can discover and buy products directly in videos or live streams – without having to leave the app. This ensures a seamless shopping experience and makes TikTok one of the most exciting channels for social commerce.

How the new shopping experience works

The principle is reminiscent of classic teleshopping, only digital and with much greater reach. Companies present their products directly in TikTok’s feed or in the livestream. Integrated product links take users to the point of purchase with a single click – directly in the app. No jumping off, no extra store – conversion directly where the attention is.

Advantages for companies and brands

• Direct sales in the app – without detours
• Huge reach thanks to the TikTok community
• Easy entry even for smaller companies
• Logistics taken over by TikTok on request

Particularly exciting: TikTok offers the option of taking over storage and shipping. This means you don’t have to worry about logistics, but can concentrate fully on content and marketing.

Who can use the TikTok Shop?

Basically any brand or company with a business TikTok account. A few prerequisites apply, but it is also possible for smaller companies to get started. TikTok primarily appeals to a young, trend-conscious audience – but established companies can also benefit greatly with the right strategy.

Social commerce rethought: entertainment meets sales

TikTok Shop combines entertainment and shopping in a completely new way. Users don’t just see your product – they can buy it immediately. This is no longer traditional marketing, but active selling in real time. Influencers, creators and brands merge into a new sales model with enormous reach.

How to use the TikTok Shop effectively

You want to get started but don’t know how? No problem. At Social Media One and CM Creator, we’ll help you build your TikTok strategy. From setting up your store to producing videos, livestreams and ads – we work with you to develop a format that suits your product and your target group.

Whether you are just starting out or already have experience in social media marketing – the TikTok Shop offers a new dimension in sales. We help you to fully exploit this potential.

Conclusion: Now is the perfect time

The TikTok Shop is launching – and you can be part of it right from the start. Use this new e-commerce platform to combine reach, conversion and brand loyalty directly in one app. Getting started has never been easier.

If you have any questions or want to get started right away, get in touch with us. We’ll show you how to use TikTok specifically for your business – strategically, creatively and with real impact.

Metaverse first hand experience

A documentary says more than the famous thousand words. Speaking of 1,000, how much is 1,000 Metaverse days in reality? Let’s quickly add up the time Ryan spent in the Metaverse for this documentary.

30 minutes corresponds to one day in the metaverse.

• 1 day = 30 minutes
• 1,000 days = 30,000 minutes
• = 500 hours
• = ~ 21 real days

Now for the documentary! What was Ryan’s experience?

Metaverse: What is it?

The Metaverse itself is a digital and decentralized place. People can create avatars (user account with digital image) and the journey can begin. Especially with 3D glasses, a whole new world. Even in the real world, avatars have arrived. We already reported on Kim Kardashian’s late father, who appeared as an avatar at Kim’s birthday party, spoke and moved her to tears. We are curious how the next year and decades will develop!

• Metaverse is a “digital place”
• Virtual augmented reality with user avatars

Change in e-commerce

Shopping on the web will work differently in 2024 and 2026 than it does today. We will be able to express our wishes, see products live, and all that without having to travel. From home, we can discover places, people, concerts.

Real estate, furnishings and the “own” Metaverse home

Instead of a small micro-apartment in London, Los Angeles or Berlin, the Metaverse leaves nothing to be desired. In fact, plots of land were sold for the first time last year, amounting to millions. So will there be a Beverly Hills in the Metaverse in the future? So the Metaverse is also changing real estate & furnishings.

More trends? Do you already know NFTs?

NFT Art – If there is a social trend at the moment, it is NFTs. Many talk about it, but very few have ever bought or sold NFTs on a marketplace. We were allowed to take an in-depth look at the topic of “digital art” or “crypto art” as part of a project. How do NFTs work? Do they have a future in the art market? How expensive is an NFT? Lots of questions, here are first answers with quick explanations (without many technical terms). But you will also find further links to the topic. Let’s start with NFT: “Non-fungible Tokens”.

• NFT: Digital Art

Here visiting the Lukinski Gallery:

Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid on the catwalk

Tips for buying Off White products

Social media marketing in the fashion industry

Many brands are active in social media marketing, but one industry in particular: the fashion industry! Boutiques, retailers, online shops as resellers and brands themselves. With new collections in spring, summer, fall and winter, customers and potential new customers must be convinced again and again.

More efficient than any classic advertising campaign (billboard, radio, …) is social media marketing. On TikTok, Instagram but also on YouTube! In this article you will see what has delivered the best click numbers on YouTube in the last 15 + years. Recipes for success from evergreens can give your marketing department powerful inputs. If you want to professionalize your YouTube marketing even more and are looking for a social media agency to expand your performance on YouTube, we look forward to your project inquiry! You can also read more about our:

• Social media agency
• YouTube agency

Backstage: Fashion Show 2019

Interview with designer Virgil Abloh

Gigi and Bella Hadid at the fashion show

Off White Criticism

Unboxing: Mystery Box

Off White Sneakers Reaction Video With Justin

Off White Shopping in New York

Guide to Off White Accessories

Lookbook: How to Style Off White Clothing

Celebrities on YouTube: Content Evergreens

Content Evergreens! Learning from the most popular videos (most clicked content). Continue with:

Balenciaga videos on YouTube: Content success models – what the community loves

Balenciaga – Testimonials, Lookbooks and Shopping Hauls – Balenciaga is one of the most hyped brands. Why. Good social media marketing for fashion. 79.9 percent of the population in this country is registered on social networks. What topics (content) does the community like? What topics does the community love? These videos have been popular on YouTube for years and may be a little creative input for your marketing team.

• Balenciaga

Supreme Videos on YouTube: Learn from the Best – Evergreens!

Quizzes, wardrobe tours and reaction videos – fashion in social media marketing is one of the most contested areas by agencies, labels and countless startups. One of the leaders, in creative ideas, online and offline is Supreme. Looking for ideas for your own videos on fashion, outfits or sneakers? A look at the most popular Supreme videos can give you the right input for your own creative process.

• Supreme

Concepts & Ideas: Learning from successful videos

In this list you’ll find even more industries and topics, with the most successful content ever.

• YouTube Evergreens: The most popular videos