Black Friday Performance Data Explained. What Actually Drove Growth This Year

📍London, UK

Black Friday has officially outgrown its name. What was once a single day of discount driven urgency has become a multi week commercial season that exposes how well retailers really understand their customers. In the latest episode of OFFBounds, Paula Macaggi is joined by Hannah Stacey, Director of Strategy and Product Marketing at Ometria, and Rita Martins, Retail Intelligence Team Lead at Ometria, to unpack what this year’s Black Friday performance reveals when you look beyond the headlines. Using data from hundreds of retail brands, the conversation challenges the assumption that growth this year was purely driven by deeper discounts or short term demand spikes.

The numbers tell a more nuanced story. Across Ometria’s client base, Black Friday revenue grew 15 percent year on year, with orders, average order value, and basket size all increasing. Promotions started earlier than ever, yet Black Friday itself remained the single biggest revenue day. Notably, 55 percent of revenue came from existing customers, reinforcing the idea that Black Friday is not just an acquisition moment but also a major retention event. At the same time, customers acquired during Black Friday proved far harder to keep, showing a retention rate six times lower than shoppers acquired at other times of the year.