Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping moments of the year, and now is the time to make sure campaigns are ready to perform. In this CommerceNext webinar, RTB House and a panel of retail leaders from Patagonia, Minted and Sur La Table unpacked how to stay visible, relevant and profitable during the increasingly long and competitive promo period. Together, they shared data-driven insights, creative campaign strategies and the role of AI in maximizing performance from discovery through conversion.
What We Covered:
- Rethinking Black Friday as an Extended Discovery Season
- Activating Early and Staying Top of Mind
- Driving Value Beyond Discounts
- Balancing Short-Term Wins with Long-Term Customer Growth
- Building AI-Powered, Intent-Driven Campaigns
Speakers:
- Alison Reiter, Director of Account Management, RTB House
- Angela Clark, VP of Digital, Patagonia
- Suruchi Shukla, Head of Marketing, Minted
- Philippe Gagnon, Performance Marketing, Sur La Table
- Moderated by: Alexa Dornagon, Content Director, CommerceNext
Watch the replay here or read the full recap below.
Rethinking Black Friday: The Long Game
RTB House’s Alison Reiter opened with a reality check. Promo season has expanded well beyond Cyber Week. In 2024, Americans spent over $900 billion during the holiday shopping window from November to December, with $241 billion of those sales happening online. Shoppers are no longer simply looking for blowout sales. They’re also actively discovering new brands and products, making the Black Friday promo season the most important acquisition period of the year.
Reiter highlighted how behavior shifts during this season: fashion sites see a 70% increase in unique visitors, shoppers browse more pages, and revisit sites multiple times before converting. High-AOV purchases like luxury, electronics and home goods often require 4-6 touchpoints before the final click. The key, Reiter said, is consistent visibility. Brands that stay top of mind throughout the entire journey capture the win.
To tackle this, start advertising early and “grow ahead of the market.” As competition for ad inventory spikes in November, brands that invest early in visibility, creative and retargeting outperform by as much as 2x.
Reiter also emphasized that winning doesn’t always mean discounting. Campaigns like “Prepare Your Basket” waitlists, exclusive early access, sustainability storytelling and gamified drops help brands capture first-party data and loyalty without eroding margin.
Driving Value Beyond Discounts
The panelists agreed: this year’s winners are those communicating value over price.
- Patagonia’s Angela Clark shared how the brand uses the holidays to emphasize mission, repairability and sustainability—not markdowns. Last year, Patagonia paused all standard marketing during Black Friday to spotlight its environmental mission. The results were positive. Customers praised the brand for “cutting through the noise” and showing integrity during a sea of discounts.
- Sur La Table’s Philippe Gagnon echoed the sentiment: while promotions still have a place, leading with value storytelling creates lasting brand equity. His team focuses on quality, expertise and joy in cooking before talking price.
- Minted’s Suruchi Shukla added that customers are motivated by experience, not discount. Free envelope addressing, concierge services and seamless checkout options like Apple Pay and Klarna create perceived value that outweighs promo fatigue.
The collective takeaway: authentic storytelling, trust and timing drive conversions just as effectively, if not more, than big discounts.
Adapting to New Shopper Journeys
Panelists noted that consumers are shopping earlier, more deliberately and across more touchpoints than ever. Most brands now launch campaigns by mid-to-late October, using early exposure to seed awareness before shifting into conversion.Â
Patagonia uses late summer for acquisition pushes, retargeting new audiences as the season progresses, while Minted balances timing with product readiness. Its customers often buy only after taking family holiday photos, so the brand focuses early marketing on preparation and inspiration. Sur La Table runs an anniversary sale in September, treating it as a test run for holiday. Early promos let the brand fine-tune creative and targeting before peak weeks.
Across the board, data confirms that repeat purchases rise 17% during the promo window, making re-engagement and post-promo campaigns key to sustaining momentum.
Balancing Performance and Profitability
Brands are also rethinking efficiency metrics. Many brands are loosening ROAS targets slightly during the promo window to prioritize customer lifetime value. Minted is one of these brands leaning into hyper-targeted, measurable channels like paid social and programmatic CTV while reducing spend in less trackable offline media.
Success lies in balancing short-term revenue with long-term retention. It’s about keeping new customers coming back through consistent storytelling, personalization and service beyond the Black Friday/Cyber Monday season.
AI as Everyday Infrastructure
AI was a recurring theme across the session.
- Deep learning DSP (Demand-Side Platform—a software platform that helps advertisers buy digital ads) dynamically retargets across the funnel, and generative AI analyzes content and predicts buying intent in real time—delivering personalized creative at scale.
- Patagonia is leveraging AI in site search and recommendations to better translate its technical product language into customer intent (“fast-drying shirts” instead of “Capilene baselayers”) and improve cross-sells.
- Sur La Table uses AI to optimize product categorization and SEO, ensuring shoppers find what they’re looking for faster.
Panelists agreed that AI has moved from experiment to infrastructure. It now fuels personalization, automation and decision-making across every stage of the customer journey.
CommerceNext Steps:
We closed out the webinar with these three actionable CommerceNext Steps:
- Communicate Value Beyond Discounts. Brands must communicate true value through storytelling, timing and trust, rather than relying on steep discounts. Consumers reward brands that are authentic while balancing premium positioning and price sensitivity.
- Meet Shoppers Where They Explore, Not Just Where They Convert. Discovery starts long before Black Friday. With customers browsing across TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube, CTV and even Reddit, brands are showing up early and often wherever shoppers are inspired.
- AI Becomes Everyday Infrastructure. AI has moved from experiment to engine room. From personalization and creative scaling to smarter targeting and automation, it’s powering more agile, intent-driven customer experiences across the entire holiday journey.
Want more insights on what’s next for retail and ecommerce? Join us June 23-24 in NYC for the 2026 CommerceNext Growth Show. Register now.
