Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2025: Owned Channels Stole the Show – how to not fail this Christmas sales period

As the sales peak that is BFCM subsides for another year (that’s Black Friday / Cyber Monday to those who don’t love an acronym) the team have been reflecting as we head into the peak of Christmas sales and support our clients.

Black Friday / Cyber Monday 2025 didn’t just break records – it confirmed what a lot of ecommerce brands have been feeling for a while: owned channels are now the main event, not the support act.

The numbers from Klaviyo tell the story. Over the BFCM weekend, brands sent 22.7 billion messages, a 25% year-on-year increase. Klaviyo directly attributed more than $3.8 billion in revenue, up 27% on last year. AI product recommendations were the quiet assassins in the background, driving a massive 71% jump in revenue. And when you zoom out, 42% of total BFCM GMV came from CRM activity – email and SMS alone.

Paid social might still grab the headlines, but that kind of performance makes it very clear where the real leverage lives.

What this means for ecommerce brands

First, email and SMS are now your highest-leverage sales channels. Paid social is noisy, competitive and expensive. Meanwhile, almost half of BFCM revenue is being driven by channels you actually control. If you’re not actively nurturing your list – sending regular value, not just discount codes – you’re effectively paying to build audience for your competitors.

Second, AI isn’t a buzzword any more – it’s a revenue engine. That 71% jump from AI product recommendations shows shoppers will happily spend more when the journey feels tailored to them. Dynamic content blocks, personalised bundles, smart “you’ll also love” suggestions: these are no longer nice-to-haves sitting on a roadmap slide. They’re table stakes for brands that want bigger baskets and better conversion.

And finally, your list is an asset, not a backup plan. The fact that 22.7 billion messages went out in a single BFCM window shows how aggressively brands are leaning into owned channels. The ones that will win next year are already segmenting by behaviour and intent, testing flows, and treating their Klaviyo account like a profit centre – not something they remember exists when Q4 rolls around.

This isn’t about sending more messages for the sake of it. It’s about sending smarter messages to people who actually want to buy from you. If you are quick you could make some tweaks this week as Christmas sales hit peak.

So what now?

If BFCM 2025 proved anything, it’s that the brands in control of their data and their communication are the ones in control of their revenue. That means:

• Building and protecting your email and SMS lists all year round
• Baking AI-powered recommendations into your core journeys, not just your homepage
• Using your CRM as the brain of your marketing, not just another tool in the stack

At Big Eye Deers, this is exactly where we live – designing and building fast, high-converting ecommerce sites, then wiring them into Klaviyo so owned channels can do the heavy lifting.

If you don’t want to head into BFCM 2026 hoping your ads will save you, now’s the time to turn your owned channels into your sharpest growth lever.

If in doubt – give us a call and we can help you plan for 2026