Introduction
Shoppers who buy from a retailer for the first time over Black Friday first visited that retailer an average of 43 days earlier, according to Criteo. With this year’s event falling on 27 November, that means many shoppers may already be researching products, comparing offers, and narrowing down their options by mid-October.
In this article, we look at how shopping behaviour is changing ahead of peak, what that means for merchants, and the three areas they need to prepare before demand builds.
How Black Friday shopping behaviour is changing
Timing is shifting, and spending behaviour is changing too.
NIQ/GfK data shows that online transaction volumes across Europe are up 10% year on year. Average order value is down 4%, and price is the primary purchase driver for 74.9% of European consumers during peak. Indicating that for shoppers, price and value carry more weight in their final decision.
Google's data agrees: spontaneous purchases in the EU fell from 26% to 22% year on year.
Combined with a longer research window, this points to a slower, more deliberate way of buying. Shoppers start earlier, compare products and offers more closely, and use that time to weigh their options. So by the time the biggest Black Friday promotions go live, many shoppers have already done their research.
This makes Shopping and comparison surfaces particularly important in the weeks leading up to peak. Businesses need to stay visible while shoppers are actively comparing offers.
The sales curve shows that this earlier activity is already translating into revenue. According to Google, pre-Cyber Week sales grew 83% year on year, compared with 36% growth during Cyber Week itself.
For merchants, that moves the preparation deadline forward. Get the foundations in place before mid-October, and that leaves weeks for execution: staying visible, monitoring demand, and responding to shopper behaviour as the season develops.
Three steps to prepare for peak demand
With shoppers researching and comparing weeks before they buy, peak campaigns need to be ready to compete before demand reaches its highest point.
Merchants using Managed Ads with Shoparize need three things in place before peak: accurate product data, a finalised promotion calendar, and commercial terms that give Shoparize enough room to bid competitively. Each requires merchant input and preparation on our side.
With shoppers comparing prices and availability for weeks before they buy, an accurate feed is what keeps you in that comparison.
Review your product feed
The product feed is what Shopping platforms use to understand what you sell, how much it costs, whether it is available, and which searches it is relevant to. During peak, incomplete or outdated information can affect visibility and how accurately products are represented to shoppers.
Before peak, share the latest, complete product data with Shoparize: accurate prices and availability, GTINs, and key attributes such as titles, descriptions, size, colour, material, and unit price. Our team can then review and optimise the feed for Shopping performance.
For more on feed quality, AI-ready titles and descriptions, and the product attributes that matter in Shopping, see our Product feed fundamentals: the Google Shopping checklist.
Pre-Cyber Week sales are ahead of Cyber Week itself, that’s why promotions need to be live before that period begins.
Share promotions at least two weeks in advance
The promotion calendar gives Shoparize the forward view needed to plan campaign activity around your offers. Share each promotion with your account manager at least two weeks before it starts, including the dates, products involved, pricing, and the offer shoppers will see. This gives the team time to plan the relevant activations and bid adjustments and have the setup ready.
That preparation also needs to reflect the market the campaign is running in. Q4 timing, shopping behaviour, and competitive pressure vary across Europe, so our local teams adapt each promotion around your plan and the realities of each market to drive the strongest possible performance.
During Black Friday, more merchants compete for the same shopper attention, pushing up the cost per click, so the commission needs to be settled before that increase starts.
Agree the seasonal commission before CPCs rise
The seasonal commission determines how much Shoparize can invest while running campaigns on your behalf: a higher commission means more can be invested per click, helping campaigns stay competitive as auction pressure rises.
Managed Ads remains commission-based (CPA) throughout: Shoparize funds the media spend and manages bidding, while the merchant pays a commission only on validated sales generated through the campaigns.
The exact CPA level is agreed in advance and depends on factors including category, market, and cancellation rate. In practice, for many merchants, the higher CPA may remain in place into mid-Q1, reflecting continued sales activity into the new year.
Finalise your Black Friday setup in one call
With the Black Friday consideration window opening in mid-October, there isn't much room to leave this to chance. Feed readiness, the promotion calendar, and seasonal commission can all be settled in one Q4 readiness call with your Shoparize account manager.
Book it now to have the campaign plan in place before that window opens.
Shoparize runs incremental Shopping campaigns across Google Shopping, Microsoft Shopping, and Shoparize.com. We invest the media budget and manage the campaigns on a pay-per-sale basis. Campaigns can go live within one to three days, with a typical optimisation cycle taking six to eight weeks, so there is still time to prepare for the Q4 peak.
Get in touch with the Shoparize team now to put the setup in place and enter peak ready to capture incremental sales with Managed Ads.
