Black Friday 2024 Recap: The Holidays Go Mobile (And Omnichannel)

Marketers far and wide have been scurrying to prepare for the Black Friday season — and it truly is a season now. Black Friday these days includes the entire weekend through to Cyber Monday, but this shopping holiday can no longer be viewed in a vacuum. 

From regional holiday shopping events like Singles’ Day (China) and El Buen Fin (Mexico) to the Black Friday weekend, November has become a global Month of Marketing. 

Because SAP Emarsys provides omnichannel engagement software to some of the largest brands around the world, we’re uniquely positioned to provide insights about how marketers are driving engagement. In fact, it’s one of our favorite traditions!

In this article, we’ll reveal which channels marketers leaned into (and found success in) for Black Friday 2024, as well as other global shopping holidays, and shed light on the ever-evolving trends in omnichannel engagement.

The SAP Emarsys team is constantly at work, all year long, to ensure that our platform is prepared to meet and exceed marketer’s needs and ever-growing customer databases, so leading brands like The Home Depot, Columbia Sportswear, Babbel, and many more can successfully deliver targeted, timely messages at scale. We were even invited to join a Black Friday celebration with our customer, Arezzo & Co., one of the largest retailers in Brazil, where we toasted to yet another successful high peak season thanks to our joint partnership.

For the 2024 Black Friday–Cyber Monday weekend, we saw a 10% year-over-year increase in customer engagements across channels. 

Of particular note, on Black Friday itself, mobile channels saw a growth of 200%.

It’s no coincidence that we’ve recently been talking about the importance and value of mobile marketing, not to mention our new mobile features for MMS, mobile in-app, and conversational channels. 

What didn’t grow was the number of support requests we received. In fact, those decreased by as much as 28% year-over-year across the Black Friday weekend. We continue to scale the platform’s performance for just this reason, to prepare for enterprise-grade, peak sending at any time, especially at the times when marketers most need to capture customers’ attention.

Black Friday–Cyber Monday Customer Engagement

The way that marketers use the channels they have at their fingertips to engage customers paints a fascinating picture. How are marketers reaching out to customers? What channels are on the rise? Are any channels declining, and if so, why?  

Following are the year-over-year changes for the full Black Friday weekend, Nov. 29–Dec. 2: 

• Overall Volume – 10% increase
• Push – 72.3% increase
• Inbox – 70.3% increase
• Web Push – 63.8% increase
• SMS – 51.7% increase
• In-App – 18.7% increase
• Email – 6.1% increase
• Web – 14.2% decrease

In terms of sheer volume, email continues to take the lion’s share. However, mobile channels like Push, Inbox, Web Push, and SMS show incredible growth. In comparison, during the Black Friday weekend in 2023, Web Push was the growth leader at a 74% increase, followed by SMS with 35% and In-App with 15%. (You can check out our Black Friday 2023 Recap for more details.)

Singles’ Day Customer Engagement

Singles’ Day originated in China in 1993, on November 11. The event is a clever play on numbers, because the date is 11/11, so it’s all about singles. The original idea was for it to be a day for single people to treat themselves to something nice. Much like Black Friday, the holiday has spread out around the region. 

It’s a day that does big, big numbers in terms of sales… and of course cross-channel engagements sent by marketers.

Following are the year-over-year changes for Singles’ Day, Nov. 11, 2024:

• Overall Volume – 12.2% increase
• SMS – 118.6% increase
• In-App – 65.84% increase
• Web Push – 59.15% increase
• Push – 37.01% increase
• Email – 10.44% increase
• Web Channel – 12% decrease
• Inbox – 13.07% decrease
  

If you weren’t already aware that SMS is an incredibly popular and powerful channel in Asia-Pacific region, well, now you do!

El Buen Fin Customer Engagement

El Buen Fin, which means “the good end,” is Mexico’s own alternative to Black Friday. It’s a three-day event, and the first Buen Fin was held in November of 2011. 

Following are the year-over-year changes for El Buen Fin, Nov. 15, 2024:

• Overall Volume – 7.9% increase
• Web Push – 171.2% increase
• Push – 135% increase
• In-App – 65% increase
• SMS – 47.7% increase
• Email – 1.1% increase
• Inbox – 0.7% increase
• Web Channel – 9.6% decrease

Way to go Web Push! Undoubtedly you can see some trends in the numbers already, but let’s break it down further. 

Marketers are putting more resources than ever before into engaging with customers on mobile channels. Our SMS, Web Push, Push, and In-App all showed outstanding growth this peak shopping season. 

Adopting a mobile-first omnichannel marketing strategy is critical if brands want to stay in touch and relevant. But when marketers simply use separate mobile channels and sending messages… well, that’s hardly a strategy. In fact it could cause friction if the experiences across channels are disjointed, with conflicting or irrelevant content. 

Part of the reason behind this mobile trend simply has to do with how consumers are using their phones. Mobile Wallet has made it easy and convenient for consumers to not only make purchases but also receive offers, manage tickets and coupons, get rewarded for their loyalty, and more. 

Additionally, channels like WhatsApp have brought conversational marketing to the forefront, enabling real-time interactions. WhatsApp has numerous uses for marketers, including marketing messages (such as abandoned cart and back-in-stock notices) and transactional messages (like shipping notifications and order updates).

WHEW! That was a lot, wasn’t it? You’ve survived another big shopping event, and your brand has sent out an incredible quantity of messages and incentives to customers. If you haven’t done it already, take a deep breath of fresh air and give yourself a pat on the back. 

Now, as you move forward in the days ahead and you take a little time for reflection, here are a few questions to consider: 

#1. Which channels did you expand for Black Friday (or another peak shopping season) this year? Was your strategy aligned with the trends shown here, or did you use different tactics? What channels are your customers using, and where are they choosing to engage?

• Get inspired: Check out our omnichannel hub page and download a copy of The Omnichannel Difference research report from Forrester Consulting, commissioned by SAP Emarsys.

#2. How will you optimize customer experiences in the next few weeks — both before and after the holidays — to drive loyalty? This season is a prime opportunity to attract new customers, but then it’s time to follow through and turn them into true brand fans. 

• Get inspired: Join us for our webinar, 5 Omnichannel strategies for post-holiday shopping and beyond, this December 5! 

#3. What channels are you looking to grow in 2025? Also, as you expand your reach and connect with customers in new ways, how do you plan to create customer journeys that are truly seamless and personalized? 

• Get inspired: Check out this video with Gibson Brands and discover how they’re orchestrating omnichannel customer journeys and driving loyalty.

Customers today can shop online or offline, use their mobile wallets to transact, easily research competing brands, and so much more. These seasonal shoppers have an abundance of choice, but they’re strapped for time. 

Quality matters to customers, and that’s true not just for what they’re purchasing, but also for the precious time they’re willing to spend with your brand. Each experience you deliver during the peak shopping season should be relevant, personal, and timely, so you can build a long-lasting relationship. 

Handpicked Related Content:

• [Blog] Black Friday 2023 Recap
• [Blog] The Essentials of a Modern Mobile Marketing Strategy
• [On-Demand Webinar] Calling All Channels: Mobile’s Role in Driving Omnichannel Excellence