Shoppers arrive at Black Friday with their minds almost made up and little faith in discounts. Learn how to use data, automation and the right channels to sell more.
Black Friday falls on November 27 this year, with Cyber Monday on November 30. In Mexico, El Buen Fin comes earlier, from November 13 to 17. The pattern is the same across all these markets: customers are still buying, but they’re buying more selectively.
In this article, you’ll learn what has changed in shopping behavior in Portugal, Spain, Brazil and Latin America, why a bigger discount no longer does the trick, and what you can do over the coming weeks to reach the right customer, at the right time, with an offer they believe in.
What has changed about the Black Friday shopper
The 2026 shopper arrives at Black Friday better informed, more cautious and less patient with vague promotions. Three shifts explain almost everything.
Less impulse buying
In Europe, only 30% of consumers say they buy on impulse more than they did two years ago, down from 45% the year before, according to Intrum’s European Consumer Payment Report 2025. Purchases are no longer decided on the day. They’re planned weeks in advance, with a list in hand, prices tracked and a clear idea of what’s worth buying.
Distrust of discounts
In Brazil, the phrase “Black Fraude” (Black Fraud) entered the vocabulary years ago. In an AtlasIntel survey released in November 2025, 94% of Brazilians said they don’t fully trust Black Friday discounts (Poder360). In Portugal, 75% of respondents surveyed by DECO PROteste believe some stores raise prices ahead of Black Friday only to lower them afterwards.
This distrust spans the Atlantic. And it has practical consequences: a “60% off” with no context can drive away more customers than it attracts.
AI-powered research, even in the inbox
According to Shopify’s Global Holiday Retail Report 2026, 65% of consumers will use AI for at least one shopping task this season. But only about a third trust an AI agent to make purchases for them. AI helps people research and compare; the decision is still human.
The same is happening with email. With Gemini in Gmail, some users now see an AI-generated summary and prioritization before they even open a message (Braze). Every campaign now has two readers: the person and the model that decides whether the message deserves to stand out.
Why a bigger discount won’t fix it
Faced with a cooler customer, the usual reaction is to knock off another 10%. It’s the easiest decision to get approved in a meeting and one of the most expensive to sustain.
Black Friday 2025 data offers a clue. Salesforce recorded 6% growth in global sales over the event, but average prices rose 7% and order volume fell 1%. Revenue grew, but customers didn’t buy more.
A generic campaign has costs that are less visible than margin:
- Discounts given to people who would have bought anyway. The loyal customer who already had the product in their cart gets the same coupon as someone who has never opened an email.
- Fatigued subscribers. Five identical emails in a week are an invitation to unsubscribe before Christmas, when the relationship is worth the most.
- Demoted messages. If the inbox uses AI to decide what to highlight, repetitive and unclear promotions get left behind.
What separates an effective campaign from a noisy one is relevance: the right offer, for the right person, at a price they believe in.
Five decisions for a more relevant Black Friday
The starting point is making better use of what you already know about each customer. These five decisions work for both brick-and-mortar retail and e-commerce, in any of these markets.
1. Bring together the signals you already have
Often, the biggest obstacle lies in your systems. In-store purchases sit in the POS, online orders on another platform and the loyalty program on a third. The result is a brand that doesn’t recognize the same customer across two channels.
Start by connecting these sources into a single customer view. With in-store and online history side by side, you can already tell habitual buyers apart from those who only show up for coupons.
Hypothetical example: a footwear chain with 12 stores sees that a customer bought boots in store in October. Instead of sending her a discount on the same boots, it suggests care products and a gift selection in her price range.
At E-goi, this is the role of the CDP (customer data platform): bringing together data from stores, e-commerce, POS and loyalty into a single view you can use for segmentation and automation.
2. Anticipate intent before the 27th
If customers decide weeks in advance, your campaign has to start earlier too. The signals are already there: products viewed, abandoned carts, category clicks, wish lists.
Use them to trigger concrete actions from early November:
- Early access for subscribers, featuring the categories each one selected in a form.
- Price-drop alerts on products the person has viewed.
- Gift guides for people who usually shop for Christmas.
AI helps you prioritize: who is most likely to buy, which category interests them and when they usually respond. Your team sets the strategy; the models do the reading that no one could do by hand for thousands of customers.
3. Prove the discount is real
With a skeptical customer, transparency sells. Always show the previous price and the final price, and only use urgency when it’s real (limited stock, a genuine deadline).
In the European Union, including Portugal and Spain, price-reduction announcements must state the lowest price applied in the previous 30 days. In Portugal, the law applies this rule to any communication channel, which includes email, SMS and push (Decree-Law No. 109-G/2021). In Brazil and Mexico, consumer protection codes prohibit misleading advertising, and enforcement (Procon and Profeco) tends to step up at this time of year. Check each market’s rules with your legal team before launching the campaign.
4. Give each channel a job
Sending the same message across every channel is the fastest way to wear customers out. Define a role for each one:
| Channel | Role on Black Friday | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Present the full, segmented offer | A selection of deals by category of interest | |
| SMS | Short, urgent reminders, with consent | Last call on Cyber Monday for people who showed interest |
| Push and web push | React to behavior in real time | Abandoned cart or price-drop alert |
Write for the inbox AI too: a subject line that states the offer and the deadline, an opening sentence with the essentials, real text instead of an email made of a single image, and alt text on images. Exclude anyone who has already bought from each send, and measure clicks, revenue per send and unsubscribes rather than looking only at opens.
With omnichannel automation, these rules no longer depend on someone remembering to update a list at two in the morning.
5. Turn your Black Friday shopper into a Christmas customer
The November 27 sale opens the door to the next purchase. Clear order confirmations, delivery information and an easy-to-find returns policy reduce complaints at a time when volumes peak.
Then, use the purchase to set up the next one. A loyalty program lets you identify customers in store and online, record what they bought and offer them a perk to come back in December.
Hypothetical example: someone who bought a smartphone online receives, a week later, a suggestion for accessories with pickup at their nearest store. The brand connects digital with the physical store, and the customer gets a useful reason to come back.
Timeline: what to do before Cyber Monday
There are about three weeks left until Black Friday. That’s enough time to prepare a campaign that lands before the avalanche of generic promotions.
Proposed timeline, November 3 to December 6, 2026
- November 3–8: lay the groundwork. With little time, focus on the essentials: remove inactive contacts from your sends, confirm consents and create two or three segments based on in-store and online purchase history.
- November 9–22: capture intent. Launch the interest form, open early access and activate price alerts on the most-viewed products. In Mexico, bring these steps forward to be ready for El Buen Fin, November 13–17.
- November 23–29: Black Week. Send offers by segment, with the reference price visible. On the 27th, save SMS or push for people who showed interest but haven’t bought yet.
- November 30: Cyber Monday. One last short call, only for people who haven’t converted.
- November 28 – December 6: post-sale. Clear confirmations, delivery and returns information, and a first Christmas suggestion linked to the purchase.
Where to start this week
If you only have time for one thing, pick an intent signal you already collect and turn it into an automated action. It could be abandoned carts, most-viewed products or last Christmas’s purchases. One well-used signal is worth more than ten generic sends.
If you want to go further and connect store, e-commerce and loyalty data to reach Black Friday with more relevant campaigns, talk to the E-goi team. We’ll help you define the segments, automations and channels that make sense for your business.
Sources
- Intrum, European Consumer Payment Report 2025 (via Dinheiro Vivo, November 2025)
- AtlasIntel, Black Friday 2025: Habits, Decisions and Desires (via Poder360, November 2025)
- DECO PROteste, Black Friday 2025 survey (1,845 responses, October 2025)
- Shopify, Global Holiday Retail Report 2026 (via Grande Consumo, October 2026)
- Salesforce, Black Friday 2025 data (via TechCrunch)
- Braze, Gemini in Gmail and AI on Android (January 2026)
- Decree-Law No. 109-G/2021 (Diário da República, Portugal’s official gazette)
- Portal da Queixa, Black Friday 2026 dates and Bloomberg Línea, El Buen Fin 2026 dates
Leiriense, colecionador de moedas de 2€ e apaixonado por marketing. Trabalha nas áreas de CRM, automação e lifecycle marketing há 3 anos, sempre com o objetivo de criar comunicações mais relevantes e aproximar marcas e pessoas.