BFCM is the sngle biggest new-customer event of the year.
This guide unpacks the key dynamics shaping peak season, and how brands can respond with smarter, data-driven marketing powered by Klaviyo.
During BFCM, the floodgates open. You’ll see more new shoppers in a few peak weeks than you did in the prior 3 months combined. And the top 10 shopping days alone deliver more fresh buyers than the entire month of February.
In verticals like apparel & accessories, home & garden, and sporting goods, new orders outpace repeat ones during the middle weeks of peak season.
While the pattern of “more new during peak” holds across categories, the baseline looks different depending on a brand’s average order value (AOV) and vertical.
In apparel & accessories and food & beverage, brands with lower AOVs tend to attract more new shoppers during peak season, suggesting that an accessible price point encourages new consumers to trial the brand.
On the flip side, in health & beauty, home & garden, and sporting goods, lower AOVs actually correspond to a smaller share of new buyers. In these categories, higher-value purchases may be more motivating for new shoppers to try new brands during BFCM, while lower-value goods remain the domain of loyal repeat buyers.
Either way, align your promotional strategy to your vertical’s AOV dynamics. This way, you’re not just chasing sales. You’re strategically converting the right kind of first-time buyers into long-term loyalists.
It also depends on the loyalty of the customers you already know. Repeat shoppers play a critical role in driving consistent revenue, and during BFCM, re-engaging this group requires intentional relationship-building and direct outreach.
The data shows that while all channels contribute to elevated buying activity during peak, email and SMS are uniquely powerful for engaging repeat customers. Other channels are geared more toward new acquisition, but your owned channels give you a direct line to the people who already trust your brand.
And don’t treat repeat shoppers as an afterthought to new acquisition. Plan campaigns that specifically nurture your best buyers during BFCM and beyond, because strengthening those relationships not only boosts peak performance but also drives retention well into the new year.
If you were to double down on only one channel for BFCM, SMS would be the obvious choice. Its immediacy and reach make it a powerhouse for capturing attention during the most competitive shopping days.
But peak success isn’t built on a single channel. Omnichannel strategies are how you make sure every shopper—whether new or repeat—stays engaged, no matter where they prefer to shop.
Across nearly every country we tracked, discount rates during peak season nearly double compared to the rest of the year.
In the US and the UK, discount rates for repeat shoppers jump well into the high teens during peak. In Germany, the gap is even starker: repeat customers see discounts surpassing 27%, far higher than new shoppers.
France shows a more balanced approach. There, discounts are elevated for both groups, but not as dramatically. Discounts in Australia and New Zealand, meanwhile, land somewhere in the middle, with steady increases across both regions.
Globally, the story is consistent: deeper deals are a cornerstone of peak shopping, especially for loyal buyers.
By tailoring discounting strategies to shopper type, and accounting for regional expectations, you can maximize conversion without unnecessarily cutting into margins.
Built for this moment. Built for BFCM.

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