Black Friday in Europe: 81% of shoppers say inflation is changing how they buy

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Not long ago, Black Friday was something most Europeans only saw in news footage from the US, mostly in the form of crowds charging into department stores the day after Thanksgiving. 

Fast-forward a decade, and Black Friday has become one of the biggest retail moments on the European calendar. From London’s high streets to Berlin’s boutiques and the luxury stores of Paris, shoppers are primed and ready for deals—and brands are planning their most creative, high-impact campaigns of the year.

But in 2025, economic conditions are affecting people’s shopping plans. According to new research from Klaviyo, 81% of European shoppers say inflation is changing how they buy, 31% have switched to more affordable brands, and 21% wait for sales or discounts before shopping at all.

Klaviyo’s 2025 BFCM forecast surveyed 7,000 global consumers to uncover how shoppers are approaching the biggest retail moment of the year. This blog focuses specifically on data from 1,750 consumers across Europe, including the UK, France, and Germany, and how Black Friday looks different from market to market. 

In the UK, consumer behaviour during Black Friday closely resembles the value-driven shopping of Boxing Day. In France and Germany, quality and product trust still carry more weight than deep discounts. And in some markets, Black Friday has stretched from a single day into a multi-week retail season that overlaps with local holiday traditions.

Read on to learn exactly how European shoppers are approaching Black Friday this year, including when they plan to start buying, how inflation is influencing decisions, and which channels they actually want brands to use when reaching out. 

The rise of Black Friday in Europe 

The post-Thanksgiving retail frenzy has been going strong since the 1950s in the US, but Europe has been more of a late bloomer. In fact, Black Friday didn’t really gain traction across the continent until around 2014.

Now, it’s one of the most important shopping events of the year for European retailers and consumers. 

We have the internet to thank for its success. American cultural moments have never been more visible or accessible, and global retailers like Amazon, Apple, and Nike set new shopper expectations with massive campaigns, almost forcing local retailers to follow suit. 

But there’s also a good chance that the success of BFCM in Europe is also due to its perfect timing. 

In 2019, UK analysts reported that revenue from Black Friday marketing campaigns eclipsed traditional Boxing Day sales. Google Trends, meanwhile, shows that the term “Black Friday” began overtaking “Boxing Day” in search volume in many regions as early as 2016. 

This shift isn’t surprising. 

From a customer perspective, BFCM offers something extremely valuable: early access to deals during an expensive time of year. 

Black Friday is now well-established in multiple European markets

Black Friday isn’t just making its way into Europe anymore. It’s here, it’s established, and it’s shaping how people shop for the holidays.

Adoption has steadily grown to the point where it’s now a fixture in most European consumers’ seasonal calendars. Nearly 2 in 5 plan their holiday shopping around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, according to our research—making the weekend one of the most important sales moments of the year.

Let’s take a look at how that enthusiasm plays out differently in each market:

Black Friday in the UK 

BFCM is a well-established tradition in the UK, with more than 2 in 5 consumers structuring their holiday shopping around it. UK shoppers are highly deal-driven: they’re most likely to stay loyal to their favourite brands because of consistently great prices and overall value. 77% say inflation is affecting their spending, 35% have switched to more affordable brands, and 19% won’t shop at all without a sale.

Black Friday in France

While 84% of consumers in France are feeling the effects of inflation, only 26% have switched to cheaper brands, and loyalty is more often anchored in product quality than price. While 2 in 5 French shoppers plan their holiday purchases around BFCM, nearly 1 in 4 will start shopping earlier. 

Black Friday in Germany

Germany is now a strong BFCM market, with 47% of consumers planning purchases around the weekend. 79% say inflation is shaping their spending, 27% have switched to more affordable brands, and 27% wait for sales before buying. 1 in 4 shoppers starts early. The most popular holidays to shop are Christmas, Black Friday, and Prime Days. 

Key trends driving Black Friday in Europe

Black Friday in Europe has outgrown its “one big day” origins. What started as a single Friday of discounts has evolved into a multi-week sales period that often kicks off well before the end of November and stretches into December. 

Here are some of the trends that are defining Black Friday in Europe, according to our survey: 

“Slow gifting” is on the rise 

Across Europe, there’s a clear shift toward “slow gifting”—a more intentional, thoughtful approach to holiday spending. Consumers are planning further ahead, setting budgets, and focusing on meaningful purchases rather than impulse buys. 

Case in point: 61% of shoppers across the continent save in advance for holiday gifts, and 67% plan to buy for just 3–10 people.

This more deliberate approach means brands can’t rely solely on blanket discounts to drive sales. Instead, success will come from aligning offers with the values and priorities shoppers hold going into the season.

Omnichannel shopping is the norm

Across Europe, 76% of omnichannel consumers regularly use 3–4 channels when shopping for non-essential purchases, and 23% use 5 or more. 

In the UK, those figures match the European average, with online browsing, in-store visits, and social media topping the list for gift inspiration. 

In France, the mix is similar, although 31% of shoppers also cite television as an influential source for holiday gift ideas, outpacing the UK (22%) and Germany (19%). 

In Germany, the focus is even more digital. 54% say online browsing is their top source for gift ideas, compared to just 34% who prefer in-store browsing. 

AI assistants are the new search engines 

More than half of European consumers (57%) plan to use AI shopping assistants this holiday season. Adoption spikes even more in France (64%) and Germany (68%). 

In the UK, French, and German markets, the most common AI uses for consumers are comparing prices, finding deals, searching for products, and getting personalised gift recommendations—signalling that product discovery doesn’t just happen through ads or email any more.

Email is still hot, but so is mobile  

While email remains the most popular channel for brand communications across Europe, mobile-first engagement is on the rise.

Consumers in both the UK and France, for example, are over twice as likely as those in North America to prefer WhatsApp for sale/discount notifications, new product announcements, order confirmations, shipping updates, and customer service inquiries.

Consumers in Germany, meanwhile, are over twice as likely as consumers in France and the UK to want to receive new product announcements and shipping updates via mobile app notifications.

5 tips for Black Friday success in Europe

The retailers really winning in Europe are the ones that combine precision targeting with thoughtful timing, especially through email and text messaging. 

Here are a few ways to make sure these channels are driving ROI for you this holiday season:

1. Segment, segment, and segment some more 

BFCM might be one of the only times it makes sense to send to your whole list, but that doesn’t mean you can throw segmentation out the window. The European audience is nuanced, and shoppers in Germany don’t behave the same way as those in Spain or the UK.

If your customers are located all around Europe, here’s what your segmentation strategy needs to include:

• Geographic targeting: Segment by country or region to adjust for shipping timelines, currency, and holiday behaviour.
• Language preference: This one’s especially important for multilingual markets like Switzerland and Belgium, as well as international brands shipping into Europe.
• Engagement level: Create separate flows for your most active vs. dormant subscribers. You might nudge a long-time lurker with a special “Welcome back” incentive, while sending your best customers early access.
• Shopping behaviour: Use previous purchase data to build tailored gift guides, or dynamic blocks in emails to show different products to different audiences.
• Channel preference: Ask shoppers which channel they prefer to receive communications on and deliver messages in that way, or use AI-powered channel affinity to make predictions based on channel engagement and send accordingly. 

Segmentation is the foundation of Black Friday success for athleisure brand Gym+Coffee. “We needed smarter segmentation as we grew into new territories,” says Ashlee Byrne, Gym+Coffee’s senior ecommerce & CRM executive. “Around 60% of our annual revenue comes in Q4 due to Black Friday, so it’s essential that the right messaging finds the right people at the right moment.”

Ahead of Black Friday 2024, this meant fuelling segmentation and personalisation efforts by building rich audience profiles using event attendance data and post-purchase feedback. The brand might, for example, personalise emails based on ticket purchase activity, or send exclusive perks like free shipping to customers in the highest loyalty membership tier (more on that later).

2. Shipping options matter more than you think

Like all modern consumers, European customers are very aware of shipping timelines during BFCM. And they plan around them.

Let your customers know when they can expect their BFCM deliveries by:  

• Making shipping cut-off dates highly visible in your banners, emails, PDPs, and check-outs 
• Offering express delivery options to capture last-minute buyers
• Including delivery timing in your abandoned cart flows
• Keeping shoppers in the loop by sending delivery updates and reminders via mobile-first channels, like text message or WhatsApp

Black Friday marketing tip: If you offer local warehouse fulfilment in regions like Germany or the Nordics, make that clear. Faster, cheaper shipping can help convert on-the-fence shoppers. 

3. Don’t show up out of the blue in November 

Inboxes are chaotic in late November. If you’re only just starting to show up by the time BFCM rolls around, chances are you’re already buried way behind 50 other brands. 

Instead of showing up just in time for Black Friday, start early with: 

• Educational or seasonal content (e.g. “How to beat the BFCM rush” or “Gift planning for different European traditions”)
• Wishlist-building campaigns
• Sneak peeks or product teasers
• Surveys via WhatsApp or text messaging that engage customers and collect preferences by asking simple questions like “What do you want this BFCM?” 

Here’s how European kitchenware brand Alessi leaned into pre-Black Friday growth: in the run-up to the big day, they ran a subscriber acquisition campaign on their social channels with 5 prize draws for a €1,000 gift card. The giveaways ran for 3 weeks and drove 40x higher than usual list growth, without sacrificing acquisition costs to Facebook or Google. 

4. Reward your most loyal customers 

Giving your most loyal customers early access works because it taps into the psychology of exclusivity. People love feeling like they’re part of something special that not everyone gets to see.

From a retention point of view, VIP early access builds relationships. The tiny gesture of letting someone shop a day or two before the rush can go a surprisingly long way in turning a regular customer into a lifelong one.

There’s an operational win here, too. By giving VIPs a head start, you can smooth out the inevitable Friday morning surge, taking some of the strain off fulfilment and customer service teams. 

And let’s not forget that VIP customers tend to spend more. They’re often your highest converters with bigger average order values, particularly when you invite them to shop exclusive bundles or first-look product drops. 

Here are a few practical ways to reward your best customers:

• Send a dedicated VIP early access campaign 24–48 hours before your main BFCM launch. Use segmentation to target based on lifetime value, purchase frequency, or recent engagement.
• Curate a small set of exclusives. One or two special bundles, or early access to your most-anticipated deals, can create a genuine sense of privilege.
• Tie early access to an action. For example, ask customers to refer a friend, sign up for SMS, or create a wishlist to unlock VIP entry.

Retention is something Gym+Coffee were keen to hone in on during their Black Friday sales. 

The more the brand has grown with Klaviyo, the more targeted and ambitious their messaging has become, particularly for their most loyal segments. After the launch of a two-tier loyalty programme, customers in the highest membership tier now receive targeted messages with exclusive perks like free shipping and early offers.

“The loyalty programme has really helped us improve retention beyond big sales like Black Friday,” Byrne explains. “We have some customers with over 100 orders, so we want to ensure the brand can create unique experiences to keep those fans coming back.”

5. Quickly recover abandoned carts

Abandoned carts spike during BFCM—not because people aren’t interested, but because they’re juggling multiple tabs, comparing offers, and trying to make the most of a short shopping window. 

Remember that across Europe, shoppers are being more deliberate this year, and many are comparing prices before committing. That means even highly engaged customers might pause before hitting “buy.”

In other words, an abandoned cart during Black Friday isn’t the same as an abandoned cart in July. It’s often a sign of indecision, not disinterest. The key is to follow up quickly and make it ridiculously easy for shoppers to complete their purchase before your deal expires.

Here’s how you can optimise abandoned cart flows for BFCM in Europe:

• Shorten your follow-up window. During BFCM, a one-hour cart reminder can make the difference between winning the sale and losing it to a competitor. You can send nudges via text or WhatsApp to maximise on the urgency of BFCM deals. 
• Highlight urgency. Use clear language about stock levels or deal expiry (“Only 3 hours left to grab 20% off”). Send a short text or WhatsApp with a countdown.  
• Show shipping cut-offs. Include delivery dates directly in your reminder email or text message.
• Offer multiple channels. Let consumers choose how they prefer to receive shipping updates and product announcements. 
• Personalise the nudge. Use dynamic blocks to show relevant up-sells or bundle options based on the shopper’s browsing and purchase history.

Flows are a top Black Friday performer for Gym+Coffee during the holiday season. In the direct lead-up to Black Friday, their abandoned cart and abandoned check-out flows respectively earned 5.5% and 7.8% increases in unique clicks compared to the same time period the year prior.

Black Friday in Europe is no longer a single day. It’s a season.

Black Friday has evolved from an imported novelty to a cultural fixture in the European retail calendar. Winning this season requires understanding the nuances of your market, from the UK’s value-driven shoppers to France’s quality-conscious buyers and Germany’s digital-first deal hunters.

In 2025, shoppers across the continent are more intentional, more omnichannel, and more price-savvy than ever. They’re researching in advance, switching between devices, and expecting brands to meet them with personalised, well-timed offers.

The brands that thrive during BFCM in Europe will be the ones that create loyalty-building experiences and turn seasonal spikes into long-term growth. Whether it’s through sharper segmentation or smarter shipping strategies, every touchpoint is a chance to win the sale and the relationship.

Black Friday in Europe FAQs

When is Black Friday in the UK? 

In 2025, Black Friday falls on 28 November. It’s always the Friday after the US Thanksgiving holiday, but in the UK it’s a purely retail event with no link to a national holiday.

When is Cyber Monday in the UK?

Cyber Monday 2025 will be on 1 December. It traditionally follows Black Friday and focuses on online deals, though in recent years the lines between the two events have blurred as promotions often run across the whole weekend.

Is Black Friday really called “Vendredi Fou” in French?

Yes. Vendredi Fou translates to “Crazy Friday” and is a term used in parts of French-speaking Canada. In France itself, retailers typically stick with the English term “Black Friday” in their marketing.

What is Green Friday?

Green Friday is an alternative to Black Friday promoted by sustainable brands and organisations. Instead of pushing mass consumption, it encourages eco-friendly shopping, second-hand purchases, or even opting out of spending altogether in favour of more mindful choices.

Learn what 7,000 holiday shoppers want—and how to deliver it. Download the report