Brij reposted this
Black Friday looks different this year And the signals are pointing to an opportunity for brands that is bigger than ever. According to Retail Brew, record 186.9 million people are expected to shop between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday this year. That’s 3 million more than last year. But the stat that really jumped out at me? 👉 72% of Gen Z plans to shop in-store this weekend (compared to 49% of all shoppers). They now account for a fifth of all spending. For all the talk about e-commerce, Gen Z is quietly dragging everyone back to brick-and-mortar. And that’s a massive signal. But, for most brands, retail is also still a black box. Meanwhile, online behavior is shifting too: Adobe Analytics predicts a 500% increase in retail site traffic driven by generative AI — and that traffic is converting better than non-AI sources. So we have: • More shoppers • More in-store moments • More AI-driven online demand • More fragmentation across channels And yet, most brands will walk away from Black Friday with record sales but no clearer view of who their customers actually are. That’s the real miss. If there’s one thing I hope brands take away from this weekend, it’s this: 💡 Black Friday isn’t just a discount event — it’s a data acquisition event. And not next year. Right now. Every transaction, every product interaction, every unboxed moment is an opportunity to identify and activate customers across channels. Because if you want 2026 to look different — more loyal customers, more repeat purchases, more efficient CAC — the work starts today, not next Q4. My advice to brands: 1️⃣ Don’t let in-store be a blind spot. Gen Z is telling us loud and clear: IRL matters. Make sure you can connect that experience to your digital ecosystem. 2️⃣ Capture first-party data at the point of excitement. When someone discovers, buys, or unboxes — that’s the moment to earn a relationship. 3️⃣ Build the bridge between offline and online now. 2026 will reward brands that refuse to treat retail as disconnected channels. Check out our Black Friday playbook (link in caption) for more inspo on what you can do now to set yourself up for success well ahead of next BFCM.