Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2025: Your Blueprint for Maximizing Cashback Rewards and Engagement

Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) have evolved into a weeks-long shopping event, with deals appearing as early as the end of October. BFCM, technically covering Thanksgiving to the Monday after, remains one of the highest-volume shopping "holidays" of the year. Discounts and deals are at the heart of this holiday shopping frenzy.

Every year, we actively help clients offering Wildfire-powered cashback rewards programs to maximize their results over this critical holiday period. We deliver advice to help them market their programs and guide their end-user customers to the best discounts, deals, and richest cashback rewards.

To help prepare for the upcoming 2025 holiday shopping season, we've gathered key insights and strategies from our latest data and strategy review.

The evolving landscape of BFCM 2025

The shopping landscape for BFCM continues to shift, with online channels dominating. Most shoppers prefer online channels such as mobile, apps, and email for speed and deal access.

Wildfire data from November 2024 showed sharp spikes in gross sales compared to the daily average before the BFCM weekend: on Black Friday (an increase of 186.5%) and Cyber Monday (an increase of 138.8%).

Shoppers are active throughout November, browsing and adding items to carts, but purchases surge specifically during BFCM as they jump on the best deals. We anticipate seeing this same behavior as we approach BFCM 2025. In 2024, there was significant year-over-year growth, with Black Friday up 78.10% and Cyber Monday up 51.98% vs. 2023.

Decoding the 2025 shopper: Insights and opportunities

Understanding the modern BFCM shopper is crucial for a successful campaign.

Key Shopper Demographics & Behaviors

BFCM shoppers are almost evenly split between men and women, with a high-spending demographic aged 35-44 who deliberately wait for BFCM to secure the best deals.

These shoppers are looking for ways to save and plan their purchases early.

The AI revolution in shopping

AI is transforming BFCM engagement in 2025. Shoppers are increasingly relying on AI to guide, compare, and decide on purchases more quickly.

Wildfire’s 2025 consumer trends report noted that 61% of consumers have tried AI chatbots, and 35% of them are using those tools to help with shopping.
Approximately 54% of consumers intend to use AI this year to compare prices, search for products, summarize reviews, and get tailored recommendations.
57% of shoppers use AI assistants to discover products, and a significant 77% say AI helps them make faster purchase decisions.

To capture the AI-empowered shopper, it is essential that your customers have their cashback browser extension installed early, so that it can surface cashback opportunities when shoppers are ready to buy.

Capitalizing on online search & stacked value

For 2025, 64% of Black Friday shoppers expect better deals online. This emphasizes the importance of showcasing online advantages and cashback stacking. Shoppers are actively hunting for deals, with about 13% using Google to find BFCM offers.

Wildfire's data indicates 2x more cashback offer activations from search during this critical period. So driving early browser extension installs is key to ensuring visibility the moment shoppers begin searching and browsing for deals.

Shoppers also expect perks that stack value, such as cashback, loyalty rewards, free shipping, and easy returns.

Crafting best-in-class BFCM 2025 campaigns

BFCM sees shoppers spending over $38 billion online. This is a peak moment to capture attention, and best-in-class campaigns often run marketing impressions at 3-4x higher than the rest of the year, based on our own observations and competitive campaign monitoring.

Campaign Phasing and Timing

Successful BFCM campaigns should be planned early, launched early, and with repeated messages to stay top-of-mind and maximize cashback program engagement. Campaigns should roll out in phases, beginning as early as October to seed awareness, peaking during November's deal frenzy, and extending through December for last-minute shoppers.

Campaign Structure and Messaging Strategy

Here’s an example of a phased campaign structure for BFCM 2025:

bfcm-2025-campaign-by-phase

Key takeaways for BFCM 2025

To truly stand out and optimize your strategy this BFCM, remember these key points:

Drive Adoption Early: Ensure your extension is installed early so you are visible the moment shoppers begin their journey.
Increase Impressions: Stay top of mind by sending 3-4x more impressions, personalized when possible.
Stack the Value: Shoppers expect added perks like cashback, loyalty rewards, free shipping, and easy returns. Make these part of your messaging to underscore the value you offer.
Embrace AI: Shoppers are using AI to find and buy smarter (sometimes automatically). Make sure your content is written in a way to be discoverable by AI chatbots: for example, answer key questions about extension attributes that you are seeing in reviews or from your customer support team, and describe the key benefits.
Reward Loyalty: Use incentives to keep users engaged with your extension and reward them for continued usage.
Leverage Social: Utilize social media and influencers to drive discovery and urgency for your offers.

We hope these insights and strategies help you maximize the impact of your cashback rewards program and deliver unparalleled value to your customers this holiday season.