We’re in the final run up to Christmas, but how do we keep the sales momentum from Black Friday going over the festive period and into the January sales? Today Luke Elliott, VP of ecommerce, Europe at ecommerce accelerator, Pattern shares top tips to keep the ecommerce momentum going:
Black Friday may be over, but the retail race is far from finished. The 2025 event once again proved its power with Adobe Analytics reporting that British shoppers spent £3.8 billion online across Black Friday to Cyber Monday, up from 4.6% year-on-year. For brands, this influx of traffic and transactions is the start of a critical period that can define Q4 performance.
The post-Black Friday period is a golden opportunity to convert new customers into loyal advocates, optimise inventory and prepare for the next wave of demand. When done right, this period can deliver outsized returns and set the stage for a strong start to the new year.
Here are three proven strategies to help brands turn this pivotal moment into a lasting success.
1) Updating content and search for all channels
January sales shoppers are value-driven, but discoverability remains key. It’s not about appealing to consumers, but also being visible to algorithms. With more than half of UK consumers now using generative AI tools when shopping, your content needs to be structured for both humans and machines, as Large Language Models (LLMs) and agentic systems now condense and summarise information at scale.
This means providing complete and accurate attributes, rich product data, and clear context so that AI systems can interpret and effectively surface your products. If a brand isn’t appearing in reviews, editorial coverage, or influencer content, it risks having no visibility to these systems and therefore no visibility to consumers.
The winners will be those who adopt this dual approach and diversify beyond Amazon, embracing emerging platforms and investing in AI-first, data-driven strategies to stay competitive. Success depends on building a flexible, technology-led approach that adapts to evolving consumer behaviour and marketplace dynamics, with AI embedded at the core of every decision.
Tools like a Generative Engine Optimisation (GEO) Scorecard can help brands navigate this shift towards AI-assisted shopping. By analysing how a brand appears in large language models such as ChatGPT, it identifies gaps in coverage or accuracy, measures sentiment, and recommends practical steps like optimising product data or adding parsing files to guide LLM model crawling. This provides a clear baseline and actionable playbook for improving how AI systems perceive and present your brand.
2) Re-engaging shoppers with targeted ad campaigns
The most sophisticated brands use retargeting to convert Black Friday demand into sustained Christmas and January trading momentum. In the weeks following Christmas, leading brands segment audiences based on intent and recency, re-engaging Black Friday browsers and abandoners with highly relevant product messaging while shifting recent purchasers toward complementary or gifting-led recommendations.
Retargeting creative evolves from overt discounting to urgency around delivery cut-offs, stock availability, and gift suitability, ensuring messaging aligns with the customer’s mindset as January approaches. Performance data is used to dynamically refine audiences, control frequency, and prioritise high-propensity shoppers, allowing brands to remain efficient while capturing incremental demand during the most competitive period of the year.
3) Preparing for the unexpected
The January shopping period presents both opportunities and risks. Deal suppressions, technical glitches or sudden demand shifts can derail momentum. A robust contingency plan is essential for minimising revenue loss and protecting visibility.
Issues such as running out of stock during peak shopping periods can damage customer trust and undo progress on brand-building efforts like keyword ranking and buy box positions if left unchecked. If products aren’t available, you can’t convert the surge of new customers or maintain visibility. With traffic at its highest, brands must go beyond internal reporting and actively shop their own eCommerce experience as customers would, ensuring promotions display correctly, deals are accurate, and the overall experience aligns with expectations. Every missed list price or strike through can cost conversions and erode trust.
The key is spotting trends early. Marketplace data offers powerful signs such as drop-off points, peak times and missed opportunities that can inform smarter replenishment decisions. By combining these insights with historical sales data, buyer habits and price elasticity, brands can anticipate demand and adapt quickly. Machine learning forecasting models take this a step further, predicting what consumers will buy and when.
When these predictions are paired with strong supplier collaboration and agile replenishment processes, this strategy keeps products available, maximises sell-through and sustains revenue growth well beyond Black Friday.
Finally, think through potential scenarios and pre-determine your response. Establish clear protocols for addressing suppressed deals immediately, monitor performance in real time, and keep backup campaigns and dynamic pricing tools ready. A well-prepared team can pivot quickly, ensuring continuity and safeguarding sales during this critical window.
Looking ahead
Black Friday may be the biggest shopping event of the year, but it’s only the starting point for sustained success. The January sales offer a unique opportunity to turn short-term gains into long-term growth if brands act strategically.
Maintaining momentum is about converting new customers into loyal advocates, clearing inventory efficiently and preparing for the next surge in demand. The brands that succeed beyond Black Friday are those that treat this period as part of a continuous growth cycle, not a one-off sales event. Every action you take now, from optimising listings and refining campaigns to forecasting demand, sets the stage for Q1 performance and beyond.
