I logged into Amazon on Black Friday expecting the usual wave of discounts. Instead, the first thing I saw was a long list of items in my cart that had gone up in price.
Not exactly the BFCM energy I was looking for.
Once the annoyance wore off, it became a good reminder of what this weekend really looks like for consumers. Prices shift constantly. Some sellers raise prices ahead of Black Friday so their “sales” look better. Some products just aren’t part of any promotion and keep moving with normal market behavior. Whatever the reason, the customer experience is a lot more chaotic than most brands want to admit.
And from inside the marketing world, we know it’s even crazier behind the scenes.
Affiliate teams are negotiating placements. Media teams are adjusting bids hour by hour. Brands are scrambling to make sure their offers stand out. Every part of the funnel is under pressure. Expectations are sky-high and attention spans are short.
This is exactly why BFCM exposes the gaps in our strategies more than any other moment in the year.
Here’s the real takeaway:
Instead of planning for ideal customer behavior, build for the messy, real behavior we actually see.
Because the truth is, people don’t shop in a straight line. They compare, they hesitate, they get distracted, they abandon carts, they come back later, and sometimes they log in on Black Friday and see prices go up instead of down.
If our marketing and partner strategies don’t account for that kind of unpredictability, they’ll fall apart the moment the market shifts.
The brands that win BFCM aren’t just loud. They’re grounded. They understand how people actually buy when everything around them is noisy and inconsistent. They build experiences that reduce friction instead of stacking more on top of it.
And that mindset matters long after the sales weekend ends.