RETLI GROUP says brands that plan Black Friday, Christmas and January as one connected period will enter the new year with stronger customer relationships, not just a bigger weekend.
RETLI GROUP, the London-based marketing, brand and digital agency, is urging eCommerce brands to treat November and December as one connected trading period rather than a weekend of discounts. The agency argues that how a brand handles this window shapes customer acquisition, retention and revenue well into the following year.
As Black Friday approaches, many brands will raise advertising budgets, introduce deeper discounts and fill their calendars with promotions. RETLI GROUP says more activity does not automatically mean better results. For UK retailers heading into the festive season, the agency says the brands that gain most will be those that plan the period as a whole.
“Black Friday isn’t a red emergency button. It’s a strategic opportunity to generate revenue, acquire new customers and build momentum that carries into the year ahead,” said Doga Ilter, founder and leading marketing consultant of RETLI GROUP. “The objective isn’t simply to sell more over one weekend. It’s to make the entire trading period work harder for your business.”
A trading period, not a weekend
Black Friday and Cyber Monday matter, but they sit inside a much larger holiday season that includes Christmas gifting and the weeks that follow. RETLI GROUP believes that planning only for the promotional weekend leaves valuable opportunities unexplored.
A wider view looks at what happens before the promotion, how a brand approaches Christmas, and how it builds on the customers it acquires along the way. The names of the events matter less than what a brand does with them and how that serves its commercial goals.
Why the season shapes the following year
Every customer acquired in November and December is potential future revenue. How a brand communicates with those customers, delivers value and keeps them engaged influences whether they come back in the new year.
“A first purchase is not the end of a transaction; it is the start of a relationship,” said Ilter.
Without a clear strategy, brands risk competing on price, spending more to acquire customers and concentrating all of their effort on a few days of trading. A brand that plans for the second purchase, the cross-sell and long-term customer value enters the new year with a stronger base of engaged customers than one that simply counts weekend revenue.
The season runs from November to January
RETLI GROUP maps the period as a sequence, not an event. November opens with teasers, lead capture and early access lists, then moves into the offer launch and Black Friday week, with ad budgets and communications scaled up as performance data comes in. Cyber Monday and December follow with gift messaging, bundles and shipping deadlines, and January closes the loop with analysis and new year inspiration. Black Friday creates customers, Christmas creates occasions, and January builds for the next purchase.
Strategy before discounts
A discount is a commercial decision, not a strategy in itself. RETLI GROUP advises brands to decide what the trading period should achieve before deciding how far to cut prices: attracting new customers, increasing order value, selling through existing inventory or encouraging repeat purchases. The answer should shape the offer.
Brand positioning matters too. An offer that works for a price-led retailer may not suit a premium brand, and a promotion that generates revenue may not deliver the margins or the customer quality a business needs.
RETLI GROUP experts suggest that brands set objectives before budgets. The options include revenue, revenue from the existing subscriber base, customer retention revenue, average order value, reducing excess inventory and new customer acquisition. The agency describes the real value of the period as revenue today plus new customers acquired, future purchases, higher order values and customer lifetime value.
RETLI GROUP recommends that brands define the objective and the offer before building any advertising, align paid media, email, creative and their website around the same commercial goal, and plan the full calendar from Black Friday through Cyber Monday and Christmas rather than one weekend. The agency also advises building post-purchase and retention journeys before the sale starts, then measuring what worked and carrying the learnings into the new year.
About RETLI GROUP
Founded in 2021, RETLI GROUP is a leading London-based marketing, brand and digital agency working with brands across the UK and Europe. The agency is a certified Meta, Klaviyo and Shopify partner and provides senior-led expertise across paid media, email, design and eCommerce growth. Learn more at retligroup.com.
