While there are several huge shopping events throughout the year, such as Christmas shopping, back-to-school events, and Amazon Prime Day, these all pale in comparison to Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM).

But despite this massive sales event not taking place until the end of November, retailers and customers alike are already preparing for it. While there’s lots of work for retailers to do before the sale arrives, one of the most important things is to learn about who BFCM shoppers are, what’s important to them, what dictates how they shop, and what tools they use.

They Plan on Starting Early

This year, many BFCM shoppers want to get started on their shopping early. In fact, 71% of consumers plan to start buying before Black Friday even arrives, with 46% of them starting before November hits. These stats, and the others covered here, come from a new report by Attentive, which surveyed 600 U.S. consumers who plan to shop during BFCM this year.

While 20% of people still plan to start their holiday shopping during BFCM, 25% plan to start in November before BFCM, 18% plan to start in October, and 12% in September. As a result, we can see that the demand and interest in shopping hits well before the official beginning of the event.

As a result, brands can capitalize on this demand by dropping their BFCM deals and discounts a little early this year, to try and capture customers before other brands even release their promotions, thus having to deal with much less competition.

Similarly, many customers are also willing to subscribe to your lists before BFCM, if they get things like early access to BFCM deals (52% of respondents), alerts when specific items go on sale during BFCM (51%), a standard welcome discount (49%), or a preview of the BFCM deals that you’re offering (45%).

Also, in addition to encouraging list sign-ups, things like offering early access for loyal customers or VIPs can also help drive ecommerce sales during BFCM.

They’re Not Just Looking for Huge Discounts

Many brands feel pressure to offer incredibly deep discounts to make more sales during BFCM, but huge discounts aren’t actually a requirement for many shoppers. 

While 21% of people say they need more than 40% off to get them to buy something they want during BFCM, 45% are moved by a more toned-down discount of 20% to 40%. Another 25% are cool with a small discount of under 20%, and 10% are even comfortable buying with no discount at all.

Instead of worrying about the size of the discount, customers generally just want value and to feel like they’re not paying full price. So rather than focusing on deeply discounting everything to make sales, consider a smaller and simpler discount, and let the quality, value, and usefulness of what you sell continue to be the primary reason people buy from you.

Also, in addition to offering discounts, brands should focus on other motivators or perks that may drive more sales during BFCM. Some of the most popular, according to shoppers, are free shipping (68% of respondents), a gift with purchase (42%), price match guarantee (39%), and extra loyalty points of perks (35%).

Their Shopping Decisions Are Influenced by the Economy

Many people are planning to buy more deliberately this year, and the economy is playing a huge role in influencing their decisions. In fact, 87% of them say that the economy will change how they shop this BFCM season.

As far as how the economy is changing buyer behavior:

• 42% of respondents are comparing brands and retailers more when buying.
• 41% are focusing more on needs than wants.
• 39% are planning to stock up on things they use often when they can be bought at a discount.
• 26% will save certain purchases for BFCM instead of buying during other times.

While this shows people are being more careful and precise about their spending, it doesn’t mean they plan on spending less. In fact, 45% of people plan to spend around the same as last year, while 23% plan to spend more.

Also, despite plenty of questions about the economy back around last year’s event, Black Friday and Cyber Monday set records in 2025, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see 2026 be even bigger.

Finally, while careful shoppers are normally making more considerations before any purchase, many of them say that a brand’s personalization efforts often make them more likely to buy during BFCM.

For example, 90% say they’re more willing to buy when a brand gives them price drop alerts on something they’re interested in. They’re also more likely to buy if brands offer a discount on something in their cart or something they viewed (88%) or make product recommendations that feel relevant to them (73%).

They’re Heavily Relying on AI

Using AI to shop isn’t niche anymore, as 67% of shoppers have used an AI chatbot to help with shopping over the past month, rising to 80% for Gen Z. While they use it for many tasks, product research is at the top of the list.

Shoppers use it to ask questions about a product (58% of respondents), compare products (51%), get recommendations (45%), find deals (43%), and various other things. As AI continues to develop, it’ll likely only get better and more useful for shoppers.

As a result, because of how many BFCM shoppers will use AI and how much it’s likely to grow in the coming years, you need to ensure your site content is optimized for AI just as much as it is for humans.

Some ways to do this include having a structured list of product specs, clearly describing what the item is, who it’s for, and the problem it solves, and answering many common questions customers may have. The easier it is for the AI to understand everything about your products, the more likely it’ll be able to recommend them to people and surface them in results.

Our Take

Don’t Wait to Prepare for BFCM in 2026

With all of this data and information about who this year’s BFCM shopper is and what matters to them, ecommerce brands have everything they need to immediately start preparing for the biggest shopping event of 2026.

The earlier a brand starts on its efforts, the more time they have to ensure they get it right as BFCM season approaches. If you wait too long, you may not have enough time to fix issues or make changes before Black Friday arrives.

Some things you need to ensure you’re doing well ahead of time are figuring out your supply chains, securing your ad rates, building up your audience, creating your promotional strategies, and testing your website speed and reliability to ensure it can handle the increased traffic that BFCM brings.