The Industry Saw Traffic. Bluecore Saw Conversions this BFCM
The 2025 holiday shopping season broke records across the board, with online sales on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday reaching new heights. Yet underneath the surface of high-level industry data lies a more nuanced story, especially when comparing broader market performance with insights drawn from hundreds of Bluecore customers.
Order Volume and Growth: Stronger Engagement on Bluecore Sites
As noted in our 2025 BFCM Benchmark Report, order counts among Bluecore customers increased year-over-year (YoY) across Cyber Week, with median order volumes up even as average order values rose only modestly. This suggests that while shoppers were mindful of deal value, they were still purchasing more frequently.
This contrasts with industry-wide estimates that showed relatively flat online order volumes. Bluecore customers saw elevated purchase activity, indicating stronger shopper engagement with Bluecore-powered campaigns than in the broader market.
Importantly, this aligns with findings from the National Retail Federation (NRF), which reported that overall U.S. consumer spending rose over the holiday weekend.
The implication: Bluecore customers likely captured more than their fair share of that growth.
The Rise of the Repeat Buyer
One of the most revealing metrics from Bluecore’s data was the shift toward loyalty-driven revenue. This year, 53% of BFCM orders from Bluecore customers came from repeat buyers, up from ~47% last year. Meanwhile, the share of new customer orders dropped to ~35%.
This represents a significant inversion from 2024 and points to a larger industry trend. With rising acquisition costs and increasingly value-focused consumers, many brands leaned more heavily on their loyal customer base this season.
The fact that repeat buyers drove the majority of BFCM revenue across Bluecore customers signals both a maturing customer lifecycle and the success of effective retention strategies.
Average Order Value: Holding Steady, Not Surging
We observed that average order value (AOV) rose only modestly overall, with significant variance across product categories. Some verticals (such as luxury and home goods) saw AOV spikes, while others remained flat or declined slightly due to intense discounting.
This runs counter to several industry benchmarks that noted a 6–7% YoY increase in average ticket size, largely attributed to inflation and smaller cart sizes.
The Bluecore data suggests a more measured consumer behavior: deal-seeking shoppers focused on value, and in many cases, retailers passed savings on rather than relying on price inflation to drive growth. Whether your AOV came in below or above market benchmarks, understanding the drivers behind it, such as discount depth, product mix, or bundling strategies, is crucial for interpreting holiday performance.
Customer Identification: A Critical Blind Spot
Despite strong site traffic growth (~15% YoY), Bluecore customers were only able to identify about 27% of their site visitors during BFCM. That means a significant majority of shoppers remained anonymous, limiting opportunities for re-engagement through personalized campaigns.
This is particularly important when contrasted with data from NRF showing a 9% increase in online shopper participation YoY. Clearly, people were browsing and buying online more than ever, but without capturing first-party data, many retailers missed a chance to extend those holiday visits into long-term relationships.
Strategies like incentivizing email/SMS opt-ins, ‘Notify Me Back in Stock’, Wishlist creation, or ‘Be the First to Know’ campaigns. This isn’t just a marketing concern, it’s a revenue one.
Takeaways: Your Data in Context
Bluecore’s 2025 BFCM findings generally reflect broader industry dynamics: record-setting e-commerce growth, more digital-savvy shoppers, and a shift toward early and value-driven purchases. But it’s the differences, like higher order volume, a stronger repeat buyer base, flatter AOV, and shopper identification, that present the biggest opportunities for strategic refinement.
As you evaluate your own BFCM performance, use these insights to benchmark against both the broader market and peers within the Bluecore customer base. The holiday rush may be over, but the work of turning one-time buyers into loyal customers, and anonymous browsers into identifiable audiences, is just beginning.
With Cyber Week behind us, ready to turn insights into action? Join us on Dec 10th for Coffee & Commerce, Beyond the Peak: What BFCM 2025 Taught Us About Shopper Behavior.
