Seasonality
2025-07-10

BFCM 2025 Playbook: Why Old Tactics Fail and How AI Will Help You Win

Kimberly Burghardt

With technological booms becoming more frequent than ever, and artificial intelligence (AI) on everyone’s lips, the ecommerce space is not only taking notice, but following suit. Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) is easily one of the busiest times of the year for ecommerce brands, as consumers flock to online retailers for the latest deal and savings. 

However, BFCM no longer revolves around the seller with the deepest discounts, but those who execute smartly.. AI is quickly taking over how ecommerce brands prepare, plan and scale their operations during peak shopping periods.In 2024 alone, brands using AI agents saw record breaking sales with cyber week ecommerce revenue reaching $41 billion, an 8% surge from 2023

It’s no surprise that in 2025, coupled with the widespread adoption of AI, that this year’s BFCM is expected to see even faster innovations, equipping ecommerce brands with smarter tools to optimize their processes and drive stronger returns this peak season. 

How AI is Preparing Ecommerce Brands for BFCM

As BFCM 2025 quickly approaches, ecommerce brands are strategizing to ensure they have the best plans in place to stay prepared for the surge of shoppers. When it comes to higher demands and increased operational lift, business leaders no longer need to go at it alone. As the industry shifts, so do optimal processes, and AI is making waves by stepping in and lightening the load for scaling ecommerce brands

There’s no longer a need to scramble to find seasonal staff, when AI agents and tools are perfect counterparts that are helpful in empowering ecommerce businesses to optimize their inventory management, pricing structures, customer experiences, and marketing campaigns ahead of this year’s holiday sales

1. Streamlined Inventory Planning & Forecasting

As demand surges during Black Friday/Cyber Monday, one of the main challenges ecommerce brands face is accurately planning and forecasting their inventory. To maintain high inventory turnover and reduce a brand’s days in inventory, brands that struggle with the balancing act of ordering too little or overstocking can now turn to AI powered tools to help them manage this burden. 

AI-driven inventory management tools are changing how ecommerce brands navigate busy periods, bringing greater accuracy, efficiency, and agility to demand planning and fulfillment. By using technology to help make data driven decisions, AI inventory management solutions analyze historical demand spikes during peak seasons, market signals, purchasing trends, and even real time shopping behaviours to arm business leaders with stocking the right products and the right quantities when they need them. Instead of relying on guesswork, technology-driven solutions empower DTC brands to improve sell-through rates, minimize overstock, and avoid the costly consequences of excess inventory or stockouts.

2. Strategic Pricing & Promotions

AI tools are also being used to help ecommerce brands stay competitive in the market, without cutting into profit margins. As holiday sales surge, ecommerce brands are locked in fierce competition and often, the brand with the most compelling offer wins the customer. 

To stay ahead, brands can look to AI pricing tools that are being used to implement dynamic pricing this year’s BFCM period. By using technology to monitor competitor prices, these AI-driven solutions can automatically adjust a DTC brand’s pricing strategy with A/B testing to refine pricing strategies.”

With many of these tools integrating directly with marketplace platforms like Shopify, Amazon, and Google Shopping, brands can seamlessly target customers actively searching for the best promotional deals, resulting in more relevant shopping experiences and ultimately, higher conversion rates.

3. Automate Customer Service with AI

As the rush of shoppers peaks during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so does the amount of ticket support needed. Naturally, as demand surges and shoppers hunt for the best deals, more customers seek answers to their questions and assistance with returns and exchanges. Ecommerce brands that lack the financial flexibility or operational capacity to hire and train seasonal staff can turn to AI-powered solutions to efficiently bridge this gap, while keeping up with customer standards. 

AI agents are increasingly being used in the ecommerce landscape with AI-powered chatbots and agents tasked with handling high-volume support and customer service requests. Customers are embracing this shift as well, with generative AI conversations increasing 7.3x from Black Friday 2023 to 2024, and interactions with AI agents rising by 85%. 

AI chatbots have become essential for managing ticket surges during peak seasons, efficiently handling delivery updates, returns and exchanges, and navigation requests. Armed with 24/7 support, ecommerce brands can effectively reduce cart abandonment by shoppers and ensure customers are satisfied with instant answers to their queries. With two-thirds of customer experience leaders anticipating leaner teams in the coming years, ecommerce brands that adopt AI-powered customer support strategies may gain a long-term advantage extending benefits well beyond just seasonal peaks.

4. Tap Into Conversational Commerce

For many shoppers, AI is transforming the way they shop and the shift is happening faster than most brands realize. When it comes to the customer journey, more consumers are turning to intelligent search platforms like Perplexity AI to ask where to buy, which stores offer the best deals, and what promotion codes to use during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. These platforms don’t just answer questions, they also increasingly allow users to discover products, compare prices, and even make purchases, all in one seamless experience.

In preparation for BFCM, ecommerce brands should adapt their strategies to target these emerging shopping behaviours as inbound traffic from AI-driven search platforms rises and zero-click searches accelerate

To surface as a top recommendation in AI overviews and conversational search queries this BFCM, ecommerce brands should tailor website copy with intent-driven keywords, provide clear, verbatim answers to common product questions, and maintain strong SEO best practices. By doing so, brands can position themselves to “show up” where customers are asking and buying. 

5. Omnichannel Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Every Black Friday and Cyber Monday demands ecommerce brands to get creative and cut through the noise. With countless promotions and campaigns bombarding customers from all angles, employing a marketing strategy that resonates with customers is key. AI-driven marketing solutions now readily employ predictive analytics to analyze customer data, previous shopping behaviours, and market signals, arming ecommerce brands with the tools needed to dive deeper into their campaign strategy. 

DTC brands can start to leverage AI to personalize customer interactions and marketing campaigns, targeting specific customer segments and speaking directly to their needs. Whether targeting new customers or focusing on repeat buyers (who generate up to 300% more revenue) AI-driven marketing campaigns can help brands deliver the right message to the right audience. 

From encouraging repeat purchases to optimizing product recommendations, AI-powered marketing tools enable ecommerce businesses to build long-term relationships and drive meaningful growth through BFCM. 

Don’t Let BFCM Catch You Off Guard, Fund Your AI-Powered Strategy Today

In preparation for Black Friday Cyber Monday, AI is no longer “nice to have”. For brands to win this holiday season, leveraging AI is a valuable tool to spend marketing dollars smarter, compete with competitors, optimize inventory processes, and increase sales. T

The 2025 Black Friday and Cyber Monday race has begun and the retailers pulling ahead are the ones who are acting early and adopting AI into their processes to scale in an intelligent, efficient way. 

To fully take advantage of AI-powered tools and scale intelligently, ecommerce brands need to tap into capital reserves to invest in inventory, marketing, and tech upgrades. For those looking to embrace AI into their long-term strategies, flexible funding partners like Clearco help brands access the cash flow needed to expand their AI tech stack, without giving up equity. Log in today to discover your funding capacity with Clearco’s team and get funded today for BFCM. 

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