Black Friday Week (24.11. – 30.11.) is behind us and the numbers show a clear trend: the overall market declined by 10% year-on-year, while total spending on paid advertising increased by more than 5%.
And although it doesn't sound optimistic at first glance, the reality is somewhat more complex.
This is an important signal: the customer is not converting less. They are just coming to shop this year in a different mood, with different expectations and a different budget. The declining trend from the 3rd quarter did not change even during the shopping holiday, and the eCommerce scene must start looking at efficiency, data, and more targeted marketing investments.
E-shops on BUXUS versus the rest of the market
While the market recorded a decline of -10%, clients on the BUXUS eCommerce platform only dropped by -5%. This double-digit difference is not accidental.
Martin Krupa, co-founder of ui42: “Our clients on the custom eCommerce platform have long benefited from a significantly faster and more stable e-shop environment, well-thought-out UX and CX standards, better data processing and automation, and our geographically tailored e-shop for the customer.”
In other words, while the market slowed down, BUXUS e-shops slowed down significantly less. During the entire BF week, on a sample of more than 150 e-shops, we recorded nearly 90,000 orders, with Black Friday itself (29.11.) accounting for 18.6% of them. Customers mostly bought between 10:00 PM - 11:00 PM, when more than 15% of total Friday transactions were made, and the largest e-shop in terms of orders during BF week achieved 60% of the total number.
GenAI continues to rewrite the rules
This year, it was fascinating to watch how the new source of traffic, AI assistants, behaves. From a traffic perspective, it grew 16x, but from a purchase perspective, even 200x more than during Black Friday a year ago.
It's no coincidence. Today, customers reach e-shops through AI assistants much more purposefully, not "just browsing," but already with the intention to buy. And where e-shops have clean feeds, quality product content, and fast loading (yes, this is also AI-critical), AI is already helping to generate sales.
Why GEO is more important than ever
One of the most significant changes we've seen this year is the importance of geographic targeting. Tools and channels that work with precise geographic relevance grew the most.
Simply put: AI + GEO is becoming the new marketing minimum. AI assistants recommend products based on availability, delivery, local relevance, and parameters that have not been the focus until now.
And that's why it's becoming important to have:
- quality product data,
- accurate information about stock and availability,
- locally tailored feeds,
- and UX that doesn't deter the customer in the first two seconds.
It's a new competitive tool that e-shops can use to slow down the impacts of stagnating customer demand, consolidation, and rising marketing costs with the entry of new players into the European market.
Summary of the year 2025
Black Friday may have fallen by 10%, but:
- BUXUS clients only fell by 5%
- The average conversion rate remained the same at 2.25%
- Shopping behavior is slowly shifting to AI recommendations
- GEO accuracy is starting to decide who grows and who stagnates.
Martin Krupa: “This year was not about massive discounts and extreme breaking of last year's records, which we got used to since the COVID pandemic. It was about whether the e-shop is technologically and data-ready for how customers actually shop in 2025.”
And many of our clients have shown that they are.
Reliable customer support 24/7
Our priority is to achieve customer satisfaction, especially when sales pressure reaches extreme values. This year, we provided continuous support for dozens of domains to ensure every sale and interaction on e-shops went absolutely smoothly and without delay. Our support team was ready to intervene swiftly with any questions or issues, ensuring stability at a level of 99.99% and performance, even in the most intense sales moments.
ui42 has been proving for almost 29 years that it is an e-commerce leader not only in Slovakia. Brands such as Kondela, Be Lenka, Koku, Feedo, Bezvavlasy, Najšport, and Prodoshop trust us.
Number of domains for which we provided 24/7 support: 26
In YoY, we compared a set of the same e-shops on the same domains. We did not include those e-shops that migrated to CMS BUXUS between BF 2024 and BF 2025.
Data source: Matomo and GA4
