How to Capitalize on Buen Fin, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday

It has been barely a month since one of the most significant discount campaigns of the year took place: Hot Sale 2025. However, for those leading brand initiatives, it's already time to prepare their commercial strategies for El Buen Fin, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, a period also known as “Buen Black Cyber.” 

In the middle of a fluctuating and challenging economic context, discount seasonalities have become a significant opportunity for companies across different industries, including retail, consumer goods, tourism, and even finance, to boost and achieve their business objectives. 

To support the above conclusion, I´d like to share some compelling data that highlights the contribution and impact of the recent Hot Sale as a sales driver. 

• According to figures from ANTAD (Asociación Nacional de Tiendas de Autoservicio y Departamentales), sales of “same-store” businesses, which are those that have been operating for more than one year,  reported a 10.3% increase in May 2025,  the largest increase for the fifth month of the year since 2022.

Although the organization doesn't elaborate on the factors that drove this growth, it's important to highlight that high sales periods like Mother’s Day and Hot Sale itself are celebrated in May. 

• Different retailers also attributed a key role to Hot Sale in their business results. 

• For example, there were cases of e-commerce companies that recorded 1,500 purchases per minute, reaching 20 million units sold during that period. Other retailers  reported 28% growth in the total value of merchandise sold through their digital self-service channels during Hot Sale, even breaking single-day omnichannel sales records.

• The results shared by AMVO reflect a similar trend. Sales grew by 23.7% compared to the previous year. Nine out of 10 sales were in the retail sector, and 6 out of 10 shoppers used the digital channels exclusively to make their purchases.

Now that we've presented Hot Sale as an example of the impact these seasonal events can have as a growth driver and sales booster, the following question arises: What can we expect from the upcoming Buen Fin, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday?

To address this question, the consulting firm Ipsos conducted a survey of Mexican consumers in June. The responses provided a broad outlook for capitalizing on the end-of-year sales period.

Some of the most outstanding insights showed that 94% of respondents expressed an intention to shop during the upcoming Buen Black Cyber. With just four months before the season begins, purchasing interest varies across different products including clothing, footwear and accessories, home appliances, cellphones, televisions, laptops, personal care products, to mention the main ones. 

To capture this opportunity, we need to analyze the channels used to map the purchase decision and understand the consumer. In this sense, the survey conducted by Ipsos found that Google properties like Search and YouTube are positioned among the preferred channels to conduct research. This insight aligns with the statements of consumers interviewed by Ipsos last December, who indicated that Google and YouTube are present in two-thirds of purchase journeys where people said they discovered a new brand, product, or retailer. Other channels that stood out include Apps/Marketplaces, as well as physical stores. 

A Consumer With Four Key Behaviors and the role of AI 

Understanding today's consumer is much more complex than ever, but not impossible. In the era of digital transformation, the way consumers interact with brands has evolved into  a series of unexpected steps. Their paths do not follow a straight line and are impossible to predict universally. 

Boston Consulting Group defines four key behaviors that are spontaneously intertwined: streaming, scrolling, searching, and shopping. Today, consumers can be watching content, browsing, searching, and shopping at the same time. Understanding this dynamic is essential to optimizing relevance, detecting opportunities, and improving strategic efficiency. 

Thanks to the power of artificial intelligence, media planning and buying are becoming increasingly dynamic and precise. It’s now possible to apply an “influence map” that ensures every investment made is directed to the most relevant touchpoints at key moments. This optimizes both media distribution and content personalization for each consumer. 

Generative AI also supports content creation. It can test creative ideas to optimize influence maps and generate thousands of visual or textual elements needed for campaign success. 

Given the proven impact of Hot Sale 2025 and consumers' clear purchase intentions for Buen Black Cyber, it’s clear that sales seasons are not just sporadic events but fundamental pillars for commercial growth in a dynamic economic environment. Companies that manage to capitalize on this momentum by understanding the consumer deeply and leveraging AI to optimize strategies — with a priority focus on marketplaces, search ecosystems and YouTube, without forgetting the relevance of physical stores —  will not only achieve their business objectives but will also strengthen their market position.