How Retailers Can Compete with Amazon on Black Friday 2025: A Strategic Playbook

We may still be weeks away from the holiday rush, but smart retailers know now is the time to start prepping. In 2024, global online Black Friday sales surged to a record $74.4 billion, marking a 5% increase over the previous year. Depending on who you ask, U.S. shoppers spent anywhere between $10.8 billion and $17.5 billion during that weekend. People used their phones to shop more than anything else, with mobile accounting for 55% of total online spend. While that happened, AI chatbots completely changed the way shoppers found deals, sending retail site traffic soaring by 1,800%. 

With numbers like that, sellers can’t afford to wait until November to start thinking about deals. Amazon moves fast, but you can still win if you lead with speed, smart pricing, and clear product visibility. 

In this guide, you’ll get the practical steps you need to prepare for Black Friday 2025 and make the most of the biggest shopping weekend on Amazon.

But first, let’s recap the Black Friday trends we observed in 2024!

Amazon Black Friday 2024 Recap

Image Source

Alt text: Black Friday +2% and Cyber Monday +9% YoY online transactions in US

Caption: US online sales rose 2% on Black Friday, 9% on Cyber Monday YoY

Amazon’s Black Friday Week and Cyber Monday event, which ran from November 21 through December 2, delivered its highest holiday sales volume to date. For example:

• According to independent data, Amazon captured an estimated 17.7% of total U.S. Black Friday sales, which brought in roughly $900 million across the platform during that window. 
• For the eighth year in a row, Amazon also maintained an average pricing advantage of 14% over other major U.S. retailers. Prices on top gift categories like appliances, electronics, and toys beat other retailers by anywhere from 2% to 9%, depending on the product segment.
• Advertising metrics during Black Friday and Cyber Monday improved across the board for retailers running campaigns. Orders jumped by 68.4%, while clicks increased by 46.8% compared to the same period in 2023. 
• Conversion rates climbed to 14.1%, which reflects stronger intent from shoppers during high-traffic hours. Cost-per-click dropped by 13.9% to $0.53, while advertising cost of sale improved by 1.4%, giving more return on their ad spend.

Amazon’s pricing strategy gave it a major edge across categories that included fashion, home improvement, video games, and beauty. Data showed the company offered lower prices than competitors in nearly every top-performing segment during the holiday rush. This performance proves that competitive pricing, fast shipping, and strong participation can deliver massive results in a short timeframe.

Doug Herrington, the CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said:

“We know how much customers value low prices, which is why we work hard every day to save them money. We are proud that this study shows our hard work is paying off—Amazon is offering lower prices than any other major retailer. Whether they’re shopping for everyday essentials or that special holiday gift, customers can trust that they’ll get the most value with Amazon.”

Take a Deeper Look : All You Need to Know About the Amazon Pricing Strategy

Retail Strategies to Compete with Amazon on Black Friday

Black Friday has always tested how well top retailers manage their operations, and the competition grows sharper each year because Amazon continues to raise the bar on speed, pricing, and availability. Retailers that compete head-to-head must look closely at supply chain readiness before shoppers flood stores and websites with massive demand. The ability to predict sales accurately and stock shelves accordingly becomes even more critical when shoppers expect instant access to products both in-store and online.

Many retailers who underestimated the importance of inventory readiness in past years dealt with challenges that cut into both profits and customer loyalty. Late shipments and overworked distribution centers forced leadership teams to rethink strategies that connected fulfillment, replenishment, and demand forecasting more tightly than before. 

To stay competitive against Amazon this Black Friday, you need a strategy that goes beyond price matching and discounts. Keep reading to discover ten practical strategies that can help your store hold its ground against Amazon.

1. Launch longer, smarter campaigns

Short campaigns limit the chance to build anticipation, test creative, and capture early shoppers. That’s why many retailers competing with Amazon are shifting to longer campaign windows that run through November instead of just a few frantic days. Walmart, Kroger, and Tesco, for example, have leaned into this extended approach to warm up buyers and refine messaging well before the holiday rush.

Many are starting promotions in late October or early November and layering in ads, email, and social pushes to build steady momentum. This strategy, often called “Black November,” lets teams scale winning creative and reach shoppers who spread their spending across the entire season.

Here are a few ways leading retailers are stretching campaign value:

• Start early with buzz-building campaigns that include countdowns, early access, and teaser ads to build anticipation.
• Release sneak peeks of doorbusters or time-limited offers across multiple weeks to sustain excitement.
• Run consistent promos across channels by connecting in-store displays, websites, email, and social media for a unified experience.
• Partner with influencers and micro-influencers to amplify offers before and during peak weeks.
• Capture late shoppers after Cyber Monday with extended shipping cutoffs, click-and-collect offers, and gift-ready packaging.

To keep engagement strong, rotate creative often, track daily performance, and use the weeks before Black Friday to test aggressively. By the time the shopping weekend arrives, you’ll know which visuals, offers, and messages convert, and be ready to scale with confidence.

2. Leverage price intelligence platforms

Shoppers are quick to notice price gaps, and they rarely hesitate to switch when the difference is big enough. Research shows:

• 76% of consumers chose a cheaper product even when they preferred another brand.
• 68% said better value mattered more than loyalty.
• 59% admitted economic pressure made price their top priority.

For retailers competing head-to-head with Amazon, these numbers make price intelligence not just helpful but essential. With 81% of shoppers researching online before purchase, comparing prices across sites, and looking for the best deal in real time, retailers need tools that give them the same level of speed and visibility that Amazon relies on.

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Alt text: Retail pricing dashboard showing competitor prices, stock, and discount trends

Caption: Retail dashboard for real-time price tracking and competitive insights

That’s where price intelligence platforms like Intelligence Node come in. Updating pricing data every ten seconds with near-perfect accuracy, Intelligence Node equips retailers to respond instantly to competitor moves. From its retail dashboard, teams can:

• Track competitor price changes, stock updates, and discount trends for every SKU in one place.
• Apply custom pricing rules or approve suggested edits with just a few clicks.
• React to shopper behavior in real time, adjusting strategies before sales are missed.

For large retailers, staying one step ahead means protecting margins and making sure customers recognize compelling value whenever they compare prices across different stores and channels.

3. Deploy dynamic pricing & anomaly detection

You can borrow the power of real-time price adjustments that Amazon uses, but apply it at scale across your retail network with purpose. Dynamic pricing engines spot unusual pricing patterns immediately, so you never lose margin by accident.

With Intelligence Node’s dynamic pricing platform, you can monitors every SKU every ten seconds, keeping profitability in focus while letting you react faster to market shifts.

From the Intelligence Node dashboard, your team sees:

• Competitors’ price adjustments in real time
• Inventory changes that could affect shopping trends
• Discount activity on similar items across retail platforms

You can track all of this for each SKU in one place and move quickly when an opportunity appears. The platform also allows you to set pricing rules aligned with profit targets, so you can respond when a pricing gap opens while protecting margin.

Retail giants are already modernizing pricing systems across their stores. For example, Walmart and Kroger are replacing manual price labels with digital shelf tags in thousands of stores. These systems update prices quickly and free staff for shoppers, but both retailers insist they won’t use them to change prices based on demand in real time

4. Run exclusive promotions & loyalty campaigns

Retailers that compete with Amazon succeed by offering members-only promotions that build engagement without diluting pricing across the board. For example, Kroger’s Boost Bonus Days event in mid-2025 gave Boost by Kroger Plus members over $100 in grocery savings, exclusive fuel discounts, and 50% off new memberships, driving loyalty and usage across stores and online.

On the other hand, Walmart continues to elevate its loyalty strategy through Walmart+ Week, offering free delivery, fuel savings, and early access deals alongside a playful “savings whisperer” host to highlight exclusive member value.

Retail chains can adopt similar exclusive campaigns tailored for their audiences. Retailers should focus on:

• Rewarding loyalty members with early-access deals or private discounts before general promotions go live
• Bundling perks like free delivery, fuel points, or app-exclusive coupons that motivate membership sign-ups
• Highlighting value in ways members feel special, such as members-only flash hours, gift sets, or in-store surprises
• Timing campaigns so members get first choice, then public offers follow to broaden reach without discount wear-off

These tactics help retailers maintain strong margins, deepen shopper loyalty, and avoid competing discounts that can erode brand value.

5. Raise bids during your peak moments

Online shopping surged in 2024, with U.S. e-commerce sales up nearly 15% during Black Friday week, showing how much opportunity digital channels still offer high-performing retailers. You must stay sharp during those peak moments, which means watching bids closely and shifting your ad dollars where they matter most.

Hence, smart retailers focus on:

• Reviewing bids multiple times a day to avoid losing ground during high-traffic hours
• Reallocating budget away from underperforming campaigns and backing ads that already prove effective
• Increasing bids on high-intent categories that attract strong demand during shopping spikes

Competition also plays a role in how aggressively you bid. Fast fashion platforms like Temu and Shein drove up search term costs in 2024 by targeting brand-related phrases such as “Walmart clothing” and “Kohl’s Black Friday deals”. Retailers that tracked these moves and adjusted quickly protected their visibility while keeping spend efficient.

You can also lean on dynamic bidding tools offered within ad platforms to reduce wasted spend. Automated strategies like bidding down on clicks unlikely to convert or raising bids on high-value traffic let you compete more effectively while your team focuses on broader campaign execution.

6. Monitor listing categories and product visibility

Big retailers that compete with Amazon can still face visibility setbacks when product categorization gets misaligned, either online or in internal systems. A category error can push a product into a place where nobody shops, hiding it from its ideal audience and hurting sales momentum.

Here’s what top retailers are doing now to stay visible and protect revenue:

• Watch product listings and communication platforms site-wide for any unexpected category changes or unusual alerts.
• Flag and correct wrong categories immediately to avoid burying products from shoppers who actively browse.
• Set alerts for performance notifications or platform health issues affecting products so teams can fix disruptions fast.
• Keep track of bulk uploads and platforms to prevent catalog shifts that could cause internal misrouting or customer confusion.

A 2024 industry survey found that 42% of retailers, including 64% of large retailers, already use AI for catalog and product management. Analysts project that generative AI could deliver $240 to $390 billion in annual value for retail, boosting profit margins by 1.2 to 1.9% points.

With Walmart already declaring it is “all-in” on AI, the question has shifted from whether AI can help retail to how best each domain can deploy it. This automated oversight helps prevent quiet visibility losses and keeps shoppers connected to the products they’re most likely to buy.

7. Craft attractive content descriptions

Product pages matter more than ever because customers expect clarity, detail, and trust. Rather than just listing specs, describe how those specs benefit the shopper in everyday terms. 

Retailers also use high-quality images and detailed descriptions to make their product pages catch shoppers’ attention and clearly show how each item solves a problem or improves daily life, rather than simply listing specifications or dimensions.

Here’s how retailers are addressing this:

• Leverage AI for content efficiency and consistency: Use generative AI to auto-generate clear, appealing text and even images, then lightly revise to match your brand voice.
• Ensure accuracy to build trust: Research by Intelligence Node shows that 87% of consumers may not buy again if descriptions aren’t accurate, and 85% say images and product info heavily influence buying decisions.

Retailers are making this happen today. For example, Carrefour used AI to update more than 2,000 product details, boosting clarity and trust and supporting internal tasks like procurement and tender analysis. 

Intelligence Node supports this by offering:

• PDP auditing tools that highlight improvements needed in descriptions and titles,
• Content automation that syncs enriched descriptions across platforms,
• Generative correction and creation of product copy and images using a vast product database,
• Seamless integration with e-commerce systems to push updates instantly and maintain compliance.

By enhancing content with AI and accuracy at the forefront, retailers can elevate their visibility, build shopper trust, and turn clicks into loyal customers.

Get the Full Story : Powering Retailer Content & Conversions With Gen-AI

8. Interpret data to fuel future campaigns

The Black Friday rush doesn’t stop when the weekend ends; it becomes the foundation for smarter campaigns next season. To make informed decisions, you should analyze metrics like open rates, click-throughs, and conversions to understand which messaging truly resonated and which creative pulled back engagement.

Insights from Queue-it’s 2024 data show that Black Friday drew nearly double the traffic of an average October day, with 67 million visits compared to 35 million. That spike alone highlights how much you can learn just from timing and traffic patterns.

Here’s what top-performing retailers are doing after the holiday run:

• Document which headlines or visuals drove the biggest lift in product views or basket additions
• Track engagement trends across different time slots to see what resonates best with early shoppers versus last-minute buyers
• Use those insights to guide email subject lines, ad creatives, or push message timing for future holidays

Analyzing these insights not only boosts performance for your next event but also lays the groundwork for long-lasting, data-led strategies rooted in shopper behavior.

9. Identify niche strengths & build exclusivity with SKUs

Retailers competing with Amazon can attract more loyal shoppers by offering products that are unavailable anywhere else in the market. Exclusive offerings like private labels, limited-edition collections, or region-specific assortments give stores a clear advantage over competitors during high-demand periods. 

McKinsey reported in late 2023 that private-brand strategies can deliver 400 to 600 basis points of margin improvement through real-time sourcing and cost visibility. 

To maximize impact from these differentiated assortments, leading retailers are focusing on:

• Tracking SKU performance with Intelligence Node’s Brand Intelligence feature to see how products rank on the digital shelf versus competitors.
• Optimizing underperforming items by improving product copy, images, and attributes to boost both discovery and conversion.
• Leveraging real customer feedback by monitoring ratings and reviews and feeding those insights back into descriptions and PDPs.
• Aligning demand with inventory so exclusives are always in stock during key shopping windows.
• Analyzing catalog performance to identify gaps where exclusivity can be expanded for a competitive edge.

10. Use digital shelf tactics

Winning the sale begins the moment shoppers land on your listing. That means your product pages, whether on your site or partner channels, must capture attention with detail, clarity, and accuracy. Instead of relying solely on promotions, you gain more traction when your listings themselves work harder.

Intelligence Node’s Digital Shelf Analytics equips your teams with real-time insights and product-level analysis so they can spot and fix gaps fast. This tool helps you enrich content, fill missing attributes, and enhance titles or descriptions using search-driven keywords your shoppers actually use.

Some of the real-world benefits of digital shelf analytics include:

• Tracking product visibility against competitors to spotlight low-performing SKUs
• Auditing content and images to ensure descriptions are both accurate and compelling
• Using AI to regularly refresh product pages (PDPs) with SEO-rich and trending copy
• Mining sentiment data from genuine shopper reviews to surface keywords that resonate with your audience
• Monitoring pricing and inventory shifts to prevent out-of-stock issues 

By delivering faster, data-informed improvements, retailers enjoy stronger search performance, improved conversions, and reduced manual effort. 

Competitor Edge Table

If you’re looking to stand out against Amazon during peak season, focus on what gives you a sharper edge. Here’s a quick breakdown of where to compete and which tactics actually work:

Focus Area	Tactics to Compete Against Amazon
Campaign Duration	Extend Black Friday into November and run early teaser campaigns
Pricing Intelligence	Use real-time competitor data tools to track and respond quickly
Dynamic Pricing	Combine AI-driven pricing rules with human-led anomaly detection
Exclusive Offers	Roll out VIP deals, limited bundles, and subscriber-only discounts
Advertising	Run shoppable video ads, emotional storytelling, and sequenced targeting
Mobile Experience	Offer fast-loading checkout and app-only deals to increase mobile sales
Product Assortment	Promote private labels and exclusive SKUs that shoppers can’t get elsewhere
Digital Shelf Optimization	Improve SEO, enrich product content, and boost ratings visibility

Take on Amazon With a Smarter Black Friday Plan

Amazon may dominate headlines with its scale, speed, and aggressive pricing, but the opportunity for other retailers is bigger than ever. By aligning competitive pricing with stronger digital shelf execution, mobile-first experiences, and targeted promotions that feel personal, you can capture shopper attention on your own terms.

The key is focusing on value and relevance rather than chasing volume. Every click you win by showing shoppers the right product, at the right price, with the right message, is a win against Amazon’s standard model. With Intelligence Node’s real-time pricing intelligence, digital shelf analytics, and AI-driven content optimization, your teams get the speed and clarity to act before competitors do.This year, the stakes are higher, but so is the opportunity. Book a demo with Intelligence Node today and see how data-driven retail wins!