BFCM is not a campaign. It's a systems test.
BFCM 2025 made the trajectory obvious: AI is increasingly part of shopping discovery, but the same operational failures still decide who wins.
What happened in BFCM 2025 (numbers worth anchoring on)
What AI changed
1) Discovery is increasingly conversational
Shoppers are using AI assistants as deal finders and product researchers.
Implication: Offers and product data matter more. Your "ad" is increasingly the offer unit surfaced inside AI experiences.
2) Shopping surfaces are shifting
This trend lines up with Google pushing shopping into Gemini and AI Search via retailer partnerships.
Implication: You need to invest in the storefront inputs: feeds, landing pages, inventory truth, offer clarity.
What still broke (because ops is ops)
1) Tracking integrity
If your conversion signal breaks, automation optimizes garbage, faster.
2) Pacing drift under volatility
Q4 punishes weekly monitoring. Pacing needs daily guardrails.
3) Reporting lag and narrative debt
When the client is anxious, dashboards don't calm them. Clear explanations do.
The BFCM 2026 agency runbook
Copy/paste this and run it.
Two weeks before
48 hours before
During Cyber Week
Week after
FAQ
What's the single biggest lever for BFCM success?
Operational coverage. Most failures are preventable.
What changed most due to AI?
Discovery surfaces. You need stronger storefront inputs: offers, feeds, landing pages.