What to Expect on Amazon for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2024 

As we move into Q4 2024, we understand how important it is to keep your Amazon advertisements and listings optimized. We’ve partnered with Pacvue to look at the numbers from last year to see what we can expect as we enter the prime holiday season. 

Here’s what we found from Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) last year and what we think that means for this year: 

Here are our top predictions:

CPCs Keep Going Up during Black Friday and Cyber Monday

Last year in Q4 2024, we saw an overall 11.7% increase in CPC for Amazon Sponsored Products and an 8.2% increase for Amazon Sponsored Brands. But, when we zoomed into the costs during the BFCM sales period, we saw a 30% increase in CPC for Sponsored Products from BFCM 2022 to BFCM 2023.  

We expect that trend to continue. This year, we’ve seen a steady increase in CPC during big sales events. On Amazon Prime Day 2024, we measured a 7.6% increase in CPC compared to 2023. The competition on Amazon is getting more sophisticated and tactical, which means the prices for the most popular ad units continue to rise.  

What Advertisers Should Do: Keep a close eye on your ad budget as you start to spend during the holidays. This will ensure that you can increase spend throughout the sales periods as CPCs may increase more than expected and drive the competition to scale back. Monitor trends in real time to see where you might find new opportunities. 

The Halo Effect Gets Bigger than Ever 

The “halo” effect from ad campaigns during holiday tentpole events, like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, is all about the time before and after the specific sales period. A lot of consumers will start researching products days ahead of time to know what they want to buy when things go on sale. Alternatively, the audiences you reach before, during, and after BFCM that don’t buy initially might end up buying later.  

We call this the lead-in and lead-out strategy. By setting daily budgets and bidding strategies, you can ensure that your products start winning top placements before the event starts to start winning share.  

What Advertisers Should Do: Make sure to explore Sponsored Display ads to ensure that you have a strategy in place that goes beyond Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand ads. With these ads, you can reach audiences beyond the Amazon ecosystem. 

Advertisers Put a New Emphasis on New-to-Brand (NTB) Customers

If a customer is already starting their search on Black Friday and Cyber Monday with a specific brand name or product, then a Sponsored Products brand term targeting ad isn’t driving any real new business. To really expand your brand’s footprint, you have to start thinking about targeting NTB customers, instead.
 
But how can you make sure you’re reaching net new customers? Amazon has started making it easier to identify the right audience with AMC data. By exploring ideal customer profiles and understanding who hasn’t historically made a purchase from your brand, you can create new ad campaigns for BFCM to specifically target those shoppers. 

What Advertisers Should Do: Make sure you have connected your ad token to Helium 10 so you can access your AMC dashboard – featuring data on your new to brand shoppers. This chart will show you how many sales are from new to brand customers, and which of your products are introducing users to your brand.  

Making the Most of Black Friday and Cyber Monday for 2024 

So, how can you keep optimizing across the Black Friday and Cyber Monday?  

Helium 10 recommends three different tactics:  

1. Think about dayparting when it comes to your budget. CPC prices are constantly fluctuating during busy sales periods. There are hidden pockets of opportunity for BFCM where you can get a lot more return on ad spend by investing in times that aren’t as competitive. 

2. Plan ahead, but be ready to pivot. It’s hard to predict shopper behavior across Amazon, so monitor trends closely to make sure you’re ready to adapt as needed.  

3. Make sure to understand your digital shelf presence. Improve your product pages before Black Friday(check out how you are doing with Helium 10’s Listing Analyzer) and constantly monitor reviews to keep tabs on different promotions.