What Hundreds of Ecommerce Brands Revealed: Power Digital’s Cyber 5 Portfolio Analysis

Cyber 5 is not just a five-day sales surge. It is an industry-wide stress test that reveals how channels scale, how costs behave under peak pressure, and how shoppers make decisions when value matters most. This year produced several clear signals across both the market and Power Digital’s portfolio, highlighting where momentum accelerated and how consumer behavior is evolving.

Here are the topline shifts that defined Cyber 5 2025:

Taken together, these trends underscore how value clarity, smarter investment strategies, and efficient media channels shaped outcomes for brands this season. Despite cautious consumers and ongoing economic pressure, Cyber 5 2025 revealed consistent patterns in how shoppers behaved, where brands placed their bets, and what ultimately drove performance. Because Power Digital operates across hundreds of ecommerce accounts and millions of data points, our vantage point allows us to see these shifts earlier and with greater accuracy than the rest of the market.

According to Ben Dutter, Power Digital’s VP of Strategy, “Our findings roughly corroborate what we’ve been hearing across other sources, such as Shopify, Northbeam, and KnoCommerce. The biggest drivers seem to be repeat orders and AOV, both up double digits year over year, compared to new customers down or flat. The vast majority of stores are up YoY, with median up 10 percent and average up 26 percent.” (Source: LinkedIn)

With that context in mind, let’s dive deeper into Power Digital’s data to uncover what shaped Cyber 5 performance.

Power Digital’s Cyber 5 Aggregate Ecommerce Report 2025. *Some Looker report data may vary slightly from the figures referenced in the article. Please refer to the screenshot for the most up-to-date numbers. 

Meta and Google continued to command the majority of Cyber 5 investment, but diversification accelerated as brands looked for efficiency and incremental reach.

Black Friday was once again the highest-spend day of the period. Cyber Monday softened for the second year in a row. Meta and Google represented 86 percent of total spend across Cyber 5, while TikTok’s spend curve remained steady throughout the weekend.

Power Digital’s Cyber 5 Aggregate Ecommerce Report 2025. *Some Looker report data may vary slightly from the figures referenced in the article. Please refer to the screenshot for the most up-to-date numbers.

Cyber 5 CPCs shifted differently across channels, revealing where competition intensified and where efficiency improved.

Across both years, Cyber Monday CPCs were slightly lower than Black Friday, and overall CPCs remained stable throughout the five-day window. Meta and Google saw the least volatility, while programmatic platforms experienced the widest CPC swings.

Power Digital’s Cyber 5 Aggregate Ecommerce Report 2025. *Some Looker report data may vary slightly from the figures referenced in the article. Please refer to the screenshot for the most up-to-date numbers.

CPMs rose across most major platforms during Cyber 5, signaling higher competition for impression share as brands fought for visibility during peak shopping moments.

Similar to CPC patterns, CPMs were higher on Cyber Monday than Black Friday across both years. One exception: Meta, which saw higher CPMs on Black Friday, revealing heavier brand competition earlier in the weekend.

Shopper behavior remained consistent with prior years, with slight shifts in when customers chose to convert.

Order timing largely mirrored revenue distribution, with Friday and Monday driving the bulk of sales, while Sunday and Saturday delivered small YoY gains.

Now that we have a clear view of how the broader ecommerce landscape behaved during Cyber 5, we can zoom into vertical-specific performance direct from Power’s fashion division.  

As predicted in Power Digital’s BFCM Study, this season confirmed that BFCM is no longer a race to the deepest discount but a test of brand equity, storytelling, and smart acquisition strategy. Here are the key market forces that shaped Fashion performance across Power Digital’s portfolio.

November brought one of the steepest drops in consumer sentiment heading into a BFCM cycle. The University of Michigan’s Consumer Sentiment Index fell to 51.0, marking a 5 percent decline month over month and a nearly 30 percent decline year over year. Current personal finances weakened, buying conditions for durable goods fell more than 10 percent, and the Current Economic Conditions Index dropped 13 percent.

Despite this economic pessimism, consumers did not disengage from the holiday shopping period. Instead, weakened confidence made them far more value dependent, turning promotions into the unlock mechanism for demand. Low sentiment did not suppress purchasing behavior. It reshaped it. Consumers scrutinized pricing, delayed decisions, and prioritized retailers who made the value proposition unmistakably clear.

Interestingly, short-term inflation expectations softened slightly, suggesting shoppers feel marginally more hopeful about the future than the present. Still, heading into the highest intent shopping week of the year, consumers were firmly anchored in a cautious, deal reliant mindset.

Our BFCM Study forecasted this behavior shift: nearly half of shoppers reported that how value is delivered matters as much as the discount itself, and that traditional percentage off tactics alone would not be enough to win their confidence. This exact trend played out across BFCM 2025, where demand did not disappear but instead concentrated around brands that delivered meaningful, trustworthy value signals.

Black Friday 2025 delivered strong topline spending, but the underlying behavior told a very different story. According to Mastercard SpendingPulse, U.S. retail sales grew about 4.1 percent year over year, while Adobe Analytics reported a record 11.8 billion dollars in online spend, up 9.1 percent.

However, once adjusted for inflation, real purchasing power increased by only about 1 percent. This revealed the true pattern of the season: shoppers were participating, but cautiously. Consumers purchased fewer items per transaction, yet spent more per item, driven by higher base prices and an insistence on quality and durability.

This created what many analysts called a “split economy.” Affluent shoppers continued to buy premium products, while middle income households became increasingly selective, delaying purchases or waiting for deals that matched their expectations of value.

Our BFCM Study forecasted this exact shift toward selective purchasing over volume. Nearly half of surveyed shoppers said they evaluate value through a combination of transparency, convenience, and experience, not just discount depth. We also predicted rising pressure for brands to defend equity among premium buyers while still appealing to budget conscious households.

Another defining theme of BFCM 2025 was the industry wide shift away from heavy, margin-eroding discounts. Across mid tier, premium, and luxury categories, brands leaned into newness, hero products, exclusivity, and curated drops as primary demand drivers.

Instead of chasing volume through deep markdowns, brands focused on protecting margin and reinforcing value perception. Luxury brands in particular emphasized clienteling and personalized service over broad promotional blasts, signaling a clear evolution in how premium categories approach BFCM.

Consumers rewarded this shift. With shoppers already feeling financially stressed, clear value, high quality, and brand desirability mattered just as much as price. Blanket sitewide discounts no longer guarantee results. Brands that differentiated through storytelling and product curation saw stronger engagement.

This trend aligned directly with our research, which showed that aggressive markdowns create short term lift but long term risk. Nearly one in five consumers said steep discounts dilute brand equity, and luxury buyers reported they evaluate brands based on value signals, not just percentage off. We forecasted a rebalancing away from discount mania, and BFCM 2025 confirmed it.

Holiday creative took a decidedly nostalgic turn this year. Brands leaned into cozy, familiar aesthetics: heritage visuals, festive home scenes, warm color palettes, and emotional storytelling that evoked comfort and tradition. Gen Z, surprisingly, was the demographic most drawn to these nostalgic themes, embracing holiday advertising that felt sincere, familiar, and human.

To modernize legacy heavy narratives, brands paired traditional motifs with celebrities, humor, and social native pacing. This kept creative relevant while still tapping into consumers’ desire for comfort in an economically uncertain season.

This shift reinforced a larger truth: in a cautious market, emotional resonance becomes a demand lever. Creative that made shoppers feel something outperformed creative that simply announced a promotion.

Our study highlighted Gen Z’s preference for authenticity, relatability, and creator led content. We found that demos, unboxings, and emotionally driven storytelling significantly influence purchase decisions. Nostalgia aligned perfectly with the traits Gen Z responds to most: sincerity, comfort, and culturally current storytelling.

BFCM 2025 confirmed that modern shoppers, especially younger ones, reward brands that connect emotionally, not just discount aggressively.

One of the most transformative shifts this season was the surge in AI driven shopping behavior. On Cyber Monday, AI referred traffic to U.S. retail sites increased 670 percent, and across the broader holiday window (November 1 to December 1), AI driven sessions were up 760 percent.

Even more notable: shoppers who arrived from AI platforms were 38 percent more likely to convert than those arriving from traditional traffic sources.

The trend showed up clearly across Power Digital’s Fashion Division as well:

Consumers were no longer discovering brands exclusively through Google or social feeds. They were asking AI services for guidance, comparisons, and curated recommendations. The discovery journey shifted, and brands that were not optimized for AI visibility lost meaningful exposure during peak demand moments.

Our BFCM Study forecasted a major shift away from traditional search and into guided, recommendation driven discovery ecosystems. Gen Z already treats platforms like TikTok as a search engine. The rise in AI traffic is the next evolution of that behavior, reflecting a desire for fast, accurate, personalized shopping advice.

This season made it clear that Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is no longer optional. AI platforms have become a meaningful top of funnel engine, and brands must ensure their product data, content structures, and value narratives are built to surface inside LLM powered environments.

This is exactly why Power Digital is helping brands operationalize their AI strategy through our AI Readiness Audit. This audit helps brands understand how visible and discoverable they are within AI platforms today, and what actions they must take to remain competitive as AI becomes a primary discovery engine.

And be sure to keep an eye out for our upcoming premium guide, which breaks down why AI readiness is mission critical for brands in 2026 and beyond. It will uncover the specific structural, creative, and data requirements brands must adopt to win in the next era of consumer discovery.

Creative performance across BFCM 2025 revealed a decisive shift toward assets that were bold, simple, and native to the social platforms where shoppers were spending the most time. Across Meta and TikTok, the strongest performers were those that communicated value instantly, showcased product details clearly, or leveraged creator led storytelling to build trust and spark curiosity.

Brands leaned into big, bold text first graphics, highly cropped detail focused visuals, and creator driven videos that opened with thumb stopping hooks or socially native messaging. These formats stood out in crowded feeds by delivering instant clarity and emotional relatability, two things shoppers prioritized in a cautious economic climate.

Our BFCM Study found that Gen Z responds most strongly to authenticity, demos, unboxings, creator trust, and socially native content. The performance of this year’s top creative validated that prediction. Shoppers rewarded brands that felt personal, relatable, and visually straightforward, confirming that modern creative effectiveness hinges on emotional resonance and clarity rather than high production value.

Promotional behavior during BFCM 2025 revealed a shift toward more intentional, margin-aware discounting. From mid November to Cyber Monday, the number of brands running promotions nearly doubled, with the most notable spike occurring between November 18 and 21. By Black Friday, the median discount had reached 40 percent, increasing to 50 percent on Cyber Monday.

Sitewide offers remained the most commonly used tactic since they reduced friction for shoppers who were already selective and value conscious. “Up to” promotions followed closely due to their ability to clear targeted inventory without fully devaluing the brand. Complexity also increased throughout the period, with one third of brands layering multiple offers by Cyber Monday.

To ground these trends in real outcomes, here are two anonymized examples from Power Digital’s portfolio that show how the right mix of strategy, creative, and channel execution translated into measurable Cyber 5 wins.

A major performance apparel brand entered Cyber 5 with aggressive revenue targets. By activating a strong pre-hype engine across Meta and TikTok, leaning into creator amplification, and maintaining top-of-funnel spend while competitors pulled back, the brand maximized both reach and conversion.

Results: +14 percent revenue YoY, +16 percent traffic YoY, +5 percent CVR, and 141 percent to Cyber 5 revenue goal.

A footwear brand facing early-year softness used Cyber 5 to recover momentum. A full-funnel media mix, data-informed pacing, diversified UGC and promo-forward creative, and optimized affiliate and search bidding drove meaningful improvement.

Results: +14 percent revenue YoY, +16 percent traffic YoY, +5 percent CVR, and a strong return to positive Q4 trajectory.

Cyber 5 2025 proved that winning brands are the ones that communicate value clearly, invest intelligently across the full funnel, and show up with creative that feels human and trustworthy. As we move through the rest of Q4, the strongest performers will be the brands that continue pushing momentum through December by staying present, maintaining efficient reach, and capitalizing on late-season demand.

Looking ahead to Q1, the real advantage will belong to brands that shift into a retention and LTV-first mindset. With customer acquisition softening industry wide, brands that nurture new holiday buyers, strengthen post-purchase journeys, and build loyalty loops will see far more stable performance into 2025.

If your brand is navigating performance volatility, rising costs, or shifting consumer behavior this holiday season, Power Digital’s team is here to guide you. Connect with us  to ensure your strategy is optimized for December and primed to turn holiday shoppers into high-value customers as you enter Q1.