BFCM 2024 Recap: Record-Breaking Sales and the Mobile App Advantage

Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2024 was a banner year for ecommerce, with Shopify merchants generating a record-breaking $11.5 billion in sales, up 24% from the previous year. But Tapcart merchants didn’t just keep pace—they outperformed the trend. Spending through Tapcart-powered apps surged by 26.5% year-over-year during Cyber Week, driven by smart mobile strategies like app exclusives, tailored push notifications, and seamless native experiences.

Across the board, Tapcart merchants saw performance gains worth celebrating:

• 5.2% increase in average cart price, reaching a new Cyber Week AOV of $112.39
• 13.85% more orders placed via apps
• 14.25% growth in unique mobile shoppers
• Top countries included the U.S., U.K., Australia, Spain, and Canada, with cities like London, Los Angeles, and Chicago leading the charge

This surge wasn’t a fluke. It was fueled by 14.88K push notifications sent during Cyber Week—8.41K during BFCM weekend alone—bringing loyal shoppers straight into exclusive app-only deals and curated experiences. As seen in 2023, mobile-first tactics continue to drive results: last year, Tapcart merchants built over 13 million Custom Blocks, sent 27 million tailored push campaigns, and processed over $101M in app sales during BFCM alone—a 55% increase from 2022.

Now in 2024, industries like Health & Wellness saw a staggering 49.7% jump in BFCM app spend, proving mobile is no longer a nice-to-have; it’s the future of personalized, high-performing holiday shopping.

In this recap, we’ll show how brands like Snarky Tea, RtA, Volcom, and more crushed their BFCM goals by building app-exclusive experiences and strategically deploying push notifications—so you can apply their winning strategies as you prepare for BFCM 2025.

Snarky Tea leveraged two app exclusives to get customers spending during BFCM

Snarky Tea, a brand designed to help coffee and soda lovers kick back on caffeine and instead discover high-quality, flavorful teas that genuinely taste great, wanted to create app experiences customers couldn’t get anywhere else—including the website. The goal here? To increase AOV and app adoption, too.

Plans for BFCM started months in advance, back in September 2024—which, in such a competitive space, is right on time. (Brands without an app or those with fewer downloads might want to start even earlier.) By October, they dreamed up some fun and unique app exclusives, leading them to run app-only early access to a 35% off site-wide sale. The brand also decided to include an app-only gift-with-purchase offer.

To create a seamless gift-with-purchase feature, Snarky Tea and Tapcart collaborated on a Custom Block that automatically added two free gifts when specific cart thresholds were met.

The strategy paid off. App downloads and sales spiked significantly, and the free gifts became Snarky Tea's top-performing product. During BFCM, Snarky Tea saw its average order value increase by 40%, and Tapcart became its highest-performing channel for the first time.

Key Takeaway: Customers expect a lot from brands these days, and building truly fun experiences that look and feel great on a native app can make shopping a joy. Add in a little bit of exclusivity—like app-only early access and gifts with purchase—to make BFCM a win for both the brand and its customers.

Well ahead of BFCM, RtA prioritized driving app downloads, then perfected its push strategy to boost AOV

RtA is a global fashion and lifestyle brand rooted in the rebellious, vibrant aesthetics of Los Angeles.

Together, RtA and Tapcart agreed to get hyper-focused on acquiring net-new customers to download the app before BFCM by marketing the platform across all other channels, including paid ads. Also in the works: identifying high-margin product categories that the brand could run flash sales on, as well as nailing down the push notification strategy. That meant determining the most effective brand tone, copy, and push notification cadence for best results.

Ultimately, the brand decided to employ a four-phase launch strategy for BFCM:

1. Early awareness: Pre-BFCM push in paid & organic channels
2. Acquisition: Driving app downloads and engagement to create connections to be leaned on during the holidays.
3. Engagement: Testing and refining the push notification strategy using data and analytics to ensure communication is as effective and engaging as possible during BFCM.
4. BFCM Execution: flash sales, high-margin products, real-time push communication

Holiday sales started as early as early November and went through December 3rd. During BFCM, 30% of the brand's sales came through the mobile app, which was three times the benchmark.

Key Takeaway: Customers demand seamless CX now more than ever, and providing them on an app can outperform web. To capitalize on this, drive customers to the app well before BFCM. Once they’re there, perfect your push communication strategy and know what products to promote so you’re ready to command the best possible AOV during the holiday season.

Volcom leverages push notifications to drive long-term success

Volcom, a skate, surf, & snowboarding lifestyle fashion, saw an impressive increase in app sales over BFCM and still feels the afterglow from its strategy. Over the last 30 days, Volcom's total in-app sales increased 1,290%, and nearly 18% of their total sales are now coming through the app. This success resulted from a strategy of promoting the app for only a few weeks with tailored BFCM push notifications driving engagement.

Volcom also marketed its app through email campaigns, adding mobile download banners to its website and on Instagram. An omnichannel mindset like this drives better app adoption and incremental revenue from leveraging Tapcart’s push notification engine. Volcom also took advantage of the Searchspring integration, which leverages personalized data to power in-app search and PLP merchandising solutions to boost conversion.

Why are push notifications so valuable? According to our 2023 BFCM Consumer Shopping Trends Report, customers are more likely to elicit a purchase via a deal with a mobile app compared to other channels. What stands out from our research is that push notifications outperform other channels in driving purchases and converting more efficiently than SMS and social & online ads.

Shoppers indicate that relative to reach, mobile app push notifications are:

• 181.5% more likely to elicit a purchase than paid ads
• 94.9% more likely to elicit a purchase than SMS

These push notifications drive instant spikes in traffic and conversions, but also can help offset high customer acquisition costs (CAC). And if you’re willing to get creative like Volcom, your marketing efforts to drive app downloads can lead to a long-term cohort of customers who are eager to get their hands on your next product.

After the holiday rush, the Courtney Meehan, the Digital Marketing Director at Volcom, shared with the Tapcart team that their “daily average user traffic is increasing at a steady rate post-BFCM with their increased brand exposure from promoting their app during the BFCM season, ultimately leading to a long-term return rather than a temporary spike.” We love to hear it!

Integration Shoutout: Searchspring → An in-app search and PLP merchandising solution in mobile apps that offers customers a more personalized shopping experience.

Sunday Swagger leverages in-app exclusives and saw a serious return

Sunday Swagger began their annual early access for BFCM exclusively through their mobile app on the evening of Thursday, November 16th at 7 pm PST. Consumers who participated in their app’s exclusive promo were given first access to 13 new products with the help of targeted push notifications directing customers to check out the “New Arrivals” collection. This approach resulted in a record-breaking single highest sale day to date, later opening up their BFCM sales to all other channels.

The ripple effect of this campaign extended beyond sales performance, driving 1,354 new app downloads since the 17th. This impact can also be seen in Sunday Swagger’s 82% surge in daily active users, a 107% uptick in sessions since the sale began, and a 25% increase in the app conversion rate. Sunday Swagger complemented their early access strategy with a multi-page gift guide and a brand refresh where they updated the app icon and launch screen to build BFCM hype.

Kyle Moloo, Director of Ecommerce at Sunday Swagger, says, "I'm proud of our Gift Guide multi-page and love how easy it was to build (as opposed to our website gift guide landing page, which took considerably more time to put together). We also released 13 new products (~1/day) between 11/17 and 11/27 — giving our app users first access to each via push notifications that led directly to our New Arrivals collection."

Sunday Swagger also leveraged the power of push notifications to boost app engagement and send alerts directly to their community of VIP customers. Whether it was about the BFCM sale arriving, free shipping, a $15 gift with purchase, the gift guide, or simply saying hello, the Sunday Swagger loyal customer cohort is easily able to convert with push. The brand powers push notifications with the Klaviyo integration, which can automate, segment, and personalize push notifications to generate more mobile app sales — all in a centralized platform with email and SMS.

ASRV leveraged in-app exclusives to drive hype and incentivize downloads

Pro Tip: Brands that started sooner didn’t run out of juice. ASRV, a trend-setting men’s fashion brand known for its premium, high-performance shorts, joggers, and bags, increased sales by 13% in 2023 from 2022 by implementing a few app-exclusive strategies. Mobile app exclusives is sure-fire way to drive hype and incentivize downloads, and BFCM is no exception.

To kick off peak season, ASRV launched their 60% off sale one day early in the app for their VIP customers. On Black Friday, the brand dropped an exclusive limited edition product in the app, which increased single-day sales by 171%. As a result of the app's exclusive early access to the BFCM sale and exclusive product drop, the total app sales from the start of their early access to Cyber Monday hit a record $1.04 million.

ASRV was able to reach this milestone by strategically promoting the app. Leading up to Cyber Week, they used Custom Blocks to create a branded countdown timer to drive awareness and engagement for users. When the sale was about to launch, they promoted the app-exclusives in email and push notification campaigns — one early access push saw a 30% open rate, $163k in sales, 3.7% CVR, and 691 orders. This BFCM reflects their commitment to exploring new avenues for mobile app growth, which quickly translated into success.

Brown Sugar Babe personalizes the shopping experience with Custom Blocks “Build a Box”

Brown Sugar Babe, a skincare & aromatherapy brand, kicked off its sales earlier than most at midnight, Friday, November 17th, with a new BFCM-themed app logo design. Brown Sugar Babe started strong with a boost of $73,000 in-app sales, which continued throughout the week with an impressive $275,000 in new app sales (and counting). This month is shaping up to be Brown Sugar Babe's most lucrative to date.

The Brown Sugar Babe team leveraged app strategies to drive engagement and app adoption. They launched a campaign of targeted push notifications that acted as a catalyst to build hype for the app exclusives. Their online presence was amplified through strategically placed website banners with Tapcart’s Capture Kit, driving more mobile app downloads for those who didn’t already have the app downloaded. They also rolled out a personalization via a custom "build a box" Custom Block, delivering an on-brand, interactive element to the shopping experience. Brown Sugar Babe also implemented a gift-with-purchase strategy to tie a ribbon around this app-exclusive strategy. In addition, the brand uses the Gorgias in-app help desk to increase customer satisfaction by instantly answering questions.

How ecommerce brands can prep for BFCM 2025

Whether BFCM 2024 was your brand's best holiday season ever or your team feels like they may have left some revenue on the table, now is the time to start laying the foundation for the next holiday season. By creating a wholly owned, low-TCO platform designed to keep customers close and give VIPs the branded shopping experiences they crave, your brand can start driving customers to your app now and reaping the benefits both now and later.

Congratulations to Snarky Tea, RtA, and all the other Shopify x Tapcart merchants who improved their performance this past BFCM. We can’t wait to see what our teams will create together in 2025!

Curious about what your BFCM numbers might look like with the help of a mobile app? Let's chat to see how you can create an app-driven, CX-forward strategy to make 2025 your best holiday season ever.