Reyo Market Report · September 2026
Black Friday Benchmark 2026: How deep German e-commerce really discounts.
Discount depth in the Black Friday period 2025 ranged from a 14 percent median discount in beauty (small sample) and 15 percent in sports and pet supplies to 30 percent in grocery, furniture and optics. Across all industries analysed, the promotional phase began on November 1, 2025 – 27 days before the actual Black Friday on November 28.
Between 14 and 30 percent – and no industry holds a surprise.
The median discount differs more between industries than between October and Black Friday. That is why every industry stands on its own here.
| Industry | Retailers (n) | Median discount (fixed) | First Black Friday campaign | Emails per retailer in the peak week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion & Footwear | 36 | 20 % | Nov 2 | 7.4 |
| Sports & Outdoor | 14 | 15 % | Nov 1 | 4.9 |
| Grocery & Supermarket | 11 | 30 % | Nov 1 | 5.6 |
| Health & Pharmacy | 12 | 20 % | Nov 2 | 6.1 |
| Kids & Baby | 11 | 20 % | Nov 17 | 3.5 |
| Pet Supplies | 9 | 15 % | Nov 3 | 4.3 |
| Home & Furniture | 10 | 30 % | Nov 2 | 9.5 |
| Beauty¹ | 6 | 14 % | Nov 1 | 8.3 |
| Second-Hand & Resale¹ | 7 | 20 % | Nov 3 | 4.7 |
| Eyewear & Optics¹ | 7 | 30 % | Nov 1 | 7.6 |
¹ Small sample (fewer than 10 retailers in the median base); read these values with caution.
"Retailers (n)" is the number of retailers that enter the median with at least three recorded campaigns. There is deliberately no total row: a median across fashion, pet supplies and grocery describes none of those markets.
Data source: Analytics → Market (discount distributions, campaign timeline), Analytics → Email (send frequency)
2 · Data basis
136 retailers, 3,361 newsletters, one period.
Data basis: 136 retailers from 10 industries were analysed for the period November 1 to December 5, 2025. 3,361 newsletters and 2,034 campaigns were recorded. Discount depth, mechanic and minimum order value are evaluated automatically for every single message. All figures are aggregated; individual brands are not identified.
Only retailers with at least three recorded campaigns in the period enter the medians (126 of the 136 retailers). Industries with fewer than six such retailers are not reported; industries with six to nine are reported only with a visible sample-size note.
Reference value: October 2025 serves as the comparison (same retailer panel, directly before the season). A comparison with the 2024 season is omitted because the monitoring panel was considerably smaller then and the values would not be comparable.
Channel coverage: All key findings are based on newsletter data, the channel with the densest coverage. Push notifications and app coupons were not yet recorded in the period and are therefore missing – not because retailers do not use them. Meta ads are reported as a separate supplement with its own base.
Not recorded: Promotions that ran exclusively via paid search ads, in-store signage or print advertising. Discounts in closed customer clubs are included only where they were communicated by newsletter.
Collection: Reyo's continuous competitor monitoring.
Black Friday is no longer a day, it is four weeks.
In German retail, Black Friday has long ceased to be a day; it is a period of roughly four weeks. Whoever starts on the Friday itself enters a market that has been running since November 1.
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First promotions: The first campaigns explicitly named as Black Friday or Cyber promotions started on November 1 – in four of the ten industries on the very first day of the period.
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The launch wave: In the week of November 3 to 9, 509 campaigns started, more than in any other week of the period. The strongest single day was Sunday, November 9, with 131 campaign starts.
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No breather: The level stayed high afterwards: 445 starts (Nov 10–16), 359 (Nov 17–23), 351 in the Black Friday week itself (Nov 24–30).
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Wind-down: In the first five days of December another 245 campaigns started; Cyber Monday extends the week without triggering a second wave of its own.
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How many take part: In home & furniture, 90 percent of retailers ran a named Black Friday campaign, in fashion & footwear 82 percent, in eyewear & optics every retailer observed. Only grocery held back, at 54 percent.
Data source: Analytics → Market (campaign timeline, duration distribution); Monitor → Gantt timeline
Black Friday does not raise the discount, it raises the volume.
The median of the firmly communicated discount ranged from 14 to 30 percent depending on the industry (table above). Individual promotions spanned 3 to 100 percent.
The real finding: Black Friday does not raise the discount, it raises the volume. In five of the seven industries with a reliable October comparison, the median in the promotional period was identical to the previous month: fashion & footwear 20 percent (October: 20), health & pharmacy 20 (20), grocery 30 (30), pet supplies 15 (15), eyewear & optics 30 (30). Only home & furniture moved up from 20 to 30 percent. What actually changes for Black Friday is the "up to" promise and the send frequency.
Firmly promised versus "up to" promised (median)
| Industry | fixed discount | "up to" discount | share of "up to" among discount campaigns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion & Footwear | 20 % | 60 % | 42 % |
| Sports & Outdoor | 15 % | 50 % | 28 % |
| Grocery & Supermarket | 30 % | 50 % | 23 % |
| Health & Pharmacy | 20 % | 55 % | 39 % |
| Kids & Baby | 20 % | 50 % | 19 % |
| Pet Supplies | 15 % | 44 % | 18 % |
| Home & Furniture | 30 % | 57.5 % | 42 % |
| Beauty¹ | 14 % | 50 % | 18 % |
| Second-Hand & Resale¹ | 20 % | 67.5 % | 10 % |
| Eyewear & Optics¹ | 30 % | 50 % | 38 % |
In fashion and furniture, almost every second discount campaign carries an "up to" in its title, and what is promised is two to three times what is firmly committed. The gap between 20 percent fixed and "up to 60 percent" is the real Black Friday story.
Distribution by discount band
Share of discount campaigns per band, including "up to" figures at their maximum value.
| Industry | below 20 % | 20 to 30 % | 30 to 50 % | above 50 % | Base (campaigns) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion & Footwear | 12 % | 33 % | 29 % | 26 % | 290 |
| Sports & Outdoor | 36 % | 22 % | 28 % | 14 % | 88 |
| Grocery & Supermarket | 3 % | 28 % | 57 % | 13 % | 119 |
| Health & Pharmacy | 27 % | 26 % | 20 % | 26 % | 110 |
| Kids & Baby | 27 % | 29 % | 40 % | 4 % | 48 |
| Pet Supplies | 66 % | 19 % | 11 % | 4 % | 74 |
| Home & Furniture | 11 % | 27 % | 32 % | 30 % | 119 |
| Beauty¹ | 52 % | 25 % | 14 % | 9 % | 56 |
| Second-Hand & Resale¹ | 40 % | 45 % | 5 % | 10 % | 40 |
| Eyewear & Optics¹ | 11 % | 25 % | 54 % | 10 % | 80 |
Data source: Analytics → Market (discount donuts, discount distributions fixed versus "up to")
Percent is the standard, the euro amount is a basket lever.
Percentage discounts were by far the most common choice: 85 percent of monetary promotions ran that way. Euro amounts are the exception and are almost always tied to high minimum order values.
Base: 2,034 campaigns across the ten industries, 1,667 of them with automatically classified incentive.
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Percent versus euro amount: 85 to 15. 1,063 campaigns ran on percentage discounts, 183 on fixed euro amounts.
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Voucher code: 20 percent of all campaigns used a code. For euro promotions, codes are almost standard at 45 percent; for percentage promotions it is 29 percent.
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Minimum order value: 16 percent of campaigns tied the discount to a minimum order value. For percentage promotions it averaged 71 euros, for euro amounts 282 euros: the euro discount is almost always a basket lever, not a gift.
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Tiered discounts: 2 percent of promotions (44 campaigns).
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Free gifts: 63 campaigns (4 percent of those classified).
Metrics on free-shipping promotions and assortment restriction ("everything" versus partial assortment) were cut: the underlying fields cannot be classified reliably for the period.
Data source: Analytics → Market (mechanic donuts, incentive distribution); Monitor → campaign detail (discount, MOV, voucher code)
Two to four times the October level – and Sunday morning belongs to everyone.
Two industries broke ranks: beauty and pet supplies had their strongest send week as early as November 10, kids & baby even from November 3.
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Peak week: In the strongest week (in eight of ten industries the Black Friday week from November 24), subscribers received 3.5 to 9.5 emails per retailer depending on the industry. Front-runner: home & furniture with 9.5, followed by beauty (8.3) and eyewear & optics (7.6).
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Compared with October that is two to four times as much depending on the industry: sports & outdoor went from 1.2 to 4.9 emails per retailer and week, eyewear & optics from 2.3 to 7.6, fashion & footwear from 3.3 to 7.4.
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The most active retailer sent 34 newsletters in a single week.
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Most popular weekday: Sunday, with 20 percent of all sends (678 of 3,361), ahead of Monday and Thursday.
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Most common send time: the morning. 44 percent of all newsletters went out between 7 and 10 am; the strongest single hour is 7 am.
Push notifications and app coupons were not yet recorded in the period; this section is omitted and is not interpreted as a market statement.
Data source: Analytics → Email (send frequency, weekday and hour heatmaps)
Fashion launches 345 new ads per retailer – a lower bound.
For four industries, the Meta advertising channel is recorded for at least ten retailers. Ads newly launched in the period (every ad variant counts individually in the Meta Ad Library):
| Industry | Base: retailers with recorded Meta channel | newly launched ads | per retailer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fashion & Footwear | 33 | 11,392 | 345 |
| Eyewear & Optics | 12 | 2,211 | 184 |
| Health & Pharmacy | 12 | 1,573 | 131 |
| Pet Supplies | 13 | 1,128 | 87 |
Limitation: The Meta data was collected retroactively via the Ad Library (backfill from April 2026). Ads removed from the library are missing. The values are therefore lower bounds and comparable only within this table. For the remaining six industries the recording base is below ten retailers; they are not reported.
Data source: Monitor → Meta Ads (Ad Library monitoring)
No panel, no survey – continuous monitoring.
The analysis is based on Reyo's continuous competitor monitoring. Reyo records competitors' newsletters, push notifications, app coupons and Meta ads, evaluates every message automatically and links the results with external influences such as weather, public holidays and trends. Marketing teams in e-commerce use this to base the timing, topic and discount depth of their own campaigns on market data.
7 · What follows from this
Five takeaways for your own planning.
- 01
Start date. The launch wave ran from November 3 to 9. Whoever starts on Black Friday itself enters a market that has been running for four weeks and competes in the week with the highest inbox density of the year. The advantage lies in the first week of November.
- 02
Discount depth. The fixed median barely moves for Black Friday (identical to October in five of seven comparable industries). If you want to stand out, you do not need a deeper base offer but a clear answer to competitors' "up to" promises, which sit at 50 to 60 percent.
- 03
Mechanic. Percentage discounts are the standard (85 percent of monetary promotions). Euro amounts work as a basket lever with a minimum order value around 282 euros, not as an attention mechanic.
- 04
Frequency. 3.5 to 9.5 emails per retailer in the peak week are the market standard, two to four times the October level. If you do not raise your frequency, you statistically disappear into the background noise. The most-used slot is Sunday morning between 7 and 9 am.
- 05
The calendar knows no pause. Contrary to common assumption, there is no quiet window between the launch wave and the Black Friday week: the weeks in between also sit at 359 to 445 campaign starts. "Start early, then go quiet" does not reflect what the market does.
Frequently asked questions.
See your competitors live.
The benchmark shows ten industries in aggregate. Reyo shows you the ten retailers that matter to you – with discount, code and minimum order value per campaign, in your inbox Monday at 8:15.