A Phased Ecommerce Ad Strategy for BFCM and December

Search Engine Journal describes a phased approach to ecommerce advertising around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, commonly known as BFCM. The strategy starts before the shopping period, shifts toward capturing sales at the peak and continues into December. Rather than treating the holiday week as an isolated campaign, the approach connects the activity before it with the opportunity to reach visitors afterward.

The first phase focuses on building demand ahead of BFCM. In the source summary, that early work serves as the starting point for a full-funnel strategy: marketers seek to generate interest before the main sales period instead of relying entirely on activity during the peak. The summary does not specify which channels or campaign settings should be used to build that demand.

During the busiest sales period, the recommended emphasis changes. The source says advertisers should give Google room to capture peak sales. That places the focus on converting shopping activity during BFCM, while recognizing that the purpose of the peak phase differs from the earlier effort to build demand. The available summary does not provide a specific budget allocation or explain how advertisers should adjust individual campaigns.

The final phase extends beyond the BFCM week. The strategy calls for turning holiday visitors into buyers in December, keeping the post-peak period within the broader advertising plan. This makes the people who visited during the holiday promotion relevant after the immediate sales window as well. The summary does not detail which follow-up methods advertisers should use or how long the December activity should run.

What this means for marketers

Marketers planning ecommerce campaigns can organize their work around three distinct objectives: build interest before BFCM, support sales capture during the peak and maintain a path to purchase for holiday visitors in December. The source summary provides a framework rather than a detailed execution plan, so it should not be read as prescribing particular budgets, campaign configurations or performance targets.