Another Black Friday Cyber Monday is in the books! And wow, what a season it was.
The numbers tell a big story. U.S. shoppers spent $44.2 billion during Cyber Week, with Cyber Monday alone hitting $14.25 billion. But beyond the sales records, something interesting happened in 2025. WooCommerce store owners changed what they care about most.
For the first time ever, website performance beat inventory management as the top priority. That’s a big shift. And there’s more. Store owners showed unprecedented love for lifetime license deals. Subscription fatigue is real, and BFCM 2025 proved it.
Let’s dig into what happened, what worked, and what you can learn for next year.
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The big picture: Record sales with smarter strategies
BFCM 2025 was huge. Black Friday brought in $11.8 billion (up 9.1% from 2024). Cyber Monday topped that at $14.25 billion (up 7.1%). Both were single-day records.
Here’s what’s wild though. Average discounts actually dropped from 29.6% in 2024 to 26.2% in 2025. Stores made more money with smaller discounts. How? Better site performance. Smarter checkout flows. And way more personalization.
Data from Nosto shows the trend. Sales grew 17.4% year-over-year. Conversion rates jumped 19.21%. Orders increased 17.31%. And all this happened while traffic actually dropped 1.9%.
Translation: Stores got better at converting visitors. Less traffic. More sales. That’s efficiency.
Mobile completely dominated. It drove 74% of traffic and 62% of sales. Desktop still converted better (3.61% vs 2.59%). But mobile is where your customers are shopping.
WooCommerce stores depend heavily on the holiday season
Here’s a stat that might surprise you. 73% of WooCommerce merchants say BFCM and the holidays drive over 20% of their annual revenue. For some stores, it’s even more critical. 28% get 30-50% of yearly sales from this period. And 8% make over half their annual revenue during the holidays.
No wonder everyone prepares so carefully.
The WooCommerce survey of 249 merchants revealed the biggest shift we’ve ever seen. Performance optimization jumped to the #1 priority at 33.4%. That’s up from just 13% in 2024. It more than doubled in one year.
Inventory management dropped to second place at 32.6%. It was the top priority in 2024 at 26%. Another 7.5% focused on hosting upgrades.
Why the change? Store owners realized something important. Site speed during traffic spikes directly impacts sales. If your site is slow, customers leave. Simple as that.
As WooCommerce CMO Tamara Niesen put it: “We’re seeing a tale of two Black Fridays emerge.” Larger merchants invest in performance and payment options. Smaller stores often stick to traditional approaches like stocking up on inventory.
Payment options create a big gap between large and small stores
Here’s where the gap between big and small stores really shows up. Stores making $1M+ per year are 3-4x more likely to offer Buy Now Pay Later than smaller stores.
The numbers are stark. Among stores earning $10-50M annually, 66.7% offer BNPL. For stores under $250K? Just 14.8%.
Express checkout shows the same pattern. 75% of million-dollar stores offer Apple Pay and Google Pay. Only 40% of smaller merchants do.
This matters. BNPL drove $1.03 billion on Cyber Monday alone. And 79% of those purchases happened on mobile. If you’re not offering these payment options, you’re leaving money on the table.
Promotional strategies got more creative too. Product bundles and buy-more-save-more offers led the way at 27.4%. Tiered discounts came in at 18.2%. Dynamic discounts based on cart value or behavior hit 16.1%. Free gifts rounded out at 14.7%.
And here’s something interesting. 30% of merchants introduced or updated subscription services specifically for BFCM 2025. That’s a shift from pure discounting to recurring revenue.
Lifetime licenses became the hottest deals of BFCM 2025
Subscription fatigue is real. People are tired of paying monthly fees for everything.
The average U.S. consumer now manages 12 different subscriptions at $273 per month. Half have canceled or plan to cancel at least one. For WordPress users, 57% with 10+ plugins experience “plugin fatigue.”
Plugin companies heard the message loud and clear. Many offered lifetime licenses exclusively during Black Friday.
The math made sense for committed users. WPFactory’s yearly license costs $249. Their lifetime deal? $399. That’s less than two years of annual payments. Typical chatbot SaaS costs $20-50 per month. Over a year, that’s $2,400-$6,000. Lifetime licenses? Pay once, deploy on multiple sites, zero recurring fees.
Here are some lifetime deals that really stood out:
- Kadence WP Full Bundle: $649 lifetime with $150 off
- Astra Business Toolkit: $659 lifetime plus $1,313 in free products
- WCBoost Variation Swatches: 50% off all plans, include the lifetime plan.
- WPFactory Ultimate Bundle (80+ plugins): $399 lifetime (normally $799/year)
Elementor Pro stayed subscription-only. They believe lifetime licenses hurt product quality long-term. But they were in the minority this year.
Hosting led the discount race, plugins weren’t far behind
Hosting providers went all-in with discounts. They offered the deepest cuts of any category.
SiteGround topped the list at 88% off ($1.99/month for WordPress/WooCommerce hosting). Hostinger hit 85-86% off. HostGator reached 82% off. Bluehost offered 70% off plus $2,500 in premium plugins included. Cloudways and Kinsta both went 50% off with free migration help.
WooCommerce’s official marketplace stuck with their standard 40% off. That covered hundreds of extensions including Bookings, Subscriptions, and Memberships.
Performance tools saw strong deals. WP Rocket dropped 40% to $35.40/year. FunnelKit hit 50% off. CartFlows went 40% off. WPForms and MonsterInsights both offered 70% off. AIOSEO came in at 65% off.
Theme providers mixed it up. Divi/Elegant Themes led with 80% off plus prize giveaways. Astra offered 40% off with bundled freebies. Kadence ranged from 30-40% on annual plans. GeneratePress took up to $50 off lifetime licenses.
The most aggressive bundle? WPXPO’s 10-plugin mega bundle at 88% off. $699 lifetime for WowStore, PostX, WholesaleX, and seven other tools.
Performance plugins and checkout optimization ruled
Store owners voted with their wallets. The most popular plugin categories reflected clear priorities.
Performance and speed tools dominated. WP Rocket, NitroPack, and Perfmatters all saw heavy interest. Core Web Vitals and mobile load times drove purchase decisions. This made sense. Site speed became the #1 priority.
Checkout optimization tools came in strong. FunnelKit, CartFlows, and CheckoutWC all attracted buyers. WooCommerce users want better checkout flows. Order bumps, one-click upsells, streamlined forms. These tools deliver what Shopify users have had for years.
Marketing automation and AI tools saw big growth. Klaviyo reported brands using AI-driven product recommendations generated 71% more revenue year-over-year. Tools like StoreAgent.ai (60% off) and OttoKit (connecting 1,200+ apps) capitalized on this trend.
All-in-one solutions beat single-purpose plugins. Buyers wanted consolidated tech stacks. Bundle deals from WPXPO, Wpmet (80% off for ElementsKit, ShopEngine, MetForm), and WPDeveloper resonated with agencies managing multiple sites.
What made certain deals impossible to ignore
Not all deals performed equally. The winners shared common traits.
Lifetime plans consistently grabbed attention. When you can pay once and never worry about renewals, that’s compelling.
Auto-applied discounts converted better than coupon codes. Nobody likes hunting for codes. Deals that worked automatically won.
Extended sale windows became the norm. Most deals ran November 5 through December 10. That’s 2-3 weeks. The “weekend-only” pretense is dead. Extended timelines reduced buyer anxiety and captured both early birds and procrastinators.
Clear bundle value beat percentage-off messaging. When companies offered 10 plugins for $699 lifetime at 88% off, the value was obvious. Even if you only needed half the tools, the math worked.
AI-powered tools commanded premium interest. Shoppers who engaged with AI personalization viewed 2.4 more pages per session. AI Customer Agents in carts answered questions about fit, shipping, and products. This reduced cart abandonment dramatically.
What’s coming next: Trends reshaping WooCommerce in 2026
BFCM 2025 showed us where things are heading.
AI as a shopping channel is the biggest shift. ChatGPT Shopping Research launched November 24, 2025. Perplexity introduced Instant Buy with PayPal. Target launched an official ChatGPT app. As Klaviyo put it: “If 2025 was the first AI-powered peak season, 2026 will be the first where AI is a front door.”
This means WooCommerce stores need AI-ready product data. Structured information. GTINs. Clear descriptions that AI can understand and share.
Managed WooCommerce hosting accelerated. GoDaddy, WP Engine, and Nexcess all launched bundled solutions. This makes WooCommerce accessible to non-technical store owners. It also reduces plugin management headaches.
Subscription models gained traction with 30% of merchants. That’s ironic given customer subscription fatigue. But recurring revenue is attractive for store owners even if customers are growing tired of it.
Mobile-first design is mandatory now. 73-79% of BFCM purchases happened on mobile. Social commerce grew too. 48% of Gen Z planned to shop directly on TikTok and Instagram.
What to take away from BFCM 2025
BFCM 2025 broke records and revealed clear trends.
Here’s what matters for next year:
Invest in site performance and mobile optimization before peak season. Don’t wait until November. Start now.
Add modern payment options. BNPL and express checkout aren’t nice-to-haves anymore. They’re essential.
Consider lifetime licenses for your core tools. Lock in costs. Reduce subscription management. Stop paying monthly for everything.
Prepare your product data for AI discovery. Shopping is moving to AI interfaces. Your product information needs to be ready.
The gap between large and small merchants is growing. Big stores treat BFCM as a month-long project. Small stores treat it as a weekend event. The difference shows in results.
For 2026, winners will combine performance-first infrastructure with AI-powered personalization. And many already locked in their critical tools at 2025’s lifetime deal prices.
Want more BFCM insights? Check out the full WooCommerce survey results and merchant strategies guide.
Bonus: If you missed out on BFCM deals, WCBoost is still offering 20% off your first order with code WELCOME. Our WooCommerce Variation Swatches plugin helps thousands of stores improve product selection and boost conversions. Give it a try!