
In this article…
It’s hard to believe, but it’s almost time again for marketers to begin their holiday campaign preparations. Leading up to these preparations, it’s important to reflect on consumer trends from Black Friday 2023 and derive insights for the coming year to shape successful marketing strategies.
Spending trends we saw in 2023
In 2023, consumer holiday spending was forecasted to rise at the slowest pace in five years due to inflation and cost of living concerns. Forrester reported that consumers weren’t spending less, but they were spending slower and paying less for what they bought to stretch their dollar further.
Despite slower spending, data showed a 7.5% increase in e-commerce sales from 2022 to 2023, with a record $9.8 billion spent online and the most substantial growth of in-store traffic in recent years, up 4.6% from the previous year. Shopify even reported record 2023 Black Friday sales numbers offline and offline, reaching $4.1 billion, with significant spending across personal care, clothing, jewelry, shoes, and decor. Around 75% of these sales occurred on mobile and 25% on desktop.
When people shopped in 2023
We also saw notable shifts in how, when, and where people shopped on Black Friday. One significant trend noted in our 2023 Holiday spending report was the increasing preference for early holiday shopping, particularly online. Consumers quickly responded to early discounts and promotions, which caused a surge in spending during October. Cyber Week, encompassing Black Friday through Cyber Monday, also played a significant role, accounting for 8% of total consumer holiday spending.
2023 trends we expect to see in 2024
As you gear up for the holiday season, understanding Black Friday trends from 2023 will be vital, as Black Friday 2024 is expected to see a continuation of several key trends alongside emerging ones:
- Mobile shopping will continue its growth trajectory.
- Consumers will keep seeking early deals.
- Marketers will prepare promotions sooner than ever.
- Flexible payment arrangements like “buy now/pay later” (BNPL) will drive conversions amid continued inflation.
- Channel switching will become more common.
- Paid search will drive the most sales.
Let’s talk about what past trends and future predictions mean for your marketing strategy and how you can use them to inform your 2024 holiday campaigns.
Emerging consumer behaviors
Consumer behaviors and preferences have been changing and reshaping the Black Friday shopping landscape over the last few years. Looking ahead to Black Friday 2024, several trends from last year are likely to continue shaping the shopping experience.
Early shopping
The early holiday shopping trend will continue to become more pronounced. Many consumers now begin their end-of-year shopping well before Halloween, seeking to take advantage of early deals and discounts, enjoy more time to compare prices and products, avoid crowds, secure popular items early, and spread out their budget. In 2023, Gallup found that one in four holiday shoppers even starts as early as September. This means your business must begin planning sales and promotions earlier in the season and roll them out sooner.
The value of experiences
We’re seeing an interesting shift toward gifting experiences over physical items among consumers with more disposable income. In a 2023 survey, one in five respondents said they’d prefer to get an experience as a gift over an item. Those in higher income brackets are allocating more of their holiday budgets to experiences that create lasting memories, such as theme park passes, art classes, concert tickets, and so forth. This trend will require retailers to get creative, potentially:
- Hosting giftable in-store events
- Enhancing the in-store experience
- Using experiential marketing to make deeper consumer connections
- Partnering with other companies to provide bundled gift/experience packages
Preference for digital channels
Media consumption habits and preferred engagement channels are also undergoing significant changes. Consumers increasingly turn to digital channels like streaming TV and connected TV (CTV) for entertainment and information. CTV ad spending, in particular, is expected to grow by 20% in 2024 and by low double digits into 2027. This shift will influence how retailers reach and engage with consumers, and it underscores the importance of digital marketing strategies and personalized online experiences.
Mobile vs. desktop online spending
The preference for mobile over desktop for online transactions is growing; in 2023, mobile devices comprised 54% of online sales, with online purchases up 10.4% from 2022 on Black Friday. More and more, consumers are using mobile devices to research, browse, and buy online. Marketers need to optimize their mobile and website experience to make the shopping experience seamless across all devices.
Key products and categories
Research has shown that the most popular in-store purchases of Black Friday weekend in 2023 included clothing/accessories and electronics.
- 82% of shoppers bought clothing in-store to inspect colors, material, and fit
- 73% said they would buy electronics in store to compare quality
These categories were followed by:
- Health and beauty (49%)
- Household appliances (44%)
- Sports/leisure (32%)
Interestingly, the same categories were also the top sellers online during Cyber Week 2023, with 79% of buyers seeking clothing/accessories and 66% intending to purchase electronics. Amazon was one of the most popular shopping destinations for Cyber Week 2023, with over a billion items sold. Some of the top-selling items included the Amazon Fire TV Stick and Ring Video Doorbell. This indicates a consistent consumer preference across different shopping channels and suggests shoppers are comfortable buying a wide range of products online, even during traditional in-store shopping events.
Looking ahead, retailers can reasonably anticipate continued demand for clothing/accessories and electronics, both in-store and online.
Marketing strategies that worked
Last year was a year of growth, albeit slow growth, despite economic uncertainty. Here are some of the marketing strategies deployed that contributed to this growth.
Influencer collaborations
Data from a 2023 Black Friday report showed that seven of every 10 shoppers acknowledged an influencer’s role in their purchase decision. Partnering with influencers to promote Black Friday deals and hosting live streaming sessions with influencers showcasing products helped reach new audiences and build credibility. Influencers’ recommendations resonated strongly with their followers, which drove traffic and increased sales.
Cross-channel marketing campaigns
Black Friday gives marketers a unique opportunity to engage audiences across touchpoints. Using a mix of channels, such as social media, email, websites, SMS, in-store promotions, and print media, tends to create more impactful campaigns.
Last year proved to be diverse in terms of marketing channel mix. Marketers embraced a cross-channel approach to connect with their users during holiday sales, which was evident in the increased usage of channels like email, SMS/MMS, web push notifications, and emerging channels like Roku messages. Using multiple channels to promote Black Friday deals increased visibility and reached a wider audience. This comprehensive approach ensured marketing messages reached customers wherever they were.
To maximize sales during the Cyber Five holiday season, activate Experian audiences as part of your omnichannel campaign. Our offerings include meticulously curated behavioral segments based on discount indicators such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Coupons/Sales. These segments help you target shoppers who are ready to take advantage of your promotions and are primed for early conversion. Our marketing data was ranked #1 in accuracy by Truthset, which means you can power smarter marketing initiatives, like insights, targeting, and measurement, using the highest-rated data.
App-only deals
In 2023, mobile app sales increased by 2% from 2022, generating a 12% increase in app purchases and $2 billion more in revenue than the year before. Businesses offering exclusive deals through their mobile apps incentivized customers to download and use the app for their purchases, which helped boost sales through a dedicated channel.
Limited-time offers
Time-limited offers are the essence of Black Friday and Cyber Week, giving shoppers a timeframe for getting the lowest prices of the year on certain products. Creating urgency is a highly effective way to get people to make a faster purchase decision.
Bath & Body Works is exemplary at using limited-time offers; once a year around Black Friday, they run a “Buy 3, Get 3” sale on the whole store for a single day, which encourages customers to stock up while getting their holiday shopping done.
Flash sales and hourly deals are shorter limited-time promotions that generate excitement, traffic, and sales. By highlighting specific products with steep discounts, retailers encourage customers to make instantaneous purchases. Amazon is known for these, which they refer to as Lightning Deals or product discounts available for only a few hours.
Early-bird discounts and exclusive previews
Retailers wanting to avoid overcrowded stores or website crashes can reward those who shop early with exclusive discounts or sneak peeks into Black Friday deals. This creates a feeling of urgency and privilege that leads to a purchase. Best Buy offers its Best Buy Plus and Best Buy Total members exclusive savings during a sale period just for them. They get early access to discounts toward the end of October, after which they open up their early bird deals to the public.
Predictions for Black Friday 2024
Based on what we’ve seen in 2023, we expect the following trends to shape consumer behavior on Black Friday and beyond in 2024.
Consumers will use their phones to shop more often than they already do
Mobile shopping is easy and discreet, allowing customers to shop from anywhere while staying on top of sales. Black Friday mobile orders increased from 2022 to 2023, with over 50% of all Black Friday sales occurring on smartphones. This indicates a growing trust in smartphone transactions among shoppers, which is why 2024 will likely reflect this trend.
As a marketer, this means you should ensure your website is optimized for smartphones and tablets. Ensure load speed is quick, navigation is simple, designs are intuitive, and mobile payment options are available. You also have an opportunity to invite your customers to sign up for SMS or push notifications so they can shop deals immediately after they’re rolled out.
While mobile should be a priority, we still recommend investing in multiple channels to capture online shoppers everywhere they’re buying. Our Graph can help you unify data, capture user activity, and view your target audience holistically to optimize ad spend, allocate resources effectively, and improve ROI.
Marketers will start preparing their Black Friday campaigns earlier than ever
With increasing market competition and pressure to accommodate early bird deal seekers, marketers will likely start preparing their discounts, inventories, and promotional materials earlier in the summer.
Data enrichment can help you prepare early Black Friday promos by providing deeper insights into your customers and what they want. Enriching your existing data with behavioral, financial, and demographic information can help you create precise audience segments and personalized content, anticipate customer preferences, optimize channel placement, and tailor your promotions effectively. On average, Experian has 250 behavioral and demographic marketing attributes per individual, which means we can decorate households and people with marketing data to get a full customer profile and fill in any gaps you have on your audience. You can also consider implementing sell-side targeting to help your promotions reach the right people.
If you plan to run early promotions, try not to create deal fatigue among your consumers. Focus on building a few high-quality promotions that will attract your target customers.
BNPL arrangements will become more common for conversion
Given lingering inflation in the U.S., consumers will still be looking for ways to stretch their money this year, and many shoppers may seek out BNPL arrangements.
With so many shoppers wanting the financial convenience of making large purchases without the immediate financial burden, marketers can use data enrichment to identify their target segments most likely to use BNPL and create personalized offers and promotions for them. Your strategy should include high-value offers and messaging that appeal to budget-conscious shoppers and a checkout optimized for BNPL options.
Channel switching will surge
Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales are starting to become channel-agnostic, with consumers browsing online, on mobile apps, in physical stores, and on social media. As such, they expect a unified experience wherever they browse. Any inconsistency can disrupt the purchase journey and deter potential buyers.
As the shopping experience becomes more connected, consumers are moving between channels more frequently, which means integrating data from various touchpoints will be crucial to understanding and predicting customer behavior. Marketers must develop cohesive omnichannel strategies with consistent messaging and promotions across channels. Your campaigns should span multiple channels so customers can engage with your brand in various ways.
We work with major platforms, marketers, and agencies, which means we have existing partnerships across the ecosystem for you to connect with and bring your consumer data to life to meet your needs.
Paid search will drive the most sales
Research from Adobe shows paid search as the top sales driver of Cyber Week 2023, comprising nearly 30% of all online sales. Due to the high-intent customers captured by paid search and the surge in shopping on mobile devices, we expect to see paid search drive much of the Black Friday sales in 2024 — especially as advances in data analytics and AI allow marketers to optimize paid search campaigns more effectively. They can analyze vast amounts of data to refine keywords, ad copy, and bidding strategies for higher ROI and better targeting.
In 2024, it’s essential to prioritize paid search strategies and focus on using relevant, high-performing keywords for your campaigns. You can continuously refine your strategies using AI and data analytics to target high-intent customers. Additionally, integrating insights from customer behavior data will help you create more personalized, impactful ad copy and heighten the effectiveness of your paid search efforts.
Experian can help you win Black Friday 2024
Want your marketing campaigns to stand out and reach your audiences on Black Friday this year? Partner with Experian to create data-driven, targeted, impactful 2024 holiday campaigns.
Our data empowers you to gain valuable insights and optimize your holiday marketing strategies. We can connect online and physical transactions to our Experian household ID for a holistic view of customer behavior, connect ad exposure with foot traffic, or employ control group lift analysis to measure campaign effectiveness. By activating our purchase-based holiday audiences, like last-minute and one-stop holiday shoppers, you can reach the segments most likely to spend with you. Integrating with over 150 channels, we’ll help your campaigns reach your audience wherever they are. You can even utilize our connections to various digital platforms and partners to expand your reach.
With Experian’s measurement offerings, you can make data-driven decisions about your activation strategies. Engage the right audiences and drive exceptional results this holiday season with Experian.
Latest posts

As the days get longer and the weather warms up, spring’s revitalizing energy naturally leads to realignment. For marketers, it’s the perfect moment to reevaluate strategy, especially as consumer behavior changes ahead of summer and brings a renewed interest in travel, outdoor activities, and social events. Making seasonal adjustments to your marketing strategy helps you adapt to these shifting behaviors, capitalize on 2025 marketing trends, and keep your brand relevant year-round. When it comes to your marketing strategy, spring cleaning means clearing out outdated tactics, optimizing what works, and making room for smarter, more connected solutions. Take the time to ask yourself questions like: Are our audiences still relevant? Are we activating our data across the right channels? Are we collaborating with the right partners and using the right data clean room providers? If there’s room for improvement, now is the best time to audit, refine, and refresh your marketing strategy before the high-stakes summer and winter seasons. With identity resolution, data enrichment, data clean room collaboration, and omnichannel activation through Experian, you can clean up what’s outdated and prep your strategy for summer success! Rethink your data and identity resolution strategy Your data is foundational to your strategy and is a great place to start your marketing strategy spring cleanup. If your customer information is outdated, incomplete, or fragmented across systems, every campaign built on top of it risks underperforming. Before jumping into segmentation, activation, or partnerships, assess the health of your data and identity infrastructure. This is your deep clean and an essential first step in ensuring everything else works better. With signals disappearing, buying channels proliferating, and customer journeys getting more complex, the key to maintaining addressability is investing in persistent identity, complete consumer data, and collaborative measurement strategies that can weather these changes. Here are some ways to rethink your marketing data management and identity strategies for the current environment. Set the data foundation A solid identity resolution strategy starts with high-quality, unified data. Consider a comprehensive refresh of your customer records by auditing and enhancing what you have for accuracy and depth. As you’re thinking through spring marketing ideas, it’s an ideal time to enrich your first-party data by appending missing details, removing outdated records, and ensuring you enter summer with reliable, up-to-date profiles. Data enrichment Customer data naturally degrades, and eventually, you’ll need to dust it off by supplementing consumer records with current, high-quality insights and attributes. Experian data enrichment can help you seamlessly refresh records with updated demographic and behavioral data, giving detailed insights for precise targeting and relevant campaigns. With over 5,000 attributes available, covering everything from age and income to shopping habits and media preferences, you can maintain the deepest, most up-to-date view of your consumers through every season. Offline identity resolution and append Offline identifiers — like names, physical addresses, and phone numbers — are the most persistent identity markers as they rarely change compared to digital cookies and device IDs. They’re essential for a stable identity foundation, and you can use them to develop a consistent, unified view of each household and individual. Use this season to audit and tidy up your offline records. Are key identifiers missing? Are you relying on outdated addresses or duplicate names? Experian’s Offline Graph serves as the foundation to help unify those fragmented pieces, resolving identities across households and individuals to create a clean, consistent view of every customer. Think of this step as scrubbing baseboards or cleaning behind the fridge. It’s often overlooked but a prerequisite to a thorough spring refresh. You can also use Offline Identity Append to append missing identifiers to improve match rates, boost data accuracy, and ensure addressability so that when summer campaigns launch, you’re ready to confidently meet your audience where they are. Digital resolution via Digital Graph This next step is like replacing your air filter each spring. You won’t see it, but you’ll definitely feel the difference in performance. Digital resolution ensures persistent, accurate targeting across devices and channels in a fragmented omnichannel environment. Experian’s Digital Graph facilitates easy consumer identification and connection across the digital ecosystem. Our graph links digital identifiers like mobile ad IDs (MAIDs), connected TV IDs, and hashed emails to consumer profiles. So, when a customer interacts on a smartphone, a smart TV, and a laptop browser, those actions can all be tied back to the same individual or household in your database. Collaborate securely in data clean rooms to close gaps Matching partner data within your own secure space, a trusted third-party clean room, or Experian’s privacy-safe environment is an essential next step in your marketing spring cleaning strategy. But what is a data clean room? A data clean room is a privacy-first way to enhance marketing data in a secure environment that allows brands and partners to match and analyze data without exposing personally identifiable information. It’s almost like organizing a shared closet. You both bring what you have, sort it safely, and leave with something more valuable without mixing up or exposing what’s personal. Secure collaboration enriches your understanding of consumers, boosts match rates, and ensures the highest data security standards. Here are key data challenges you can tackle through data collaboration—whether in a clean room or across your broader data strategy. Lack of insights or usable data Without third-party cookies, marketers run the risk of losing valuable consumer insights. Collaborating with key partners lets brands enrich their first-party data and obtain a more comprehensive view of customer behaviors for informed decision-making. Let’s say, for example, that an advertiser with sales data but no exposure data struggles to attribute sales to specific campaigns. By collaborating securely with a measurement partner who provides exposure data, the advertiser can confidently link sales to ad exposure and optimize future campaigns with an understanding of who saw their ad and made a purchase. We anticipate that data collaboration will be a key marketing trend in 2025 alongside signal loss. Low or no match rates When businesses handle matching internally, discrepancies like name variations (e.g., John Doe vs. Jonathan Doe) or mismatched identifiers (hashed emails vs. MAIDs) often result in poor match rates. Experian’s identity resolution capabilities, meticulous hygiene processes, resolution logic, and comprehensive identity graphs significantly enhance these match rates. For example, if a data provider had physical addresses and a demand-side platform (DSP) had email addresses, they couldn’t collaborate with different identifiers. Using Experian Collaboration, however, their data could be resolved with offline identity data from our graph, enabling them to share their collaboration data and improve their marketing efforts. Data security When it comes to data collaboration, protecting your proprietary and customer information is non-negotiable. That’s why Experian operates with some of the industry\’s strictest data security, privacy, and compliance protocols. We support identity resolution and data collaboration within the most secure environments available — data clean rooms built to prevent sensitive customer data from ever being exposed. Instead of moving or sharing your raw data, we ensure all records are anonymized before any analysis occurs. Additionally, Experian’s clean room integrations with trusted partners give clients flexibility without compromising compliance. All solutions are designed to meet GDPR, CCPA, and industry-specific data governance standards, with full audit trails and customizable access controls. Connect and activate Once your data is clean, enriched, and resolved, the next step is to activate it efficiently across the channels where your audiences spend time. This step is like putting everything back in place after a deep clean so everything is functional, easy to access, and ready to deliver results. As you get ready to put your spring marketing ideas into motion, it’s time to streamline your activation approach and make sure your customer data is working hard for you. First-Party Onboarding With Experian First-Party Onboarding, you can ship data where needed using flexible data solutions for your activation strategy. This step is like labeling and organizing your freshly cleaned marketing closet, so each audience segment is ready to deploy wherever you need it. We make it easy to: Understand your customers on a deeper level Seamlessly onboard your customer data for use across programmatic, social, and advanced TV platforms Combine your first-party data with Experian syndicated audiences for enriched targeting Deliver those audiences to any destination that accepts Experian Audiences — whether a DSP, social platform, or publisher Increase match rates, extend reach, and lower activation costs Transact in the ecosystem with the Experian ID To aid in the activation process, Experian ID is a unified identifier that acts as a privacy-safe bridge between fragmented emails, device IDs, and addresses, helping you activate audiences across all media channels. Experian ID keeps your data protected and connected whether you send it to DSPs, social platforms, or data clean rooms. This allows for secure activation and performance tracking across the ecosystem without exposing personally identifiable information (PII). Like sealing and storing your seasonal belongings in airtight containers, Experian ID keeps your data clean, safe, and always ready for use. Use fresh audience insights to inform segmentation After deep-cleaning your data, enriching profiles, and resolving identities, you’ll want to ensure your segmentation reflects that renewed foundation. Just like clearing expired ingredients from your pantry, spring is an ideal time to toss outdated audience definitions and replace them with insights that are fresh, relevant, and ready to perform. With Experian’s modern audience tools, you can create smarter segments, power omnichannel strategies, and continue reaching high-value consumers even in cookieless environments. Our marketing data management tools make it easy to: Build detailed, personalized profiles using over 5,000+ behavioral and lifestyle marketing attributes that go far beyond basic demographics. Choose from 2,400+ pre-built syndicated segments or collaborate with Experian to create custom audiences tailored to your KPIs and campaign goals. Append fresh attributes to your CRM to keep profiles accurate, performance-ready, and reflective of current consumer behaviors and life stages. Together, these tools help sharpen your segmentation strategy and ensure up-to-date audience insights power every campaign. Let’s break down how smart combinations and contextual precision can further elevate your segmentation. Combine our identity graphs and Marketing Attributes for sharper targeting Combining Experian’s identity graphs with Marketing Attributes gives you both the who and the why behind your audience and helps you act on that insight with precision. It’s like giving your closet a total spring refresh — not just purging what doesn’t fit but also organizing what’s left into ready-to-wear outfits. Digital Graph + Marketing Attributes: Link real-time digital behavior (like CTV, mobile, or web activity) with rich consumer insights to create segments that perform across channels, from mobile to CTV to social. Offline Graph + Marketing Attributes: Tie persistent offline identifiers like name and address to behavioral and lifestyle data, making it easier to plan full-funnel strategies from direct mail to digital display. This approach gives you the clarity and flexibility to build richer personas, reach more qualified audiences, and target with confidence across any environment. Activate smarter with Contextually-Indexed Audiences Spring cleaning your strategy also means letting go of legacy tools, especially those relying on cookies or outdated tracking methods. With Experian’s Contextually-Indexed Audiences, you can reach consumers based on the content they’re engaging with, not their identifiers. We map millions of websites to real audience segments so you can target high-intent consumers in a privacy-safe, way. For example, an automotive brand looking to reach high-intent luxury EV shoppers can activate Experian’s “in-market for a luxury electric car” segment. With contextually-indexed targeting, that brand’s ads will appear on websites that over-index for visitors in that audience — such as premium car review sites or sustainability-focused blogs — without relying on user identifiers. This allows the brand to scale performance safely and efficiently in cookieless environments while achieving strong engagement metrics. Activate across channels with confidence After refreshing your data, segmentation, and partner strategies, the final step in your spring cleaning is putting all that prep work into action — efficiently and at scale. Think of this as your final sweep: optimizing where and how you activate your audience to ensure every touchpoint is aligned, accurate, and impactful. With your updated segments and sharpened identity framework in place, you can reach consumers across display, mobile, connected TV (CTV), and emerging digital channels. Experian provides the tools to activate seamlessly — backed by privacy-safe, high-quality data and flexible integration options. Third-Party Onboarding: Expand reach with external data sets Experian’s Third-Party Onboarding capabilities make it easy for brands to augment their first-party data strategies on their preferred activation platforms with easy access to high-quality, activation-ready third-party audiences. For you, this means you no longer have to manage the onboarding process yourself or worry about compatibility. Instead, you can: Enhance your first-party targeting with third-party data that’s already privacy-safe and activation-ready. Reach more qualified consumers by layering in external behavioral, lifestyle, or intent signals. Maximize scale across your preferred platforms using Experian’s established integrations and ecosystem support. With Experian as your trusted partner, your audience strategy becomes more flexible, more scalable, and more effective, giving you the power to engage the right consumers beyond your own CRM. Start preparing now for summer campaigns You’ve cleared out the clutter, restocked your toolkit, and optimized your data strategy, and now, you’re ready to get ahead of the summer rush. While summer is go-time for high-impact marketing campaigns, now is the time to clean, organize, and prepare. Another reason to start now? Tariffs, inflationary pressures, and changing consumer confidence are already impacting product demand, budget planning, and go-to-market strategies for the rest of the year. Brands need to be ready and agile in the face of economic turbulence. So, think of this as your final recap checklist before the season (and the economy) changes: a set of intentional steps that ensure all your prep work translates into real performance when it counts. Start now to: Cleanse and enrich your data: Make sure outdated records don’t weigh down your summer outreach. Refresh profiles with Experian’s latest attributes to stay aligned with consumer behavior. Solidify your identity resolution strategy: Transition to persistent, privacy-safe identifiers like Experian’s unified ID to maintain addressability across devices and channels. Collaborate with key partners: Run pilot campaigns with trusted collaborators to augment your data and maximize scale ahead of peak season. Refresh audience segments: Update personas and segments based on the latest data insights. Trial omnichannel strategies: Use spring to test messaging across display, CTV, social, and mobile so your summer creative hits with precision. Confirm measurement readiness: Double-check attribution and analytics tools so you can optimize in real time and prove ROI. Tailor creative to the season: From backyard barbecues to road trips, ensure your messaging taps into the themes and activities consumers care about most this summer. Spring is the warm-up. Summer is the performance. Start today to improve your marketing data management and overall strategy, and you’ll be ready to hit the ground running. Let’s plan your seasonal strategy together Whether you’re looking for more spring marketing ideas or want to launch a high-impact summer campaign, Experian is ready to help. From strategy to segmentation and data clean rooms to real-time activation, we partner with you to build a marketing engine that performs now and keeps growing through the seasons. Connect with us today, and let’s turn your seasonal refresh into long-term momentum. Get in touch Latest posts

Retail media networks (RMNs) are on the brink of a major shift. While they are poised to capture over 20% of ad spend in 2025, on-site monetization won\’t be the growth driver it once was. With advertisers consolidating spend among just six or seven RMNs on average, including giants like Amazon and Walmart, it’s hard for smaller RMNs to compete. Off-site retail media ad spend is projected to grow 42.1% in 2025—nearly three times the rate of on-site growth (15.1%), according to eMarketer\’s November 2024 forecast. This dramatic shift underscores that while on-site placements are maturing, off-site is where the momentum (and money) is heading. To remain competitive, RMNs must move beyond traditional, on-site placements and embrace a broader, more integrated approach to media activation. The future of retail media is about utilizing enriched first-party data to drive performance across the open web, connected TV (CTV), and other digital channels. Break free from your owned and operated properties Historically, RMNs have limited ad placements to their own digital properties. While this approach has delivered high-margin returns—on-site ad margins can reach 70-90%, compared to 20-40% for off-site—it’s also inherently limiting. Retailers only have so much owned inventory to sell, and advertisers demand greater scale and flexibility. As brands push for more reach, RMNs must extend their impact beyond owned-and-operated (O&O) properties. Omnichannel retail media ad spending is forecast to hit $61.2 billion in 2025. Brands are looking beyond retail sites to build integrated, multi-channel strategies that drive results across the funnel.eMarketer Off-site doesn’t just mean digital. Walmart’s recent expansion of its Fuel and Convenience stations – planning to open or remodel 45 in 2025, bringing the total to 450 – shows how physical spaces are also becoming extensions of a retailer’s media network. These locations create new touchpoints where advertisers can engage shoppers with timely, context-aware messaging while they fuel up or grab a snack. These quick-stop environments are ideal for limited-time offers or impulse-triggering messages—especially since 68% of U.S. adults say discounts contribute to their latest in-store impulse purchase. Maximize the value of first-party data One of retail media’s biggest promises is the power of first-party data for precision targeting. While on-site ads are inherently lower-funnel, off-site activation allows advertisers to move up the funnel and apply retailer customer data holistically across the open web. For example, DoorDash and Macy’s now offer self-service audience data to advertisers via The Trade Desk, allowing brands to target consumers programmatically. Meanwhile, Walmart is taking a different approach—cloning The Trade Desk’s technology to maintain its walled garden. These moves demonstrate how retailers are rethinking data monetization strategies to scale beyond O&O limitations. Drive new revenue streams with off-site activation Off-site activation enables RMNs to drive incremental reach on channels where audiences are actively engaging, including CTV, programmatic display, and social media. This expansion allows brands to connect with consumers beyond retail websites. Retailers are also utilizing non-endemic advertising opportunities in environments like gas stations and kiosks Unlike traditional grocery or apparel aisles, these spaces are brand-neutral, allowing advertisers who don’t sell products in-store to still activate campaigns using retailer data. In fact, 53% of brands have already partnered with a retailer that doesn’t carry their product, and that number is expected to grow as advertisers seek new ways to tap into retail media’s rich targeting capabilities. Retailers looking to extend the value of their data beyond O&O inventory have two primary off-site opportunities: First, they can use an identity graph to resolve customer identifiers into addressable IDs that can be enriched with additional attributes and activated across channels like the open web and CTV. This allows retailers to find and reach known customers with relevant messaging outside of their owned platforms. For example, a grocery RMN can identify lapsed snack buyers and deliver streaming TV ads that reengage them on CTV platforms. CTV retail media ad spending alone is expected to grow 43.1% this year, reaching $4.86 billion, highlighting the appetite for video-based upper-funnel strategies. Second, RMNs can broaden reach by activating first-party audiences, syndicated segments, or custom-built audiences through onboarding capabilities. These audiences can be sent to a variety of programmatic and CTV destinations, enabling advertisers to engage shoppers in high-impact environments. For example, a home improvement retailer can send its audience segments to programmatic ad exchanges, ensuring DIY shoppers see relevant offers even while browsing unrelated sites. Together, these approaches allow retailers to monetize their data more effectively while giving brands the ability to reach consumers in moments that matter beyond just retail websites and apps. Scale and measure success with data partnerships For smaller RMNs to compete with larger players, they need more than just inventory—they need the ability to scale campaigns and prove performance. Data partnerships play a critical role in both expansion and measurement. Measurement remains one of the biggest challenges for RMNs moving off-site. On-site retail media offers closed-loop attribution, but off-site activations introduce complexity. Retailers can work with an identity resolution partner like Experian to connect ad exposures to actual retail outcomes, such as store visits or purchases, across digital and physical environments. Whether it\’s through pixels placed on campaign ads or TV impression logs, these connections help RMNs demonstrate real impact. This approach helps unify disparate data—such as a CTV ad exposure and a subsequent online or in-store purchase—into a clear, measurable outcome. These insights not only show what’s working, but help RMNs optimize future campaigns and provide advertisers with transparent, third-party-validated reporting. As retailers like Walmart integrate loyalty programs like Walmart+ into their physical extensions, they gain valuable behavioral insights into how customers shop across formats—from fueling up to filling carts. These data signals help refine identity graphs and improve measurement across increasingly hybrid consumer journeys. Beyond ads: The data monetization opportunity Smaller RMNs may struggle to scale ad-supported revenue, but there’s another path forward: Data-as-a-Service (DaaS). Providing anonymized, privacy-compliant audience insights to brands offers a high-margin, scalable revenue stream. In fact, some retailers are already embracing this model by licensing their data to programmatic platforms. A playbook for smaller RMNs to win off-site The future of retail media belongs to those who harness data to influence consumer behavior across all digital marketing channels. To succeed, RMNs should focus on: Moving beyond owned inventory: Activate first-party data across CTV, social, and programmatic channels to meet advertisers where their audiences are. Expanding reach through partnerships: Collaborate with identity resolution providers to maximize match rates and campaign effectiveness. Building a full-funnel offering: Position off-site retail media as a brand-building play, tapping into ad budgets that traditionally fund upper-funnel campaigns. Monetizing data, not just ads: Explore DaaS models to generate passive revenue. The time to move off-site is now Retailers that wait too long to embrace off-site activation risk falling behind. Those that expand beyond their owned inventory, invest in off-site data strategies, and build strategic partnerships will be the ones that shape the future of retail media. Experian isn’t just part of the RMN conversation. We’re driving it. Let’s talk. Connect with our team Latest posts

Not all customers are the same, so why waste your budget marketing to them like they are? McKinsey research shows that 71% of consumers want personalized shopping experiences, and 76% get frustrated when they don’t have them. That’s where demographic segmentation comes in. But what is demographic segmentation, exactly? We define it as a process that helps you categorize your audience into meaningful demographic groups so you can reach the right people with impactful custom messages. Businesses across industries are partnering with Experian to power smarter decisions and better results through solutions like demographic segmentation — but what does this look like in action? This article breaks down five real-world demographic segmentation examples, showing how businesses have worked with us to drive measurable success so you can see exactly how it can work for you. What is demographic segmentation? Demographic segmentation involves dividing your audience into smaller, more specific groups based on shared demographics like income, education, gender, job, family status, and more to gain a more granular understanding of your brand’s target segments. The better you know your audience, the better you speak to their unique needs — and the more effective your campaigns will be, as you’ll be able to target each segment with highly personalized content that resonates. For instance, a company might market a new tech gadget to young adults in one way while promoting the same product to families with young children in a completely different way, ensuring the message speaks to each group’s lifestyle and priorities. Demographic segmentation attributes Some of the most common attributes used in demographic segmentation include: Age Each age group has different wants and needs. A new video game might catch the eye of teenagers, while a retirement plan is more likely to appeal to someone in their 50s or 60s. Gender Gender impacts preference for certain products, from fashion to gadgets, so knowing who you’re talking to helps make your marketing more relevant. Income Someone with a higher income might be more likely to purchase premium products, while someone on a budget will respond better to discounts or value-based offers. Education The level of education a person has can influence what kind of messaging will resonate with them, whether it’s complex or more straightforward. Occupation A marketing message targeting busy professionals might differ from one aimed at students or retirees. Occupation can tell you what’s important to a person in terms of their needs and lifestyle. Family Status A family with young kids likely has different priorities than a single person or a couple without children. You can adapt your messaging to be more relevant to what matters most to them, like convenience or value. Benefits of using demographic segmentation Demographic segmentation offers several valuable benefits for marketers. Here’s why it’s one of the most commonly used and effective ways to target audiences: Improved targeting and personalization: Demographic segmentation powers highly customized campaigns so you can cater to different income levels, family structures, job types, and so forth. B2C brands can provide offers based on factors like age, income, and gender, while B2B brands can target by occupation to reach decision-makers. Better product and service development: Understanding which demographics use your product or service is a great way to inform future improvements. Higher engagement: With highly customized content, you can speak directly to specific demographic groups and increase engagement. Cost efficiency: As you target the most relevant segments, you optimize your spending around the most likely buyers and will see better returns. Increased conversion and retention: Relevant, targeted messaging leads to higher conversion rates, and when people feel understood, they’ll want to keep coming back. Clearer customer insights: Demographic data provides precise, actionable insights for refining your marketing strategy. Simplicity and effectiveness: Demographic insights are immediately actionable and easy to implement, which gives you a great starting point for focused campaigns. When to use other segmentation types While demographic segmentation provides valuable consumer insights, there are times when other approaches may offer a more effective strategy: Your business provides location-dependent services. If you strictly serve a local area, geographic segmentation would be more effective in targeting customers based on location. Your business offers hobby-centric products or services. Psychographic segmentation (based on interests, lifestyle, or values) may be more relevant than demographics alone for products related to specific interests or hobbies. You have access to detailed behavioral data. If you collect data on customer behavior (like browsing history or purchase patterns), behavioral segmentation would allow for more personalized targeting than demographics. You\’re selling high-end luxury products. While income is a useful demographic variable, psychographic factors like values, aspirations, and lifestyle better capture the desires of luxury consumers. Your target audience shares similar behaviors, regardless of demographic factors. Behavioral or psychographic segmentation might offer more insight if your customers engage with your product or service based on shared behaviors rather than demographic traits. Your product or service targets specific needs or pain points. Segmenting by need or issue rather than traditional demographic variables would likely yield better results if you\’re offering a solution to a particular problem (like a health-related product). How our customers are using demographic segmentation to produce tangible results Demographic segmentation is about knowing your audience and using data to create marketing strategies that drive measurable outcomes. Let’s look at some real-world use cases from brands like yours that have been successful in this effort, working with Experian to translate demographic insights into significant business growth. Use case #1: Identifying customer spending potential to boost growth for a retail chain Objective A large retail chain wanted to understand the spending potential of each customer in their stores. Their goal was to uncover and maximize untapped spending potential. Solution Experian conducted an analysis to identify the top demographic factors that drove spending in the retail store the previous year. Our consultants found the four key drivers were: Age Income Family structure (household composition) Location/region Results By combining these attributes to create segments, we uncovered two valuable annual estimates: Potential spend: A conservative estimate of how much a customer could spend if they reached the top 20% of spenders within their specific demographic segment (based on data from the highest spenders). Unrealized spend: The difference between a customer\’s annual potential spend and their current spend. An estimate of how much more they could be spending each year. These demographic segments provided the marketing strategy the retail chain used to target $1.1 billion in unrealized spend. This revealed how much additional revenue could be captured by targeting the right customers with tailored marketing and offers through demographic segmentation. Use case #2: Helping a financial institution identify regional DE&I opportunities Objective A large financial institution needed help identifying regional diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) opportunities. They wanted to better prioritize their outreach to underserved communities in the Los Angeles area. Solution Experian\’s Custom Analytics team provided the data and insights to pinpoint specific areas needing attention. We used three key indices to analyze the region: Income index: Measured each underserved economic group by comparing the percentage of low-to-moderate income consumers against the entire L.A. area. Ethnicity index: Measured the percentage of consumers by ethnicity, such as African-American, Hispanic, Asian, and others, against the entire L.A. area. Credit index: Identified potential credit disparities by looking at the average FICO score and the percentage of customers with credit accounts against the entire L.A. area. Results Our client received an analytics dashboard to track and report these metrics, providing clear, traceable data to prioritize DE&I outreach. This dashboard helped them measure progress toward more inclusive practices. Use case #3: Segmenting a health supplement ambassador program for enhanced engagement Objective A health supplement company wanted to identify specific segments within their ambassador program to provide better support and increase engagement. Solution Experian’s Custom Analytics team developed tailored customer segments to address specific needs and behaviors. These segments included: Young and independent: Younger, lower-income singles or starter households who are just beginning to establish their own lives. Families with ends to meet: Young and middle-aged families with kids who are budget-conscious, often using coupons and enjoying fast food. High-end families: Middle-aged families with kids and high incomes, financially secure big spenders who also give to charities. Empty nesters: Older households with no kids who focus on cooking at home and may have more disposable income. Results Segmenting at registration allowed for more effective communication and engagement with prospects. Customized messaging, guided by customer demographics and purchasing behaviors, improved acquisition and retention by helping the right messages reach the appropriate individuals through their preferred channels. Use case #4: Comparing customer bases: Insights for a retailer across two cities Objective A national retailer with locations in two major cities (their home base city and a recent expansion city) wanted to understand how different their customer base was in each city. They aimed to uncover key demographic and behavioral differences to refine their marketing strategies and ensure each location received the most relevant messaging and promotions. Solution Experian’s Custom Analytics team analyzed each city’s customers across a wide range of characteristics:. Demographics: The expansion city had a younger population with more families, while the home base city had an older and more established customer base. Purchasing behavior: Customers in the expansion city spent more per transaction than those in the home base city. Preferred marketing approach: Customers in the home base city were likelier to be Brand Loyalists, responding well to familiar, trust-driven messaging. Shoppers in the expansion city were Savvy Researchers who responded better to value-based content and product comparisons. Results Using these insights, the retailer tailored its marketing approach to align with each location’s customer base: Home base city: Focused on maintaining loyalty by emphasizing brand trust and highlighting long-term customer benefits. Expansion city: Positioned marketing to appeal to younger, family-focused consumers to showcase high-value purchases and competitive pricing These adjustments led to improved engagement and higher sales in both cities. Use case #5: Optimizing direct mail to help a nationwide retailer maximize impact on a limited budget Objective Facing a shrinking marketing budget, a nationwide retailer needed to refine their direct mail strategy to reach the right customers while reducing costs. Solution Experian’s Custom Analytics team developed a comprehensive dashboard summarizing two dozen recent direct mail campaigns, which allowed the retailer to: Understand the demographic composition of high-response customers across different regions. Identify key patterns in response rates, helping them pinpoint the most receptive audiences. Discover that the Power Elite Mosaic Group representing affluent, high-spending households comprised only 17% of their mailed audience but accounted for 47% of responses. Results With these insights, the retailer restructured their direct mail strategy to target the highest-performing segments. Changes like these led to a 30% reduction in mailing costs while retaining 92% of sales, proving that strategic segmentation can drive efficiency without sacrificing revenue. Explore demographic segmentation with Experian’s Analytics Consulting team Now that we’ve provided a demographic segmentation definition and given you some real-world demographic segmentation examples, it’s time to get a deeper understanding of your audience. Our experienced consultants utilize Experian Marketing Data to create the demographic segments you need to enhance targeting and uncover hidden opportunities. Key features Expertise and experience: Our consultants bring a wealth of analytic knowledge and industry expertise, so you can utilize the latest techniques and best practices. Customized solutions: We provide tailored, custom solutions like demographic segmentation to address your specific needs and challenges. Data-driven insights: Our expertise in Experian Marketing Data quickly delivers valuable insights to optimize operations and identify new opportunities. Industry perspective: As external experts, our consultants offer the unbiased perspective necessary to see beyond internal biases and make objective decisions. Competitive advantage: Utilizing our analytic consultants gives your business a competitive edge by understanding market trends, customer behavior, and potential risks faster than your competitors. Connect with us today to see how our data and expertise can improve your targeting, personalization, and campaign performance. Connect with us Latest posts