The Black Friday roundup is the most predictable post in affiliate marketing. By lunchtime on the day there will be thousands of them, many listing exactly the same deals, and a handful with a reason to be trusted.
The shift
Black Friday falls on 27 November this year, with Cyber Monday on the 30th, and shoppers are not waiting for either. Infobip’s global research, published in September, found that nearly six in ten consumers will have started holiday shopping by early November, while only 19% wait until Black Friday week itself. It also found that 63.2% of consumers have used an AI assistant or chatbot while shopping in the past year, and among those willing to do so, 73.4% would use one to compare products and 67.8% to find deals. Adobe Analytics data, as cited by a UK retail guide, put UK online spending across Black Friday to Cyber Monday in 2025 at about $5 billion, up 4.6% on the year.
How it actually works
That changes what a good affiliate post is for. If shoppers start early and ask an assistant to compare products and find deals, a list of discounts is the part a machine does easily. What it can’t do is tell a reader whether a deal is genuinely good, whether the product suits them, or whether waiting another week would be smarter. Honest preparation means becoming the source people check a deal against, rather than one more list of links.
The honest complication
A few cautions. Infobip sells communications software and its survey is global, so treat the figures as an indication rather than a UK forecast. Black Friday also doesn’t convert every shopper: spending may simply shift from the main event to Christmas buying, and an honest recommendation sometimes means saying “don’t buy this”, which costs you a commission. Programme terms can also change during sales periods, so read yours before you promote anything.
The practical takeaway
Start now, not on the day. Choose a short list of products you would genuinely recommend, publish early and update as deals appear. Date-stamp every deal with when you checked it, and remove expired offers. Say who each deal is for and, just as importantly, who should skip it. Disclose affiliate links clearly. And if you have a mailing list, use it to tell subscribers what to watch for, not only what to buy.
The best Black Friday post isn’t the one with the most deals. It’s the one still trusted on 1 December.
Genuinely curious: do you plan your Black Friday content in advance, or wait for the deals to appear? Tell me in the comments.
