Retailer Pulse

What Turkey 12 revealed and what to do next

For any brand that views holiday as a critical tentpole event, the stretch from the week before Black Friday all the way through Cyber Monday is the moment when plans meet reality. This year, as in the past, Amazon set the pace for online retail by launching their Black Friday / Cyber Monday sale on 11/20, referring to these 12 days as “Turkey 12,” reaching $44 billion. While the broader eCommerce market grew, Market Performance Group clients outpaced the marketplace and delivered results significantly above Amazon’s baseline. We spoke with Bryson Buck, MPG Senior Director, eCommerce, for a deep dive on what Turkey 12 revealed and what it means for brand strategies moving forward.

Start us off with the scoreboard. How did MPG clients perform during Turkey 12 2025?

The headline is simple. We outpaced the market. While ecommerce grew 7.7% for Turkey 12, MPG clients grew 8.1% year over year and delivered results 15% above Amazon’s platform baseline. Two quick examples: In Beauty, a hair care & accessory brand participating in best deals and a deep Cyber Monday discount did 10.7x their weekly average and grew YoY by 14%. And over in Toys & Accessories, strike through pricing drove 10.8x vs. averages and their YoY T12 was +17%!

Despite 64% of consumers reporting price sensitivity and a units per transaction decline of 2% across the market, we still landed extremely strong performance across the board.

Under the hood, fouf client signals stand out:

1.7x revenue multiplier versus the trailing four-week baseline.

2x lift on deal supported inventory, which validates strategic promotional investment when it is aimed and measured.

Consumer Electronics led client subcategories with a 2.5x multiplier, capturing peak demand in a category that grew 12.8% market wide.

MPG Beauty clients saw especially strong results, in line with the fact that 38% of shoppers overall prioritized beauty purchases during Cyber Five.

Price sensitivity was high and units per transaction fell. How did you navigate that?

We took it as a constraint and a design brief. We focused on matching the offer to the moment. That meant targeted promotions where elasticity was clear, confidence messaging where friction was the barrier, and assortment choices that balanced depth with profitability. The result was growth above the market while protecting the fiscal health of the clients' businesses.

What changed most in how consumers discovered and bought during this period?

This year was an inflection point. The way shoppers found products and decided to buy looked very different from past cycles. AI discovery is replacing traditional search, mobile first design is now table stakes, and social commerce is no longer a side channel. Add in financing tools that reduce friction at checkout and you have a very different buyer journey than even a year ago.

We saw AI driven traffic surge >800%% year over year and convert at 38% higher rates than traditional sources. Plus, Amazon’s Rufus assistant saw purchase sessions double during the period. And mobile commerce grew even further. Mobile accounted for 57.5% of Cyber Monday sales, up 8% year over year.

Two other shifts stood out. Livestream commerce on TikTok Shop, which generated over $500 million during BFCM, with a 50% increase in unique shoppers. And Buy-Now-Pay-Later hit $1 billion on Cyber Monday alone, as shoppers were looking for payment flexibility.

You’ve said the old way of running Turkey 12 is obsolete. Can you talk a little more about that?

The approach that worked in 2024 does not fit the new reality. Three things have shifted.

First, AI discovery has replaced traditional search. Shoppers are not browsing in the same way. They are asking questions and expecting answers.

Second, mobile first is no longer optional. With almost six in ten Cyber Monday purchases on mobile, the entire experience has to be designed for that context.

Third, early deal participation has changed peak urgency. Close to 60% of shoppers participated in early deals, and nearly 30% reported reduced urgency during this year’s sale period. When demand is pulled forward, it changes the cadence, the message, and the way you build momentum. The question isn’t whether to adapt. It’s how quickly you can move.

Given that shift, what are the strategic priorities for 2026?

There are three imperatives that will separate leaders from the rest of the field.

AI first content architecture. Every product detail page should be optimized for algorithmic discovery across Rufus, ChatGPT, and Perplexity. Shoppers are asking questions. Your content must answer them directly. With AI traffic converting 38% higher than traditional sources, this is not optional. Think in terms of clear question and answer content, structured attributes, and benefit-led language that maps to what the assistants are likely to surface.

Full funnel marketing evolution. The promotional arms race is compressing margins and training customers to wait. With reduced urgency and a high percentage of shoppers in early deals, the cycle is not sustainable if you only dial the discount lever. The shift is from transaction optimization to brand equity building. Create lifetime value through content, engagement, and differentiated positioning that holds up when the discount disappears. Top performers are moving upstream, investing in discovery and consideration, not competing exclusively at conversion.

Promotional calendar evolution. Same insight, different lever. If early deals are pulling demand forward and softening urgency, then differentiation matters more. That means exclusive offers, strategic inventory allocation, and intentional separation between Prime Big Deal Days and Turkey 12 so you are not cannibalizing yourself.

For AI first content, what does good look like at the listing level?

Start with a simple principle. If a shopper asked an assistant a question about your product, would your page provide the answer in the first screen they see? That means: Titles and bullets that speak in natural language and map to the questions people ask. Rich yet scannable product descriptions that highlight outcomes, use cases, and differentiators. Structured attributes that make it easy for AI systems to understand who the product is for and when it is used. And clear comparisons that explain why yours is the better choice for a given scenario.

Most important, keep content fresh. If the AI models are learning from what people click and buy, then your job is to keep feeding the system with content that performs.

Social and mobile had big moments. How should brands respond to TikTok Shop and the mobile surge?

Follow the shopper. Mobile accounted for 57.5% of Cyber Monday sales. That means speed, clarity, and thumb friendly creative. Keep copy tight, make value obvious, and remove extra steps.

For TikTok Shop, the lesson is that livestream commerce is now a real demand engine. Seeing $500 million plus during BFCM and a 50% lift in unique shoppers. If your brand and category fit, test creator led formats and live events that bridge directly to purchase. It is not a replacement for marketplace presence. It is a complementary path that builds discovery and intent.

You talked about a shift from transactions to brand equity. How does that change day-to-day execution?

It changes where you invest and how you measure. Instead of chasing the cheapest click at the bottom of the funnel, you put more energy into the moments that build meaning and preference earlier in the journey. That means, priming discovery with short-form education and creator partners, reducing risk at consideration with setup guides and comparison explainers, simplifying conversion with clean offers and clear delivery promises, and growing post purchase value through community, content, and loyalty programs. Also critical: Give Prime Big Deal Days and Turkey 12 distinct roles so the shopping experiences are not interchangeable. Calendar separation and inventory planning drive incremental conversion rather than simply moving the same purchase earlier.

The point is to grow lifetime value. If you do that, margin improves because you are not paying to reacquire the same person every time you run a deal.

What is the mindset shift you want leaders to carry into 2026?

Celebrate the win. Then build on it. Beating the market is a win. Smashing it is the target. AI optimization, full funnel transformation, and platform diversification are not experiments. They are the roadmap.

Ready to put these lessons to work for 2026 planning and beyond? Connect with Bryson Buck at Bryson.buck@mpgllc.com and Danny Silverman at danny.silverman@mpgllc.com for a discussion tailored to your brand to show up where it matters and win the moments that count.