The Glossy Podcast – Special Crossover Episode: The Shopper’s Black Friday Playbook
Date: November 28, 2025
Host: Danny Parisi (Glossy)
Guests: Gabby Barco (Modern Retail Podcast), Lexi Lebsack (Glossy Beauty Podcast)
Overview
This special crossover episode brings together hosts from Glossy, Modern Retail, and Glossy Beauty to deliver a multifaceted discussion about Black Friday shopping behaviors, industry trends, and evolving brand strategies. Blending personal anecdotes and professional insights, the trio explores how consumers and brands are navigating the current economic climate, the proliferation of deals, innovative marketing campaigns, and the increasing impact of technology—especially AI—on holiday shopping.
Personal Black Friday Approaches & Changing Consumer Behavior
Personal Shopping Habits
- Shift to Early/Less Shopping:
- All three hosts note a personal move away from Black Friday itself, with deals now spread out over the fall and a focus on more deliberate, considered purchases.
- Considered vs. Impulse Purchases:
- Lexi: Now reserves Black Friday for considered, bigger-ticket items, e.g., "I bought a leather jacket on a great discount that I already wanted..." [03:32]
- Danny: Keeps running lists year-round of things he wants for himself and as gifts, checks those for deals rather than acting on impulse.
- Gabby: Avoids impulse excess, prefers to "sit on items before checking out," researches reviews, and shies away from mall visits [06:47].
- Less In-Store Shopping, More Online:
- Lexi: "99% of all of my Black Friday purchases have been online." [07:15]
- Danny: Finds returns a chore and thus exercises caution before purchase.
- Cart Strategy & Family Traditions:
- Gabby: Fills digital carts in advance and reviews with family, making the final decision during the holiday downtime. [04:50]
Economic Context & Macro Trends
Conflicting Data and Recession Anxiety
- Holiday Sales Still Rising:
- Despite economic anxieties, holiday sales hit $994.1 billion in 2024, up 4% YoY (NRF/Census Bureau). [12:29]
- Lexi: "People love to shop. People are not giving up their holidays. We know that culturally this is...most important." [11:33]
Inflation, Tariffs, & Pricing
- Discount Depths and Price Increases:
- Danny: Many brands are offering either "shallower discounts or have raised their prices" due to tariffs and inflation, blunting real savings. [09:29]
- Gabby: Wonders if brands will drop prices if tariffs are overturned—skeptical: “Something tells me probably not.” [10:34]
Rising Debt & Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)
- BNPL on the Rise:
- “Half of American consumers might use Buy Now Pay later this holiday season, which is higher than usual." – Danny [13:26]
- Gabby: Notes BNPL’s popularity among young shoppers—“A lot of people are defaulting on their loans and it tends to to skew young..." [14:15]
Gift Guides, Catalogs, and the Influence of AI
Explosion of Gift Guides
- Convergence of Print & Digital:
- Danny: Both print catalogs (Nordstrom, Amazon) and digital guides are flooding the market. “Print catalogs are back and Amazon is doing a catalog.” [15:28]
- Lexi: Brands pay to be included in both print catalogs and online guides, and affiliate revenue is a driver for publications. [21:59]
AI's Role in Shopping
- AI-Generated Gift Guides:
- Danny: AI like ChatGPT is "generating their own gift guides now too" and affecting how brands optimize for online discovery. [15:28]
- Lexi: Market saturation with influencer and affiliate guides, but physical catalogs offer nostalgic, tangible differentiation.
Notable Quote
- “There's just so many [gift guides] and so much of it is just an affiliate revenue play. That's why all the publications are doing it. It's so low lift.” – Lexi [20:34]
Brand Strategies: Discounts, Experiences, and Value-Adds
Discount-Averse & Experiential Campaigns
-
Non-Discount Approaches:
- Some brands make a virtue out of not discounting on Black Friday (e.g., Freytag, REI, Patagonia), positioning their restraint as a brand value—even if they offer “quiet” discounts before the weekend. [26:58]
-
Experiential/IRL Strategies:
- Scent-Based Marketing:
- Nest and Bath and Body Works “scenting” public spaces (Fifth Ave, Grand Central, movie theaters) to create immersive holiday experiences. [23:25]
- Scentbird and Givenchy’s scented SoHo corner pop-up.
- KitchenAid’s New York showroom as a bookable dining and experience space.
- Scent-Based Marketing:
-
Creative Collaborations/Advent Calendars:
- Limited edition collaborations—Josh Sellers Prosecco & candle set, beauty advent calendars (Diptyque, Dior, pet brands) as upsell/gifting opportunities. [30:52]
- Lexi: Beach Waiver’s “32 days of she Slays” collaborative campaign—live social video with a different female-founded brand each day. [28:41]
-
Staged/Tiered Perks:
- Tiered gifts with purchase (GWP) for increasing cart values: “A lot of them are…tiered where you’ll have like over $50, over $100, over $200 and the gift with purchases just keep getting better…” – Lexi [28:41]
- Staggering discounts, early access for loyalty program members, or app users to reward biggest spenders and manage fulfillment. [34:43]
-
Memorable Moment:
- Danny shares a pitch: “Smoke weed and win a Birkin.” Spend $100 at Sweet Life Cannabis Dispensary to enter a raffle for a Birkin bag. [33:32]
Technology, Loyalty, and Gamification
App-based & Loyalty-Driven Engagement
- App Rewards, Early Access, Gamification:
- Power shoppers incentivized via exclusive early sales, app notifications, and rewards programs. [34:43]
- Gabby: “These tiered rewards programs…they’re really trying to literally reward the power shoppers or the biggest spenders with the early sales…” [34:43]
- Staggered and extended sales help with warehouse fulfillment challenges. [37:37]
Beauty Industry Specifics
- Staggered Drops and Gift Card Capitalization:
- Brands timing new launches for Cyber Monday or post-Christmas to capture gift card redemptions. [39:07]
- Gift cards present a windfall for brands—“$20 billion worth of…gift cards just don’t get spent, which, for the brands, is, like, free money.” – Danny [40:02]
Lightning Round: What Are the Hosts Shopping For? [41:25–44:41]
- Danny: Japanese hand towels (import costs and tariffs a new challenge).
- Lexi: A new mattress (“one of those purchases that makes sense to do right now”) and possibly a health tracker; prefers to give homemade baked goods as gifts.
- Gabby: Self-gifting, hunting for a new wool/cashmere coat that’s not “Max Mara out-of-budget,” switching to white elephant exchanges in family gift-giving.
Notable Quotes:
- “Consumable holiday gifts are great because then when they’re done, you don’t need to find a place to store them.” – Danny [43:31]
- “It’s a very much like a purge one, buy one. Like, I literally have to get rid of things to buy new things.” – Gabby [44:09]
Notable Quotes
- “People love to shop. People are not giving up their holidays. We know that culturally this is...most important.” — Lexi [11:33]
- “If you can get into a lot of different gift guides, that I think makes it more likely that you show up when somebody’s searching for deals through ChatGPT…” — Danny [18:39]
- “Brands have to have these sort of ways to reduce friction, to get people shopping faster, to remind them of their carts, to give them rewards and GWPs...” — Lexi [35:30]
- “$20 billion worth of, you know, gift cards just don’t get spent, which, for the brands, is, like, free money.” — Danny [40:02]
Key Takeaways
- Black Friday isn’t just about aggressive discounts anymore. Brands are trying non-discount experiential marketing, collaborations, and creative perks to stand out as consumer caution rises.
- Economic headwinds are real but not killing holiday retail. Despite recession fears, inflation, rising debt, and BNPL’s proliferation, shoppers continue to spend, with record retail sales.
- **Gift guides, both digital and analog, are booming—**driven by affiliate revenue, AI’s influence, and a nostalgic revival of catalogs.
- Loyalty and gamification are critical. Brands are leveraging apps, rewards, and staggered promotions to retain valuable customers and smooth out operational bottlenecks.
- Shoppers are more considered and less impulsive. Across the board, consumers are being thoughtful—filling carts early, researching, leveraging sales only for planned purchases, and shifting their gifting habits accordingly.