November 2024 redefined e-commerce in Saudi Arabia. Black Friday weekend (Thursday-Sunday) generated $2.5 billion in online sales, a 34% increase from 2023. Performance marketing was the engine — 68% of transactions had a paid touchpoint in the customer journey.
For our e-commerce clients, preparation started in September. We built campaign structures with dedicated Black Friday ad sets, lookalike audiences from last year purchasers, and retargeting sequences for cart abandoners.
The most successful strategy was early access campaigns — offering VIP customers 24-hour early access to deals via email and WhatsApp, then retargeting the engaged segment with ads.
One fashion client generated 40% of their November revenue in the first 24 hours of early access. WhatsApp became the star channel: click-to-WhatsApp ads delivered 2.1X higher conversion than website traffic campaigns during the sale period.
The post-sale analysis revealed a critical insight: customers who engaged with multiple channels (email + WhatsApp + retargeting) had 3.4X higher AOV than single-channel customers.
