A quarter of e-commerce marketers are failing to personalise offers during Black Friday, despite almost all recognising it as essential for success, new research has shown.

The study by AI-powered Lifecycle Engagement Platform SALESmanago surveyed more than 150 marketing leaders across the UK, Germany, Spain and Poland. It found that 27% of marketers admit struggling to tailor offers during the industry’s most competitive period. Other challenges include converting new customers into repeat buyers (25%) and acting too slowly on real-time data (24%).

Execution pressures are high, with 47% of marketers describing themselves as time-poor or “just about coping” during peak retail periods. Yet personalisation is delivering measurable benefits: 51% report improved customer retention, 46% see higher engagement, and 41% cite increased revenue.

Looking ahead, over a third (37%) plan to introduce new personalisation tactics in 2026, focusing on customer journey mapping (43%) and advanced visualisation tools (45%) to improve speed, automation, and real-time decision-making.