More sales, more impact: Why purpose-driven brands shouldn't ignore Black Friday

As the euphoric effects of Thanksgiving dinner linger, retailers worldwide prepare for their biggest sales of the year—kicking off a weekend-long consumerist frenzy. For purpose-driven brands, this presents an ethical dilemma. How can they capture attention during Black Friday without betraying core values?

“It's a logical thing for a sustainable brand to say, ‘Fuck Black Friday, we're not going to do this,’” says MUD Jeans’ head of marketing, Stephan Zeijlemaker.

But opting out of Black Friday and Cyber Monday altogether is often not an option for independent retailers.

Among Shopify merchants, 70%* say attracting customers is a top pain point. This is a time when consumers are primed for engagement, presenting an opportunity for purpose-driven brands to not only find new customers—but also amplify their influence and mission.

Seizing this moment is critical. Sustainable and ethical brands that strike the right balance between meeting consumer expectations and staying true to values can see lasting effects beyond Black Friday.

Legacy brands lead the movement 

Consumer behavior is changing: 40%* of Shopify merchants have observed an uptick in price sensitivity and 45% are seeing an increased interest in discounts.

At the same time, the desire to support ethical brands and purchase sustainable products is growing. More than one in five consumers** say they plan to shop sustainably this holiday shopping season. This jumps to 26% in the U.S. and 30% in Spain. Converting those good intentions into action while competing with slashed prices elsewhere is no small feat. But the busiest shopping moment of the year is the best time to try.

Offering discounts is a way to connect these conflicting sentiments, giving shoppers an affordable entry into the world of conscious consumerism. 

But discounts aren’t the only way to opt in. Take one of the most popular examples. REI launched its award-winning #optoutside campaign in 2015 and has been a staple ever since. The campaign has proved incredibly successful, leading to a massive spike in brand awareness through user-generated content.

Donations > discounts

Arguably, established brands like REI can more easily afford to opt out. Where does this leave smaller businesses? Not going on sale is risky during a time when consumers expect it. But a campaign focused on company values can be an effective alternative for the conscious consumer. 

Adventurist Backpack Co. took a chance with its customer base when it put an altruistic spin on Black Friday. It’s a natural fit. Founders Kelly Belknap and Matilda Sandstroem explained that giving back is already baked into the brand's DNA. For every backpack sold all year round, Adventurist donates 25 meals to families in need via its partnership with Feeding America.

In this spirit, Kelly and Matilda amped up their giving efforts for Black Friday in 2023. They still donated 25 meals, but also partnered with a local school to donate a backpack for every bag sold. The campaign not only resulted in good brand karma, it also attracted customers. “They are really happy to be able to give back both on a national level and locally here in the community,” says Matilda. “There's always a burst of sales.”

The success of their Black Friday efforts prompted the couple to run it again in 2024, this time expanding to more schools in the area. 

Denim brand gets back to black

Still, some brands opt to shut their doors completely over Black Friday. Until this year, MUD Jeans was one of them. The circular denim brand has made its name in Europe over the past decade by producing jeans with a fraction of the water compared to conventional denim production.

Currently, MUD Jeans’ products are also made with 40-70% recycled cotton from donated jeans with an ambitious plan to make jeans using no new cotton. With this mission in mind, it made sense for MUD Jeans to approach Black Friday differently. In past years, the brand shut down its own site and partnered with Mended to sell vintage denim for the day.

This year, MUD Jeans has changed its stance. Industry veteran and newly appointed head of marketing Stephan Zeijlemaker is behind this decision. He doesn’t agree with taking away the customer’s choice to buy sustainably. “The goal of a company like this is to make impact and also earn money, of course,” he says. “If we sell a thousand pairs extra, we will make more impact.”

Participating in a mainstream event (even in Europe where Black Friday is growing) means gaining more traction outside the brand’s core audience. “Life has become very expensive,” says Stephan. “If we don't do it, people will buy Wrangler or Levi's”.

Aside from its move to participate in discounts, the brand is also making changes to its design and marketing strategies to attract a new type of customer. “The light green consumer is less inclined to buy into the sustainable arguments,” says Stephan. 

Black Friday is a chance to grow reach outside a brand’s typical audience. While deals might seem at odds with values, it presents a rare opportunity to change someone’s mind and win a customer for life.

Creative cause-driven campaigns win headlines 

It’s easy to get lost in the flood of emails hitting consumers’ mailboxes in November. Purpose-driven brands have a unique opportunity to stand out with creative campaigns that shine a light on their missions and generate buzz, getting in front of highly engaged audiences. This can have a lasting effect beyond Black Friday, as brands build goodwill and loyalty with new customers.

Freitag sells bags and backpacks made from used materials like discarded truck tarpaulins and seatbelts. While Black Friday doesn’t align with the brand’s mission of transitioning to a circular economy, it opted to participate in another way, offering a borrow-a-bag program that lets customers try their products for 2 weeks.

Similarly, B Corp brand Brompton Bicycle used the occasion to further its own mission of getting people out of cars and onto bikes. It launched “Black Ride Day,” giving the cycle-curious a chance to hop on a Brompton bike free of charge. The move generated press features, drawing attention to the brand—and the cause—just in time for the busy shopping season. 

Clever campaigns like these can go a long way with media. Both Freitag and Brompton Bicycle’s campaigns were picked up by industry publications. And, Adventurist Backpack Co. snagged pre-Black Friday features with CBS News and Forbes. “Publications want to spread a good news story,” says Kelly. “That helps drive a lot of awareness to the brand and the initiative.”

The right time to amplify impact is now

For brands like Adventurist Backpack Co., Black Friday opens a window of opportunity that should not be ignored. “As a small business, it's almost impossible to stay out of it completely,” says Matilda. “You're just going to get outdone by the bigger guys.”

Shopify’s suite of marketing tools can help purpose-driven brands compete with larger businesses, with automations that let lean teams achieve more. Merchants can promote Black Friday deals with Shop Campaigns, find compatible influencer partners through Shopify Collabs, and use the magic of AI to spin up clever campaign copy.

Making more sales on Black Friday means making more impact and, as these brands demonstrate, commerce can be a force for good all year round. 

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*Survey among 13,337 standard merchants from the U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain, conducted between May 29th and June 12th, 2024 by Shopify.

**Survey conducted among 18,000 consumers in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, the UK, and the US. The interviews were conducted online by Sapio Research in August 2024 using an email invitation and an online survey.