The Black Friday stress test for retailers: Is your tech ready?
By Genevieve Broadhead, Global Lead, Retail Solutions at MongoDB
With Black Friday approaching, the retail sector braces for a monumental annual surge in traffic and sales. For many retailers, this high-stakes event exposes a very stark divide: those ready with modernised, scalable technology, and those grappling with the limitations of legacy systems. It’s often a make-or-break day for brands. 84% of consumers say they are more likely to shop again after a positive Black Friday shopping experience.
The disparity is far more than just a tech issue. It’s a defining factor in customer experience, operational resilience, and ultimately, success. With customer expectations higher than ever, a minor glitch in web performance or downtime in an app can result in lost revenue and ultimately, long-term reputational harm.
The legacy tech struggle, exacerbated by the seasonal struggle
Retailers reliant on outdated tech face a perennial challenge during peak sales periods. Legacy systems often lack the flexibility and scalability required to handle surges in customer demand. The result? Teams find themselves on high alert, patching cracks in real-time and hoping their systems can withstand the pressure. This reactive approach leaves little room for innovation, forcing organisations to focus on survival, rather than growth.
Black Friday is not just a sales opportunity – it’s a stress test that reveals the vulnerabilities of tech infrastructure. Every performance hiccup can translate into frustrated customers, abandoned carts and lost revenue, and often, a tarnished brand reputation.
Having the right products in the right places
Retailers face mounting pressures: rising costs, calls for sustainability, and intense competition. AI, powered by advanced data analytics, has become indispensable for navigating these challenges and ensuring that the right products are available at the right time and place.
Consider a fashion retailer using AI to review sales trends, weather forecasts, and current styles to predict demand for jackets during the winter season. Or think of a grocery chain employing AI to monitor perishable inventory, automatically replenishing stock before shelves go bare. Vector search, a technology powered by large language models (LLMs), takes this capability even further. By analysing complex datasets, vector search uncovers intricate relationships between products and customers.
Generative AI amplifies these capabilities by interpreting unstructured data such as product descriptions, supplier PDFs, and images. It can even generate synthetic data to simulate market conditions, helping retailers anticipate trends and adapt proactively. This ensures a balanced inventory, avoiding the pitfalls of overstock or stockouts, while keeping sustainability goals intact.
The price is right
Price has emerged as the leading factor influencing UK consumer brand loyalty. However, determining the “right” price is a complex challenge. Especially on a day as competitive Black Friday.
Retailers must analyse vast amounts of data to understand consumer price sensitivity and the elasticity of demand for their products. AI enables data-driven pricing strategies by identifying the sweet spot where profitability and customer satisfaction intersect. For example, AI can dynamically adjust pricing based on competitor activity, demand fluctuations, or regional preferences, helping retailers remain competitive while protecting their margins.
For retailers still weighed down by legacy systems, the message is clear: the time to modernise is now. Waiting until the next Black Friday – or the next market shift – will only widen the gap between the leaders and the laggards. By investing in flexible, scalable, and reliable platforms, retailers can future-proof their operations and position themselves to thrive in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Black Friday isn’t just a test of sales strategies; it’s a test of technological readiness. Retailers that prepare now, bridging the tech divide, will be the ones to capture the loyalty of consumers and set the standard for the next era of e-commerce.
This Black Friday, the question isn’t whether customers will come – it’s whether your technology is ready to meet them.
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