Black Friday as a Test of Maturity for Polish E-commerce – Commentary by Krzysztof Kuźbik for OOH Magazine

In a commentary published by OOH Magazine, Krzysztof Kuźbik, Partner at Avallon MBO, notes that Black Friday 2025 is becoming a test of operational, technological, and analytical maturity for Polish retail companies.

“Black Friday 2025 is a moment when competitive advantage is built not through aggressive discount policies, but through the ability to work precisely with data, forecast demand, optimize inventory, and seamlessly integrate sales channels. For many organizations, this is a practical test of process quality, the maturity of analytical systems, and their real readiness to scale,”  he emphasizes.

In his commentary, he highlights several key phenomena:

1. A more conscious and rational consumer
Black Friday is primarily a moment for executing previously planned purchases (electronics, home appliances/consumer electronics, fashion, beauty), with high price sensitivity and widespread use of comparison engines and price‑tracking tools.

2. The growing role of AI and hyper‑personalization
Retailers increasingly use recommendation engines, predictive segmentation, and shopping‑path analytics. As a result, different customer groups see different offers, discounts, and messages — which strengthens the position of companies with the most integrated data.

3. Operations as a source of competitive advantage
Platform stability, last‑mile logistics, efficient return processes, and payment handling have a direct impact on conversion and Black Friday sales results.

4. Dynamic pricing and inventory management
AI‑based models help forecast demand at the SKU level, adjust discounts, and allocate promotional budgets in real time — improving turnover while reducing below‑cost sell‑offs.

From Avallon MBO’s perspective, this is a clear signal that Polish retail and e‑commerce are entering a phase of mature management, in which process scalability, operational efficiency, data integration, and technological resilience of organizations become crucial.