Look at your Black Week content calendar. Save 30%. Shop now. Limited time. Don’t miss out.
Now count the posts asking customers to do something different. Guess. Vote. Play. Participate.
Probably not many.
What we’re seeing in the market
MarketWatch tracks how consumers respond to content across brands and retail categories. And something interesting happened in October.
Fun / Play / Entertainment climbed to #1 in audience response for four consecutive readings.
It wasn’t toy retailers driving this. It was furniture retailers asking customers to guess, beauty brands using Halloween creatively, and entertainment brands encouraging participation.
On October 22, the difference was striking:
That’s roughly 12× higher response, with far less competing content.
These are directional signals, not proof that games outperform discounts in every category. But they reveal an opportunity.
What should retailers do?
Don’t replace your Black Week promotions.
Replace just ONE discount post in your warm-up campaign with something interactive.
Ask customers to guess a price, vote on a product, or estimate a number. Then compare the response with a regular promotional post.
Same channel. Same week. Different approach.
The idea isn’t to stop selling. It’s to get customers engaged before asking them to buy.
That’s what Outside-In Marketing is about: spotting what customers respond to across the market, not just what your competitors publish. MarketWatch helps retailers identify these opportunities while there’s still time to act.
See what your customers are responding to: www.novuter.com
Source: MarketWatch global consumer reference market, October 2026. Response indices are relative signals from overlapping seven-day windows, not sales or conversion measurements.
See what your customers are responding to.
MarketWatch shows what your audience responds to across the market, not just what your competitors publish, while there is still time to act before Black Week.
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