Should B2B Companies Run Black Friday Deals? When It Works (and When It Doesn't)

When a fellow B2B sales professional asked b2b marketers whether they'd ever offered a Black Friday discount, the responses painted a fascinating picture of an industry at odds with itself. Some called it "the fastest way to lose a sale," while others reported their "best promotion of the year."  If you are curious, here is the conversation. 

The truth, as it turns out, lies somewhere in the complexity between these extremes.

Black Friday has traditionally been the domain of consumer retail; images of doorbuster deals and shopping frenzy define the holiday. 

But as B2B buying behavior evolves and digital transformation reshapes business purchasing, a growing number of B2B companies are experimenting with the world's biggest shopping event. The question isn't whether B2B companies should participate, but rather: which ones should, and how?

The Economic Backdrop: Tariffs, Costs, and a Market in Flux

Before deciding whether to join the Black Friday noise, it’s worth zooming out.
The 2025 economy is sending mixed signals: steady consumer demand on one side, rising tariffs and cost volatility on the other.

The U.S. now operates under its highest effective tariff rate since 1934 — roughly 18% when accounting for retaliatory measures (Yale Budget Lab). Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned that these policies could have “tremendously adverse impacts” on inflation and trade (Financial Times), and the IMF expects tariff escalation to slow global growth and increase input costs into 2026 (AP News). Even Citigroup’s CEO noted that while many firms can absorb a 10% tariff, sustained increases will eventually erode competitiveness and margin flexibility (Reuters).

For B2B companies, that combination — higher costs, longer lead times, and uncertain demand — changes the psychology around promotions. A 10% holiday discount might look tempting in a marketing calendar, but it could also erase the buffer you need to weather the next supply-chain spike.

Tariff-driven cost pressure also amplifies a deeper issue: trust and stability now matter more than urgency and hype. When budgets tighten, buyers value reliability and partnership over short-term deals. They’re less likely to act on a 72-hour offer and more likely to reward consistent value.

In that sense, Black Friday in 2025 is less about price and more about precision. The companies seeing success aren’t reacting to market noise — they’re using the moment strategically to accelerate qualified deals already in motion, test messaging, or reward loyal customers. The playbook has shifted from “slash prices” to “signal strength.”

The Case Against: Why Many B2B Companies Should Stay Away

Black Friday is built for impulse, not intention, and that’s where it collides with B2B reality.

 The average B2B purchase involves six to seven stakeholders, multiple budget approvals, and months of evaluation, not a 24-hour buying window. A time-bound discount might move a pair of headphones, but it won’t move a $50,000 software license or an equipment contract tied to operational risk. 

In fact, short-term discounting can signal the opposite of what B2B buyers want most: stability, trust, and long-term partnership. That’s why, for most B2B companies, Black Friday shouldn’t be a promotional event at all; it should be a positioning opportunity. Instead of cutting prices, the smarter play is to add value.

Complex Sales Cycles Don't Fit Short Deadlines

Complex B2B solutions typically require approval from 6 to 7 stakeholders on average, making it nearly impossible for decision-makers to coordinate around a 24-hour discount window. As one Redditor bluntly put it: "That's the fastest way to tell a customer I will drop my price any time you need too."

The sentiment reflects a deeper concern about brand positioning. Products that solve specific needs at particular times, like spare machine parts, are a poor fit for Black Friday—nobody is shopping for replacement parts for fully operating machines during the holiday. High-value enterprise software, industrial equipment, and specialized consulting services fall into this category.

The Risk of Devaluing Your Brand

For businesses offering high-end, luxury services or products, Black Friday sales could potentially cause more harm than good, as participating in huge sales runs the risk of devaluing your brand. When you've spent years positioning yourself as a premium provider, arbitrary discounting can undermine that carefully constructed perception.

One Reddit user captured this sentiment perfectly: "No haha I think that is the fastest way to lose a sale by offering a complex software sale deal like it's an Amazon Alexa."

The concern is particularly acute for mid-to-high ticket items. A company selling $8,000 tech systems to businesses, schools, and government agencies asked Reddit whether a 10% Black Friday discount would "hurt our brand or cheapen the look." The consensus was clear: "You're only setting a precedent if you cheapen your product with BF discounts. It's either worth the value it is, or you're admitting you've over priced it."

After considering the feedback, that company decided against the promotion—a decision that likely preserved their brand positioning and avoided training customers to wait for discounts.

Training Your Customers to Wait

The most insightful comment from the Reddit thread came from a medical device sales professional who experienced both the upside and downside: "Loyal customers started to try and wait for the Black Friday promo. They would ask months in advance if we would be having it again."

This creates a perverse incentive structure where your best customers—the ones ready to buy at full price—learn to delay purchases, ultimately eroding your margins and creating artificial demand fluctuations.

The Case For: When Black Friday Makes Strategic Sense for B2B

While Black Friday clashes with most B2B buying motions, there are situations where it becomes a surprisingly effective accelerator. 

The common thread isn’t the size of the discount; it’s the simplicity of the purchase. When a product has a short sales cycle, minimal stakeholder involvement, clear pricing, and a low barrier to entry, the psychology of a time-bound promotion actually works in its favor. 

In these environments, buyers behave more like consumers: they can make fast decisions, they swipe company credit cards, and they appreciate a clear incentive to finally “pull the trigger.” 

For certain categories, such as SaaS subscriptions, self-serve tools, and certain single-decision-maker purchases, Black Friday isn’t a mismatch at all. It’s a momentum builder.

The SaaS and Subscription Model Success

Despite the skeptics, numerous B2B SaaS companies are offering Black Friday deals in 2024, with discounts ranging from 20% to 60% off annual plans. Companies like Paperform, Recooty, EngageBay, and dozens of others have made Black Friday a regular part of their sales calendar.

A software-as-a-service subscription billing company reported that sales peak on Cyber Monday for software sellers, and those who offer a discount on Black Friday sell significantly more than those who don't. This suggests that for certain categories of B2B products, the strategy genuinely works.

Low-Friction, High-Volume Products

Simpler, more commoditized B2B purchases like office supplies, cleaning services, or some software subscriptions are likely to be more relevant for a Black Friday sale, as the buying mechanics are more similar to a B2C purchase. When your product requires minimal stakeholder approval and can be purchased with a credit card, Black Friday psychology works just as well in B2B as it does in B2C.

High-Intent, Single-Decision-Maker Purchases 

There’s a growing category of B2B companies that look nothing like consumer retail yet still thrive during Black Friday: high-intent, single-decision-maker purchases. 

These are products with clear utility, predictable pricing, and a buyer who can make a fast decision because they either control the budget or operate under a simple purchasing threshold.

Think of medical devices for independent clinics, laboratory tools sold directly to technicians, or industrial components purchased by engineers and operations managers on platforms like Instrumart. 

These businesses are fully B2B, but their purchase motion has a B2C-like quality: the person researching the product is often the same person buying it. This category tends to perform well during Black Friday because: 

• One team or person decides: no committee, no procurement queue, no six-step approval chain. Decision speed is high — buyers know exactly what the product does and what they need it for. 
• Pricing is clear:  little or no configuration, no custom proposals, no enterprise negotiation cycle. Impulse-like behavior still exists, especially when buyers have been waiting for budget availability or justification. 
• Credible deadlines work: a firm cutoff date creates real urgency without undermining the sales process. 

These companies succeed not because Black Friday magically creates new demand, but because it activates existing demand that’s already sitting in carts, quotes, or “thinking about it” lists. In short:   B2B categories where the buyer is also the approver, from medical devices to industrial instruments to SaaS add-ons, Black Friday can be a strategic moment to convert intent into revenue.

The Medical Device Success Story

The most compelling real-world example from the Reddit thread came from a medical device salesperson who ran Black Friday promotions for years:

"Yes, in med device we did this and it was our best promotion of the year... I was able to revisit customers who said we were too expensive at the time. I was able to pull through deals sitting in the pipeline without much movement. It was a great bump for Nov heading into Dec."

The key factors in their success:

• Single decision maker (the doctor themselves)
• Quick decision capability
• Shortened timeline that removed obstacles and encouraged impulse decisions
• Clear, enforced deadline that built credibility for future promotions

Best Practices If You Decide to Participate

If you’re one of the B2B companies for whom Black Friday can make sense, the outcome will depend far less on the discount and far more on how you structure the promotion. 

Unlike B2C, where urgency alone can drive volume, B2B buyers need clarity, credibility, and time to align internal processes. That’s why the mechanics of your offer — the length of the window, how early you announce it, and how strictly you enforce it — often determine whether the campaign accelerates your pipeline or quietly undermines your price integrity. With that in mind, here’s how to structure a Black Friday promotion that works with B2B realities instead of against them.

1. The Timeline Dilemma: Strict Deadlines vs. Extended Windows

This is where B2B Black Friday gets tricky, and there's no one-size-fits-all answer. You face a critical choice:

The Strict Deadline Approach (Recommended for products with single decision-makers) The medical device salesperson's strategy was uncompromising: run the promotion Wednesday through Friday, then cut it off completely. The result? "I was able to pull through deals sitting in the pipeline without much movement" because the shortened timeline drove impulse decisions and removed obstacles.

The upside: Creates genuine urgency, builds credibility for future promotions, and prevents the dreaded "waiting customer" syndrome where loyal buyers learn to delay purchases.

The downside: You'll likely lose some deals that needed just a few more days for approval processes.

The Extended Window Approach (Better for multi-stakeholder purchases) The B2B sales cycle is longer than B2C, so some companies extend promotions to a whole week ("Black Week") or until Cyber Monday, acknowledging that decision-making often requires approval from multiple people.

The upside: Accommodates realistic B2B buying processes and captures deals that need a few extra days.

The downside: Reduces urgency and can train customers to assume deadlines are flexible.

The Key Decision Factor: How many decision-makers are involved? If it's one person who can act quickly (like the doctors in medical device sales), go strict. If it's 3+ stakeholders needing internal alignment, consider extending to Cyber Monday—but then hold that line absolutely firm.

2. Start Early, Promote Strategically

Smart Marketer sent out promotional preparation materials four months before Black Friday, first delivering value through a relevant guide before promoting their offer. This approach builds engagement while respecting the longer B2B consideration cycle.

3. Whatever Deadline You Choose, Enforce It Religiously

The medical device salesperson was emphatic: "If you do it though, you can't honor it past the deadline you pick or no one will ever take your promotions seriously again." This is perhaps the most important rule of all.

Whether you choose Friday at 5pm or Cyber Monday at midnight, that deadline must be absolute. No exceptions for "one more deal that's almost there." No extensions because you didn't hit your revenue target. In psychological terms, urgency requires customers to believe that the offer is genuinely limited in its availability.

The moment you extend or make exceptions, you teach your entire customer base that your deadlines are negotiable—and you'll never create urgency again.

4. Target Specific Use Cases

Consider these strategic applications:

• Pipeline acceleration: Revisit prospects who cited price as an objection
• Unused budget capture: Many B2B clients have unused budget funds they need to burn before year-end
• New customer acquisition: Offer low-barrier entry points to higher-value relationships
• Upsells to existing customers: Reward loyalty with access to premium features

5. Consider Value-Adds Over Discounts

Rather than cutting prices, B2B companies should consider making a value proposition instead—showing special care, out-of-the-box thinking, and professionalism. This might include:

• Extended support packages
• Additional user licenses
• Training and onboarding services
• Exclusive feature access
• Extended payment terms

Building Loyalty with Value add Instead of Discounts

Not all participation requires discounting. REI has closed its doors on Black Friday since 2015, giving its employees a paid day off and encouraging them to go outside—a tactic that boosts morale among employees and highlights company values.

For B2B companies, this could mean:

• Publishing thought leadership instead of promotions
• Hosting a "no sales, just value" webinar
• Donating a percentage of regular November sales to charity
• Creating an anti-Black Friday message that reinforces your premium positioning

When most people think of Black Friday, they think of volume, selling as much as possible, as fast as possible. But in B2B, volume discounts rarely create sustainable wins. What drives long-term value isn’t a lower price, it’s a stronger partnership.

The Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science found a similar pattern: B2B sellers who used aggressive discounting triggered “discount spillover,” where customers began expecting lower prices across all future deals. Sellers who instead emphasized added services or exclusive benefits avoided this erosion and strengthened differentiation.

So what does that mean for Black Friday in B2B?

It means the winning strategy isn’t chasing one-week spikes, but it’s rewarding the right behavior. Instead of offering 20% off, offer something that makes your customer’s life easier or their investment go further:

• Extended support or warranties: Provide extra months of implementation help or post-purchase support. It signals commitment, not desperation.
• Additional user seats or licenses: Low cost for you, high value for the client. It increases adoption and stickiness without cutting prices.
• Training and onboarding programs: Turn your promotion into an enablement opportunity that accelerates time-to-value.
• Early access to new features: Reward existing customers with exclusivity, not discounts.
• Extended payment terms: Especially useful in tight economic cycles, showing flexibility while maintaining pricing integrity.

These tactics work because they add business value without devaluing your brand. They build trust, increase satisfaction, and preserve margins, all while giving customers a clear reason to act now.

The Verdict: Match Your Black Friday Strategy to Your Business Model

Black Friday in B2B isn't a binary yes-or-no decision. Success depends on honest assessment of several factors:

The data suggests Black Friday is becoming more normalized in B2B contexts, particularly for digital products and services. But normalization doesn't mean universalization. The companies finding success are those that have thoughtfully matched their participation to their specific business model, customer expectations, and strategic goals.

As one Reddit commenter wisely noted: "Create discounts to buy based on their timing, not yours or some arbitrary date." The most sophisticated approach may be using Black Friday as one tool in a broader promotional calendar, not as a panic-driven discount fest, but as a strategic moment to accelerate deals that make sense for both parties.

Whether you choose to participate or pointedly abstain, the key is intentionality. 

In B2B sales, nothing damages trust quite like appearing desperate or arbitrary. If Black Friday fits your strategy, commit fully and execute professionally. If it doesn't, own that decision and use it to reinforce what makes your offering different.

The worst approach? Half-heartedly discounting because everyone else is, then undermining your own promotion through poor execution or lack of conviction. In B2B, your reputation outlasts any single quarter's revenue; choose accordingly.

Online B2B Sales Strategy: The Infrastructure Question Nobody Asks

But here's what the Black Friday debate really reveals: most B2B companies aren't struggling with whether to discount; they're struggling with whether they can execute any promotional strategy consistently.

The real constraint isn't the holiday calendar. It's operational readiness.

Consider the medical device salesperson's success story. They could pull through pipeline deals over a single weekend because their systems allowed it. They could enforce strict deadlines because they had the infrastructure to start and stop promotions precisely. They could revisit old leads with new offers because they had visibility into their customer data.

The companies finding success with B2B promotions, whether Black Friday or any other campaign, share operational capabilities that most don't:

They have unified visibility. Product catalogs, customer segments, contract pricing, and promotional rules exist in one place, not scattered across spreadsheets, CRMs, ERPs, and someone's memory. 

 They can segment and target instantly. The companies that succeed can instantly identify dormant accounts, near-miss deals, or price-sensitive segments, and deliver different experiences to each without manual chaos.

They can move fast without breaking things. Market conditions shift. A competitor drops prices. A key prospect requests terms. The companies with operational maturity can respond in hours, not weeks waiting for IT. They have rule-based pricing, automated date controls, approval workflows, and audit trails that let them adapt while maintaining brand consistency.

They understand their data. Remember the advice about value-adds versus discounts? "Giving 10% off $8000 is more costly than a free month or even two." That insight requires knowing your actual margins, customer lifetime value, and churn patterns, not guessing. The difference between a promotional strategy that builds business and one that erodes it often comes down to having data you can trust.

They think in systems, not campaigns. Black Friday is one day. But B2B companies operate in ongoing cycles: renewals, contract negotiations, stocking seasons, budget resets, distributor programs. The most sophisticated operators build infrastructure that supports evergreen bundles, customer-tiered experiences, regional variations, and long-term nurture paths. 

The question isn't whether your business should do Black Friday. The question is whether your business can execute its actual strategy—whatever that is—with the speed, consistency, and data clarity that modern B2B buyers expect.

The Real Choice

So before you debate your next promotional strategy, ask a more fundamental question: If you decided tomorrow to launch a targeted offer to your top 100 dormant accounts, could you?

Could you identify them accurately? Deliver consistent pricing across all touchpoints? Enforce start and stop dates automatically? Measure results clearly? Scale the approach if it worked?

If the answer is "yes, easily", then the Black Friday question becomes genuinely strategic. You're choosing based on brand positioning, customer psychology, and margin protection.

If the answer is "theoretically, but it would require three departments, two weeks, and manual workarounds", then the Black Friday question is premature. You're constrained by infrastructure, not strategy.

The most successful B2B companies aren't necessarily the ones with the cleverest promotional tactics. They're the ones whose operational capabilities match their strategic ambitions. They can test, learn, and adapt because their systems support iteration rather than fighting it.

Black Friday is optional. But operational maturity, the ability to execute your strategy consistently across every customer touchpoint, is not.