Data collected from more than 345 online stores: sales generated through ChatGPT and other AI engines increased by more than 10,000%, SEO was the channel with the highest ROAS, and 68.88% of sales came from mobile. (Measurement conducted using TRUDA.)
Limitless Agency, a Romanian digital marketing agency specializing in SEO, GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), PPC and social media advertising for ecommerce, announces the Black Friday 2026 results for the online stores in its portfolio. During the period analyzed, total sales generated by the online stores in Limitless Agency’s portfolio exceeded €105 million, up 3% compared with 2025. The analysis covers more than 345 online stores. The data was measured using TRUDA, the software that helps online stores optimize costs and become profitable in ecommerce.
This year, Black Friday took place over several days, with the period varying from one online store to another. The 2026 edition confirms three shifts in consumer behavior: shoppers place orders almost exclusively from their phones, increasingly discover products through AI assistants such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Overviews, and the stores delivering the best results are those that have invested consistently in SEO throughout the year.
€105+ million
total sales, +3% vs. 2025 68.88%
of sales were made on mobile +10,000%
year-on-year growth in sales from AI engines
~RON 693
average order value (AOV)
RON 125,201
largest order 5,000+
orders in a single day at one store
EDITION RECORDS
● Largest order: RON 125,201.
● Most products in a single order: 58 products.
● Highest daily volume: more than 5,000 online orders in a single day for one online store. Such a peak puts technical infrastructure, stock levels and product feeds to the test just as much as advertising budgets.
● Premium transactions: some of the most notable online purchases included a watch worth RON 42,750 and an exclusive holiday package worth €13,188, showing that more and more sales of luxury products and travel packages are also being made directly online.
● The average order value (AOV) reached approximately RON 693.
MOBILE DOMINATED: ALMOST 7 OUT OF 10 LEI IN SALES CAME FROM PHONES
Purchases made on mobile devices accounted for 68.88% of total Black Friday 2026 sales. For online stores, this means that mobile page speed, a streamlined checkout and fast payment methods directly determine how much traffic turns into orders. Abandoned shopping carts remain the biggest avoidable source of lost revenue.
WHERE PAID MEDIA BUDGETS WERE SPENT
The distribution of paid online marketing (paid media) budgets across the portfolio analyzed was approximately as follows:
Google Ads 53% Meta Ads 37% TikTok 10%
● 53% Google Ads: Search, Shopping and Performance Max, where product feed quality and budget control for profitable products make the difference;
● 37% Meta Ads: Facebook and Instagram, with catalog and remarketing campaigns;
● 10% TikTok Ads: a growing channel for brands targeting younger audiences, especially in categories such as beauty, fashion and impulse-buy products.
SEO, THE BEST-PERFORMING CHANNEL
The channel with the best ROI/ROAS was organic traffic (SEO), measured against the investment clients made throughout the year. This finding challenges a common ecommerce mistake: treating Black Friday as a purely paid campaign launched just a few weeks in advance.
“Black Friday is not won in November. Stores that have worked on technical SEO, category structure and product pages throughout the year entered the campaign with traffic already built up, traffic they no longer had to pay for per click. That is why SEO once again stands out as the channel delivering the best return on investment.”
– Daniel Slăvenie, CEO Limitless Agency
AI-DRIVEN SALES: GROWTH OF MORE THAN 10,000% IN ONE YEAR
Sales generated through AI-powered engines increased by more than 10,000% compared with last year, showing that traffic from these sources is growing and has transactional intent. Shoppers no longer use ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity or Google AI Overviews just to gather information. They ask for product and store recommendations—and then make a purchase.
This phenomenon also has a name: GEO (Generative Engine Optimization), which means optimizing a brand so that AI engines can understand, mention and recommend it. Unlike traditional SEO, which focuses on Google rankings, GEO measures how often a brand appears in AI responses (share of voice), the position in which it is recommended, and which sources assistants cite when mentioning it.
“Growth of more than 10,000% comes from a channel that was almost non-existent a year ago, but the direction is clear: AI is becoming a new store shelf. If an AI assistant does not understand what you sell, at what price, and why you are a good choice, it will recommend a competitor. For 2027, the question is no longer whether to invest in GEO, but how quickly you start measuring your visibility in ChatGPT and Gemini.”
– Daniel Slăvenie, CEO Limitless Agency
WHAT ROMANIANS SEARCH FOR: THE FUNNIEST SEARCHES IN ONLINE STORES
Some of the most original searches made by consumers in the online stores in Limitless Agency’s portfolio included:
● “Vacuum cleaner for cat hair”
● “Gift for mother-in-law under RON 100”
● “Mug that keeps coffee hot all day”
● “Pillow for sleeping in the car”
● “Phone with large buttons for grandma”
Beyond the humor, these searches point to an important shift: people no longer search by product names, but by the problem they want to solve, taking into account who they are buying for and their budget. This is the same conversational language they use with ChatGPT. Stores whose product descriptions, filters and on-site search can understand such questions achieve better conversions both on their own websites and through AI recommendations.
5 LESSONS FROM BLACK FRIDAY 2026 FOR ONLINE STORES
● Mobile-first means mobile-first. With 68.88% of sales made on mobile, auditing the mobile checkout should be the first investment.
● SEO all year round, not just in November. SEO delivered the best ROI/ROAS relative to the annual investment. The strategy needs to start months in advance.
● The product feed is the new shop window. The feed powers Google Shopping, Performance Max, Meta and AI recommendations simultaneously. Prices, stock levels and performance labels must be updated automatically.
● Measure your visibility in AI. Monitor the prompts in which your brand is—or is not—recommended by ChatGPT and Gemini, and compare your visibility with that of competitors.
● Evaluate your partners by profit, not traffic. After Black Friday, ask your agency for ROAS and profit data for each channel (SEO, Google, Meta, TikTok, AI), not just traffic and impression reports.
Methodology
The analysis was conducted across more than 345 online stores in Limitless Agency’s portfolio. The Black Friday period was assessed separately for each store, as the campaign ran over several days and lasted for different lengths of time from one store to another. Comparisons are made against the same period in 2025. The data measurement technology was provided by TRUDA, an ecommerce analytics and automation platform developed by Limitless Agency.
