The Black Friday cross border report 2025 starts with one number. During the week of November 24 to 30, ten Brazilian brands selling abroad shipped 5,972 international orders through ShipSmart. That is 344% more than during Black Friday week in 2024.
Conversion reached 15.0%, which is 2.5 times the previous year. The median delivery time, door to door, was 7 days. And in 95.5% of shipments, the brand paid the import tax so the customer received the parcel with no charge at the door.
This post summarizes what the report shows and what it means for Black Friday 2026. The origin is Brazil, but the pressure points are the same for any brand shipping across borders. The full report is a free download.
What the report is, and how it was built
The report follows the international operation of 10 Brazilian brands, selling both direct to consumer and through a B2B2C model, across the four weeks of November 2025. The focus is the Black Friday week. ShipSmart runs logistics, customs, and door to door delivery for these brands, so the data comes from the operation itself, not from a consumer survey. No brand is named.
Three reading notes matter. First, the base is 10 brands, mostly fashion, shipping from Brazil. Treat the numbers as a reference, not as a market average. Second, conversion here means international quotes that turned into a valid shipment, divided by all quotes that week. It is not storefront conversion. Third, delivery time runs from order creation to the first delivery event.
The report is written in Portuguese.
Demand starts building before Black Friday
Orders climbed every week of November. The four weeks ran 2,342, 2,643, 3,348, and 5,972 orders. Black Friday week alone held 42% of the month’s international orders.
The ramp starts earlier than the event. In the third week, volume already rose 27%. The jump in the final week, 78%, was larger than the two previous increases combined.
Daily data adds a surprise. Friday, the day of the promotion, brought 1,030 orders. Monday brought 1,181, and the Saturday after brought 1,140. Those two days held 19.8% and 19.1% of the week. In other words, the operation does not peak on a single day. It opens strong on Monday and surges again over the weekend.
The report’s reading for 2026 is practical. Open operational capacity at the start of November, and reinforce pickup and processing on opening Monday and on the Saturday after Black Friday.
What 15% conversion means
Weekly conversion ran 9.7%, 11.8%, 11.5%, and 15.0% through November. Black Friday week set the peak. A year earlier, the same week reached 6.1%.
The pattern suggests the date brings more than traffic. It brings buyers with a stronger intent to purchase. Still, keep the definition in mind. This is quote to shipment conversion in an operation where the customer already asked for a freight and tax quote. Do not compare it with storefront conversion or with cart abandonment studies.
Fashion carries the order value
Average order value ran highest in apparel, at US$ 72.48 for non knit garments and US$ 68.07 for knit garments. Footwear averaged US$ 34.20, even though it led in volume. Books came in at US$ 28.78, and cosmetics at US$ 17.05.
Because the base leans toward fashion, category share says little about the market. The useful reading is the value per order. Apparel carries higher unit value, which leaves room for brands to push higher value items in cross border sales.
Where orders went
North America took 92.6% of shipments, driven by the United States. Western Europe followed at 3.1%, then South America at 2.4%, Asia Pacific at 1.1%, and the Middle East at 0.6%.
The concentration is clear. So is the opening. Europe and Asia Pacific remain small for these brands, while cross border shoppers there are mature. If you sell from the US, the mirror image applies. Destination rules decide how competitive your price is. The EU, for example, removed its customs duty exemption for low value parcels on July 1, 2026.
Delivery time: 7 days, and three in four on time
The median delivery was 7 days door to door, in the heaviest week of the year. And 74.9% of orders arrived within the promised window.
Delivery shapes the sale. Citing DHL eCommerce research, the report notes that 62% of shoppers buy from other countries during Black Friday. It also notes that 82% abandon a purchase when their preferred delivery option is unavailable. A promise the operation can keep is part of conversion.
Tax became part of the price
In 95.5% of shipments, the brand paid the tax upfront under a delivered duty paid model. Only 4.5% used delivered at place, where the recipient pays. DDP removes the surprise at the door, and the report treats it as a competitive advantage.
The US also changed the picture. Its de minimis exemption, which let parcels up to US$ 800 enter without duty, ended on August 29, 2025. Black Friday 2025 was the first one in which every shipment to the US carried tax. The average tax per order to the US was US$ 18.75.
Category matters a lot. Across categories, the average tax per order in the report runs from US$ 4.08 to US$ 30.13. The full report lays this out category by category, next to the official base tariff in six markets.
What to change before Black Friday 2026
Start with capacity. If the ramp begins two weeks before the event, staffing, carrier pickups, and warehouse cutoffs need to open then, not on the day.
Next, review your promise. Publish delivery windows by destination, and test them against peak conditions. As we covered in our breakdown of why Black Friday is your operation’s biggest stress test, every pressure point arrives at once.
Then settle tax. Make delivered duty paid the default where your data supports it, and verify that duty calculation reflects current rules. Finally, keep pricing, documents, and fulfillment on one data source. Our guide to import management software categories in 2026 explains why.
How ShipSmart fits into this operation
The data in the report comes from an operation where ShipSmart handles the logistics layer. Ship Tax & Duty calculates duties and taxes in real time for every order. Ship OS generates labels and customs documents and tracks shipments. For brands selling through a B2B2C model, Ship Clear issues DDP invoices through a local merchant of record.
Ship Fulfillment positions inventory in hubs across Latin America, the United States, and Europe. Ship Returns brings international returns into a managed US hub.
What only the full report includes
The full report adds the order volume by day, the average tax by category beside the official tariff in six markets, and the de minimis rules by destination. It also includes the full methodology. Those details are what you need to build a plan, not just read a headline.
Frequently asked questions about the report
What is the Black Friday cross border report 2025?
It is ShipSmart’s first report dedicated to international sales on Black Friday. It follows 10 Brazilian brands across November 2025 and covers sales, freight, and taxes.
Is the report free?
Yes. You can download it for free from the report page, after filling in a short form.
Do the numbers apply to every brand?
No. The base is 10 brands, mostly fashion, shipping from Brazil. Use the numbers as a reference for your own planning.
What language is the report in?
Portuguese.
If you plan to sell across borders on Black Friday 2026, download the full report, see everything ShipSmart prepared for Black Friday, or book a Black Friday readiness call and walk through the numbers with the team.
