Infobip Predicts Record 3.9 Billion Brand Messages This Shopping Season as RCS Surges 269%

Infobip Predicts Record 3.9 Billion Brand Messages This Shopping Season as RCS Surges 269%. RCS set to be the fastest growing communications channel this Black Friday and Cyber Monday

forecasts over 3.9 billion messages exchanged between brands and customers this shopping season, marking a 15% increase year on year. This reflects how AI, mobile commerce, and rich messaging channels are powering more personalized shopping experiences.

Rich Communication Services (RCS) will be the fastest-growing channel in 2025, with volumes rising 161% on Black Friday and 269% on Cyber Monday worldwide. SMS remains the leading retail channel with nearly 2.7 billion interactions.

In the US, more than 1.9 billion SMS messages are expected, while RCS volumes surge to over 57 million, a dramatic increase from 2024. WhatsApp engagement is up 44%, and email volumes rise more than 50% on Cyber Monday. US consumers surveyed by Infobip plan to spend mainly between $250 and $1,000 on Black Friday.

Across Europe, RCS volumes are expected to grow more than sixfold on Black Friday and fivefold on Cyber Monday, with WhatsApp nearly tripling. Email usage surges over 50%, supported by a 37% increase in SMS on Black Friday. UK consumers mostly plan Black Friday spending under £250, with many willing to spend up to £1,000, indicating strong retail engagement and combined sales reaching several billion pounds. Similarly, consumers in Italy, Spain, and Germany generally plan moderate spending between €250 and €500, reinforcing a healthy but cautious retail outlook.

Email remains the dominant channel for promotions and confirmations in Europe, with Southern markets favoring SMS, and Northern markets showing growing openness to richer chat formats. In India, online shoppers are using more than one channel during peak shopping periods, giving brands multiple touchpoints to engage with them. Seasonal promotions remain a strong draw, with many consumers timing their purchases around major sale moments.

“Black Friday and Cyber Monday have evolved from single-day events into month-long conversations,” said Ben Lewis, Vice President of Marketing & Growth at Infobip. “With Apple adopting RCS and brands focusing on hyper-personalized experiences, AI-powered conversational commerce is transforming retailer-consumer engagement.”

Infobip’s 2025 forecast underscores the growing impact of omni-channel communication in driving meaningful commerce.

Discover more shopping season insights here: https://www.infobip.com/blog/shopping-season-survey

About Infobip 

 

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey. Accessed through a single platform, Infobip’s omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact center solutions help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications to grow business and increase loyalty. It offers natively built technology with the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices and ‘things’ in 6 continents connected to over 9,700+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. Infobip was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kuti? and Izabel Jeleni?.