42 billion marketing emails were sent by just 50 US retailers during the Black Friday period

Business illustration of a businessman buried in junk letters and spam messages.

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Retailers are using more aggressive means of marketing
Late night marketing and emails loaded with trackers are now the norm
Tracking pixels and links monitor online activity without user knowledge

During the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, the top 50 retailers in the US sent close to 42 billion marketing emails to customers.

These stats come from Proton, one of the best secure email providers. The 'Spam Watch: The U.S. Inbox Overload + Hidden Tracker Report' examined emails sent from Tuesday, November 4, through Monday, December 1.

The report found that during this window, almost 80% of brands included a secretive tracking pixel or link in every single email during this period, and the Black Friday & Cyber Monday weekend saw 10 billion emails delivered into inboxes across the US.

Brands battling for attention

When it comes to the awards for the spammiest senders, home decor brand CB2 averaged 2.11 emails per day with 13 trackers in each email, Macy's managed to send seven emails in a single 24 hour period, and J. Crew sent three emails that each included a whopping 40 trackers.

Brands also disregarded the non-invasive marketing strategies and began sending emails late at night and even in the early morning. Banana Republic sent an email at 12:39 AM on Black Friday morning, and Macy’s sent seven emails between 10:58 PM and 12:16 AM on Saturday.

As for the trackers themselves, retailers often include a tiny invisible image within the email that can automatically capture the user’s location and device type. These trackers are used to build a user profile which retailers can use to bombard potential customers with aggressively targeted marketing campaigns.

"The Spam Watch findings confirm a harsh reality: the inbox has become a high‑volume, high‑noise channel where brands battle for attention while silently gathering data on every open. This is not accidental – it is an engineered assault on your attention and your privacy," said Anant Vijay Singh, Head of Product at Proton Mail.

"At Proton, we believe you shouldn't have to sacrifice your data just to shop online. We built Proton Mail to break this cycle, giving users the power to reclaim their digital freedom and block the silent stalkers that have taken over their lives."

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Benedict has been with TechRadar Pro for over two years, and has specialized in writing about cybersecurity, threat intelligence, and B2B security solutions. His coverage explores the critical areas of national security, including state-sponsored threat actors, APT groups, critical infrastructure, and social engineering.

Benedict holds an MA (Distinction) in Security, Intelligence, and Diplomacy from the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, providing him with a strong academic foundation for his reporting on geopolitics, threat intelligence, and cyber-warfare.

Prior to his postgraduate studies, Benedict earned a BA in Politics with Journalism, providing him with the skills to translate complex political and security issues into comprehensible copy.

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