U.S. consumers spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics, which tracks more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites.
Adobe said this is a new record and surpasses the $10.8 billion spent on Black Friday last year. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., online shoppers could have spent $12.5 million every minute. Forbes reports that Adobe said in a statement that the numbers show Black Friday is “a big driver for e-commerce as more shoppers choose to stay home and take advantage of sales.”
According to Reuters, the company predicts that Cyber Monday (which falls two days later on December 1) will be even bigger, with $14.2 billion being spent online.
Black Friday data from companies like Adobe and Salesforce can provide an early indication of broader trends during the holiday season. Adobe predicts that holiday spending will total $253.4 billion this year, compared to $241.1 billion in 2024.
Salesforce announced that global spending on Black Friday was $79 billion, of which $18 billion was spent in the United States, an increase of 6% and 3%, respectively, from the previous year. However, this growth may have less to do with increased consumer demand and instead reflect higher prices. Salesforce data also shows that while order volume fell by 1%, prices rose by an average of 7%.
And both Adobe and Salesforce claim that AI is having a growing impact on the holiday season. For example, Salesforce said AI and AI agents had a $22 billion impact on global sales between Thanksgiving and Black Friday, but it’s not clear how broadly defined that is.
Data on how online trends compare to in-person shopping in brick-and-mortar stores is less clear, with RetailNext reporting to Forbes that in-store foot traffic appears to be down 3.4 percent nationally, but Pass_by says foot traffic is up 1.17 percent overall and an even more surprising 7.9 percent increase in department stores.
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