American consumers spent 11.8 billion dollars online on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics. The firm tracks more than one trillion visits to US retail websites. This spending sets a new record, up from 10.8 billion dollars spent on Black Friday the previous year.
During the peak hours of 10am to 2pm, online shoppers were spending 12.5 million dollars every minute. Adobe stated that the numbers show Black Friday has become a major e-commerce moment, as more shoppers opt to stay home and take advantage of deals.
The company projects that Cyber Monday will be even bigger, with an estimated 14.2 billion dollars spent online. Black Friday data from companies like Adobe and Salesforce provides an early indicator of broader holiday shopping trends. Adobe is projecting a total of 253.4 billion dollars in holiday spending this year, compared to 241.1 billion dollars the year before.
Salesforce reported it tracked 79 billion dollars in global spending on Black Friday, with 18 billion dollars of that in the United States. These figures represent year-over-year increases of 6 percent and 3 percent, respectively. However, this growth may have less to do with increased consumer demand and instead reflect higher prices. Salesforce data shows that prices were up an average of 7 percent, while order volumes were down 1 percent.
Both Adobe and Salesforce claim to see a growing influence of AI on holiday shopping. For example, Salesforce reported that between Thanksgiving and Black Friday, AI and AI agents influenced 22 billion dollars in global sales, though how broadly that is defined is not clear.
The data is less clear about how online trends compare to in-person shopping at brick-and-mortar stores. RetailNext reported that in-store traffic appears to be down 3.4 percent nationwide. In contrast, another firm reported that foot traffic is up 1.17 percent overall, and up an even more impressive 7.9 percent in department stores.