According to Adobe Analytics, which states it monitors over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, American shoppers spent $11.8 billion online this Black Friday.
Adobe reports this is a new high, increased from the $10.8 billion spent the prior year. Reportedly, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., online purchasers were spending $12.5 million each minute. Forbes says Adobe noted in a statement that the figures demonstrate Black Friday’s evolution into “a significant e-commerce moment, as more consumers choose to stay home and leverage deals.”
According to Reuters, the firm predicts that Cyber Monday (on December 1, in two days) will be even bigger, with $14.2 billion spent online.
Black Friday information from companies like Adobe and Salesforce can give an early indication of wider holiday shopping patterns. Adobe is forecasting total holiday spending of $253.4 billion this year, versus $241.1 billion in 2024.
Salesforce stated it tracked $79 billion in worldwide Black Friday spending, including $18 billion in the United States, increases of 6% and 3% year over year, respectively. However, this rise may be more attributable to rising prices than to growing consumer demand; Salesforce data also indicates that prices climbed by an average of 7%, while order volumes fell by 1%.
Both Adobe and Salesforce assert that AI is having an increasing impact on holiday shopping. For example, Salesforce claims that AI and AI agents influenced $22 billion in global sales between Thanksgiving and Black Friday, though the breadth of that definition is unclear.
The data is less conclusive about how online trends compare to in-person shopping at physical locations, with RetailNext telling Forbes that in-store traffic seems to be down 3.4% nationally, while Pass_by reports that foot traffic is up 1.17% overall, and an even more impressive 7.9% in department stores.
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