Black Friday shoppers just set a new record for online sales

The holiday season arrived amid grim warnings of tight budgets, softening demand, and sagging consumer confidence — but shoppers didn’t get the memo.

Consumers turned out in droves to spend a record $11.8 billion online Friday, a 9.1% leap compared with last year, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 1 trillion visits that shoppers make to retail websites. Video game consoles, electronics, and home appliances all saw year-on-year rises. Between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., $12.5 million passed through shopping carts every minute.

The data provides an important snapshot of American consumers after nearly a year of economic uncertainty, with the job market worsening and tariffs putting pressure on prices. Polls had indicated that many consumers, especially Gen Z shoppers, were planning to spend as much as 10% less on average than they did in 2024.

But that does not appear to have materialized, at least not online, amid a heavy round of discounting from retailers. Grocers like Walmart and Target sold discounted Thanksgiving meal baskets while higher-end shops and department stores also emphasised price cuts.

Michelle Meyer, chief economist at the Mastercard Economics Institute, said people are “navigating an uncertain environment” this holiday season “by shopping early, leveraging promotions, and investing in wish-list items.” In other words, Americans still love a deal.

Part of that appears to have been driven by AI. Adobe said AI-driven traffic to retail websites rose 805% compared with 2024. In the last year, the likes of Walmart and Amazon have launched AI shopping assistants, while the uptake of products such as ChatGPT have continued to soar. AI and agents influenced about $3 billion in online sales in the U.S., according to software giant Salesforce.

And online shopping more broadly continued growing much faster than in-store, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which pointed to a 10.4% growth in online sales on Black Friday, compared with in-person growth of 1.7%.

Thanksgiving was also record breaking, with shoppers spending $6.4 billion on Thursday, Adobe said. This Cyber Monday, sales are expected to peak at $14.2 billion, which would be another record. “Black Friday has really turned into like a full-week event, or even further,” said Grant Gustafson, head of retail consulting and analytics at Sensormatic Solutions, per Associated Press.