AI, mobile, discounts help drive online Black Friday sales higher
Black Friday e-commerce sales rose an impressive amount from last year’s record-setting totals, aided by consumer embrace of some shopping technologies and holiday deals.
According to Adobe Analytics data, U.S. consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online during Black Friday (Nov. 28), up 9.1% year over year from the previous record $9.8 billion and well more than double the $5.03 billion consumers spent online during Black Friday 2017.
[READ MORE: Black Friday online sales break records]
This figure also surpassed Adobe’s initial Black Friday forecast for digital U.S. Black Friday sales of $11.7 billion. During peaks sales hours between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. ET, U.S. consumers spent $12.5 million online every minute according to Adobe analysis.
More than half (55.2%) of online Black Friday sales came through a mobile device (compared to desktop), representing $6.5 billion in total sales, up 10.2% year over year. Adobe advises that mobile has become a dominant online shopping form factor during the holiday season, which it says tends to drive more impulse shopping and props up online growth as a result.
In addition, artificial intelligence traffic to U.S. retail sites (measured by shoppers clicking on a link) increased by 805% year over year, which Adobe credited to consumers using generative AI chat services to find deals and research products. These AI tools were used most for categories including video games, appliances, electronics, toys, personal care products, and baby/toddler products.
Adobe also observed that shoppers who landed on a U.S. retail site from an AI service were 38% more likely to convert (e.g., visits that became sales) vs. non-AI traffic sources.
Another trend tracked by Adobe was strong consumer response to heavy Black Friday discounts. In toys, discounts peaked at 30% (off listed price). Average deals across other categories included electronics (29%), televisions (24%), apparel (25%), computers (23%), sporting goods (20%), furniture (19%) and appliances (20%).
Interestingly, Adobe found that the share-of-units-sold for the most expensive goods rose by 64% in electronics, 55% in sporting goods, 48% in appliances, 38% in personal care products, and 35% in tools/home improvement, indicating that in many cases consumers leveraged discounts to purchase higher-value products and not simply to get the lowest price possible.
Other findings
- On Black Friday, buy now, pay layer (BNPL) flexible payment drove $747.5 million in online spend, up 8.9% year-over-year with roughly 80% of BNPL purchases occurring via mobile device.
- Social media share of online revenue (purchases attributed to social traffic) arose 54.5% year-over-year to 3.4%.
- Online sales rose by 1,900% in video game consoles (vs. average spending levels in October 2025), along with televisions (up 1,740%), headphones/speakers (up 1,700%), refrigerators/freezers (up 1,630%), smartwatches (up 1,500%), small kitchen appliances (up 1,300%), computers (up 1,020%), and kid's toys (up 910%). Other categories with strong growth included vacuum cleaners (up 1,450%), power tools (up 1,420%), bicycles (up 980%), and holiday decor (up 890%).
Thanksgiving Day, Cyber Weekend online sales grow
U.S. consumers spent a record $6.4 billion online on Thanksgiving Day (up 5.3% year over year), above Adobe’s initial forecast of $6.37 billion for the day.
Over Cyber Weekend (Nov. 29 -30), Adobe credited elevated discounts for driving a record $11.8 billion in online spend (up 8.7% year over year), above Adobe’s forecast of $11.4 billion (up 4.8% year over year).
Global Black Friday online sales rise 6% to $79 billion
Data from Salesforce indicates Black Friday drove $79 billion in global sales (up 6% year-over-year), and $18 billion in the U.S. (up 3% year over year). Salesforce attributed $14.2 billion in global online sales and $3 billion in U.S. online sales were driven by AI and shopping agents on Black Friday.
In addition, Salesforce reports $7.5 billion in Thanksgiving global online sales and $1.5B in U.S. online sales were influenced by AI and shopping agents.
Although U.S. consumers continued to spend more this Black Friday compared to last year, Salesforce found that price increases hampered online demand. Order volumes fell 1% year-over-year as average selling prices increased 7%.
U.S. consumers also purchased fewer items at checkout, with units per transaction falling 2% year over year. While average discount rates peaked at 28% in the U.S. and 27% globally on Black Friday, Salesforce found that discounts remained flat year over year.
Similar to Adobe, Salesforce reported growth in mobile and social media traffic on Black Friday, with 69% of global orders and 70% of U.S. orders placed on a mobile device on Black Friday. This was up from 67% and 68% respectively in 2024.
In addition, Salesforce data shows that social media drove 13% of all global digital traffic to retailers’ sites and 14% in the U.S., growing 10% year over year worldwide and 6% year over year in the U.S. Traffic from TikTok and Instagram were the fastest growing social shopping channels, each growing their total share of U.S. shopping traffic by 62% and 60% year over year, respectively.
