The 2025 retail holiday season is off to a strong start, fueled by record-setting Black Friday and Cyber Monday enthusiasm. Shoppers showed up early and spent big, signaling strong consumer confidence for the rest of the month ahead. Both online and in-store channels saw impressive gains as retailers delivered deeper discounts and more personalized experiences. With momentum building and inventory positioned to move, the stage is set for a standout holiday shopping period.
According to Adobe, which pulls data from over one trillion visits to U.S. retail sites, U.S. ecommerce sales reached a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 9.1% year-over-year. And on Cyber Monday, shoppers spent more than $14 billion online, up 7.1% YoY.
While these are truly impressive, record-setting numbers, I’m most interested in looking at five key trends that emerged over the past week. And what that means for retailers in the New Year.
1. Consumers are on track to make this the highest spending season on record, led by the dominance of online shopping in electronics and apparel categories. Prioritizing these categories from a unified commerce perspective has the potential for attracting new customers and driving sales.
2. AI-assisted shopping fueled digital sales in several ways: price comparison, deal alerts, personalized recommendations, among others. Also, retailers deployed AI/intelligent shopping assistants to push product discovery and price-matching support. Salesforce data indicates that conversations on agentic AI services increased 42% on Black Friday compared to Thanksgiving Day.
3. In-store traffic was low, in fact, foot traffic from Black Friday and Saturday declined 5.3% year-over-year, per RetailNext data. Weather may have had an impact. The Midwest saw a notable traffic decline across Friday and Saturday compared to the rest of the U.S. because of a snowstorm in the region.
4. Mobile devices continued to drive the majority of sales. Depending on the hour, around 55 percent ($6.5 billion) of online Black Friday sales happened on a phone. That’s up 10 percent from last year. Adobe says one of the biggest spikes happened from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. There’s no doubt mobile optimization will remain high on priority lists next year.
5. Shifts in payment plans are also worth noting, possibly a reflection of wider economic uncertainty, including options like buy now, pay later (BNPL). Between November 1 and December 31, Adobe estimates that American shoppers will spend more than $20 billion online through BNPL plans, an 11% increase (roughly $2 billion) from 2024. Adobe data also showed BNPL usage drove over $1 billion in online spending on Cyber Monday, a record high with 4.2% YoY growth. We’ll see what this means for future purchasing options.
Streamlined tech and AI proved to be a driving force behind Black Friday and Cyber Monday’s 2025 success, enabling smarter personalization, faster service, and stronger conversions at every step of the shopper journey.
We’ll stay tuned to see how the rest of the year nets out.