Black Friday Sets Record: $11.8B Online Sales as AI and E‑commerce Shift Holiday Shopping
American consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday 2025, a 9% increase from 2024’s $10.8 billion, according to Adobe Analytics. Peak spending hit about $12.5 million per minute between 10:00 and 14:00. Adobe projects total U.S. holiday spending of $253.4 billion for 2025. Salesforce reported $79 billion in global Black Friday sales, with $18 billion from the U.S.; higher prices (up ~7% on average) drove dollar growth while order volumes fell ~1%. Cyber Monday is forecast to surpass Black Friday, with Adobe projecting $14.2 billion in online sales. In-store traffic data is mixed: RetailNext shows a 3.4% nationwide decline, while Pass_by reports a 1.17% increase overall and a 7.9% rise for department stores. Both Adobe and Salesforce highlight growing AI influence on shopping — Salesforce estimates AI and AI agents influenced about $22 billion in global sales between Thanksgiving and Black Friday — suggesting personalization and recommendation engines are accelerating online conversion. Traders should note the e‑commerce acceleration, price-driven revenue growth, concentrated peak-hour activity, and rising AI-driven retail optimization when assessing consumer-facing crypto and payments plays.
Neutral
The news documents a structural shift toward online holiday spending and growing AI influence in e‑commerce, but it does not directly reference cryptocurrencies, blockchain payments, or specific crypto projects. For crypto markets, this is largely neutral: positive for payment rails, stablecoin and merchant payment solutions, and consumer-focused crypto tokens if e‑commerce adoption of crypto payments increases; however, there is no immediate catalyst (no major merchant crypto rollout or regulatory change) to drive a clear bullish move. Short-term impact: likely muted — traders may see sector-specific interest (payments, NFTs tied to retail campaigns) and slight volatility in listed crypto payments firms. Long-term impact: potentially bullish for crypto payments and on‑chain commerce if merchants increasingly integrate crypto checkout supported by improved UX and AI-driven personalization; that would gradually lift demand for payment rails and utility tokens. Historical parallels: e‑commerce growth events (e.g., Amazon Prime Day expansions) have benefited payments infrastructure equities and occasionally boosted crypto payment tokens when tied to merchant adoption announcements. Without such tie-ins here, the likely market response remains neutral overall.