As holiday shoppers traded long store lines for clicks, American consumers set a new online spending record for Black Friday 2025. According to Adobe Analytics, U.S. retailers saw a record-breaking $11.8 billion in online sales — a 9.1% increase from the same day last year. 

AI Agents Fuel the Surge

A key driver behind the surge was the explosive growth in traffic via AI-powered shopping tools. Visits to retail sites via “AI agents” reportedly jumped 805% compared to 2024. Shoppers increasingly used chatbots, like those recently introduced by several major retailers, to discover deals, compare prices, and make purchase decisions more efficiently. 

“Consumers are using new tools to get to what they need faster,” said an analyst at a retail research firm, noting that large language models make deal discovery and gift selection “feel quicker and more guided.” 

Economic Headwinds, But Spending Holds Strong

The spending milestone comes amid a backdrop of economic uncertainty: inflation remains elevated, tariffs on many goods have pushed up prices, and consumer confidence has suffered. Despite those headwinds, many consumers appeared eager to lock in holiday deals, perhaps treating discounts as an opportunity to balance budgets while still shopping.

Still, there are signs that the rise in spending is being driven more by higher prices than by higher volume. Some data from other firms suggest that while the dollar value of online purchases rose, the number of items bought per transaction slipped compared to last year. 

A New Era for Holiday Shopping: Digital First, AI-Assisted

The data suggests that Black Friday continues to evolve from early-morning store lineups to a digital-first, AI-assisted experience. For retailers and digital platforms, this shift underscores the increasing importance of AI and seamless online experiences during the holiday shopping season.

As the holiday weekend continues, attention now turns to Cyber Monday, which Adobe forecasts could surpass Black Friday’s record with $14.2 billion in online sales.

Implications for Dev & Content Leaders

For DevContentOps practitioners, including those building commerce platforms, CMS-powered storefronts, content-driven e-commerce sites, and AI-powered shopping experiences, the Black Friday 2025 results highlight several trends worth attention:

• AI-assisted shopping is not a niche anymore: the massive jump in AI-driven site traffic suggests that integrating conversational search, recommendation agents, or generative-AI-powered shopping assistants could materially impact conversion rates.

• User experience and scalability matter more than ever: With billions in online spending compressed into hours, the ability to handle traffic spikes, ensure fast page load times, and deliver smooth checkout experiences remains mission-critical.

• Pricing, not just volume, will shape performance metrics: As inflation and tariffs push up item prices, absolute revenue numbers may rise even if unit volumes don’t, underscoring the need for analytics that differentiate between price effects and demand effects.

• Longer seasonal tails over “one-day madness”: As more shoppers use digital platforms, promotions may spread beyond Black Friday into longer campaigns (weekend sales, Cyber Monday, holiday deals), requiring a content ops strategy that supports dynamic, sustained marketing.