Consumers spent a record $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 9.1% year-over-year (YoY) and above Adobe’s initial forecast ($11.7 billion, up 8.3% YoY).
Between the 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. hours yesterday, $12.5 million was spent online every minute. Additionally, 55.2% of online sales came through a mobile device (vs. desktop), representing $6.5 billion (up 10.2% YoY). Mobile is a dominant form factor now during the holiday season, which tends to drive more impulse shopping and props up online growth as a result.
The record spending yesterday shows that Black Friday has cemented its role as a major e-commerce moment, as more shoppers opt to stay home and take advantage of deals. For context: The final tally is $2.8 billion more than the 2020 holiday shopping season ($9 billion on Black Friday 2020, up 21.6% YoY), when the COVID-19 pandemic drove a substantial step change in Black Friday e-commerce.
In gaming consoles, top sellers included Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 5, PlayStation Portal, and Meta Quest 3, and top games included Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Mario Kart World, Kirby Air Riders, and Elden Ring: Nightreign.
Adobe also observed large upticks yesterday in purchases of electronics, video game consoles, toys, and appliances.
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%).
Strong discounts pushed consumers to ‘trade up’
Great bargains yesterday drove consumers to hit the buy button. In toys, discounts peaked at 30% (off listed price). Deals were strong across other categories including electronics (29%), televisions (24%), apparel (25%), computers (23%), sporting goods (20%), furniture (19%), and appliances (20%).
Consumers were not simply looking for the lowest price on Black Friday. Competitive discounts drove shoppers to ‘trade up’ to higher-ticket items in certain categories—allowing individuals to get more value out of their dollar. 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.
“Cyber Week is off to a strong start, with online spending on Thanksgiving and Black Friday both coming in above Adobe’s initial forecasts,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst, Adobe Digital Insights, in a statement. “This was driven in large part by competitive deals across categories like electronics, toys, and apparel. Discounts are set to remain elevated through Cyber Monday, which we expect will remain the biggest online shopping day of the season and year.”
Additional insights for Black Friday
Online shopping reshaped by AI: On Black Friday, AI traffic to U.S. retail sites (measured by shoppers clicking on a link) increased by 805% YoY, as consumers embraced generative AI chat services/browsers 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.
Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) usage ramps up: On Black Friday, BNPL drove $747.5 million in online spend, up 8.9% YoY. This flexible payment service is also being used predominantly on mobile devices, driving a staggering 80.7% share (vs. desktop) yesterday. In an Adobe survey of over 1,000 U.S. consumers, respondents said they were most likely to use BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture purchases. On Cyber Monday, BNPL is expected to cross the $1 billion milestone (forecast: $1.04 billion, up 5% YoY).
Hot selling toys on Black Friday included LEGO sets, Nerf guns, toy kitchen sets, board games, Fisher Price indoor trampoline, Disney Stitch Puppetronic, Pokémon cards, Leap Frog learning toys, Bluey toys/action figures, and Hot Wheels track sets.
Other hot sellers yesterday included gift cards, fragrance sets, KitchenAid stand mixers, washer/dryers, basketball hoops, Apple Airpods and Bluetooth headphones, Oura Ring 4, exercise equipment, and electric scooters.
Impact of Social Media: Adobe measured the impact of marketing investments. Social media is a standout, with its share of online revenue (purchases attributed to social traffic) at 3.4% and rising 54.5% YoY on Black Friday (up from 2.2% share and flat YoY growth last year). In affiliates and partners—which includes social media influencers—the growth is also notable (21.9% share of revenue and rising 11.7% YoY)—up from 19.6% share and 5.4% YoY growth last year. While major channels such as paid search and email continue to be reliable drivers of traffic and sales online, consumers are increasingly turning to social media to discover and learn about new products.
Weekend preview (Nov. 29 & Nov. 30)
For the upcoming weekend, Adobe anticipates consumers will spend $5.5 billion on Saturday, Nov. 29 (up 3.8% YoY) and $5.9 billion on Sunday, Nov. 30 (up 5.4% YoY) as discounts continue to remain elevated. Mobile shopping is expected to remain strong, set to drive a 58% share of online sales for the upcoming weekend (across both days), representing $6.6 billion (up 6.5% YoY).
Consumers can expect discounts to remain elevated throughout this upcoming weekend for electronics (peaking at 29% off listed price). There will also be great bargains in toys (27%), apparel (25%), computers (23%), televisions (23%), appliances (19%), sporting goods (18%), and furniture (18%). However, consumers will see the best deals on Cyber Monday for electronics specifically, with discounts peaking 30% off listed price, as well as apparel (26%) and computers (24%).
Hot Sellers this upcoming weekend are expected to include laptops, portable speakers, PlayStation 5, sweatpants and hoodies, power tools, vacuum cleaners, necklaces, Gabby’s Dollhouse: The Movie, LEGO sets, Wicked dolls, Toniebox sets, air fryers, Ray-Ban Meta glasses, cookware sets, and artificial Christmas trees.
Cyber Monday forecast
Cyber Monday is set to be the biggest online shopping day of the season—and year—driving $14.2 billion (up 6.3% YoY). Cyber Week (the 5-day period including Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday) is expected to drive 17.2% of overall spend this season, at $43.7 billion (up 6.3% YoY).