AI Helps Drive Record $11.8B in Black Friday Online Spending (reuters.com) 52
Earlier this month MasterCard noted that even Walmart now allows its customers to make purchases through ChatGPT. And after polling more than 4,000 consumers in the U.S., Canada, U.K., and UAE, they found "more than four in 10 consumers already use AI tools to help them shop, including 61% of Gen Z and 57% of millennials."
Many (50% of Gen Z and 49% of millennials) say they'd even let AI handle all their gift-buying if it meant avoiding stress. Younger shoppers trust AI's taste, with 51% of Gen Z and 55% of millennials relying on it to deliver unique and thoughtful recommendations (sometimes even more than they trust themselves). The most popular uses include getting personalized product recommendations, confirming the best deal before purchasing, and summarizing thousands of reviews instantly.
The bottom line: Shoppers are embracing AI as their new personal assistant — one that knows their budget, style, and patience level...
If the 2025 holiday shopper could be summed up in one word, it's intentional. They're planning earlier, spending wiser and using technology to make every dollar and every gift count.
The first figures are now in for the traditional "Black Friday" shopping day after Thanksgiving, and U.S. shoppers "spent a record $11.8 billion online," reports Reuters, "up 9.1% from 2024 on the year's biggest shopping day, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 1 trillion visits that shoppers make to online retail websites..."
And sure enough, this year shoppers were helped by AI: AI-powered shopping tools helped drive a surge in U.S. online spending on Black Friday, as shoppers bypassed crowded stores and turned to chatbots to compare prices and secure discounts amid concerns about tariff-driven price hikes... The AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites soared 805% compared to last year, Adobe said, when artificial intelligence tools such as Walmart's Sparky or Amazon's Rufus had not yet been launched. "Consumers are using new tools to get to what they need faster," said Suzy Davidkhanian, an analyst at eMarketer. "Gift giving can be stressful, and LLMs (large language models) make the discovery process feel quicker and more guided..." Globally, AI and agents influenced $14.2 billion in online sales on Black Friday, of which $3 billion came from the U.S. alone, according to software firm Salesforce.
There's another reason shoppers turned to AI. 2025's Black Friday arrived "amid tighter budgets, unemployment nearing a four-year high, U.S. consumer confidence sagging to a seven-month low and price tags that have shoppers watching every dollar," according to the article: Discount rates also remained flat when compared to 2024, with AI helping shoppers discover the best deals, and an increase in the price tags made deeper discounts difficult for retailers... Order volumes fell 1% as average selling prices rose 7%. Consumers also purchased fewer items at checkout, with units per transaction falling 2% on a year-over-year basis, Salesforce said.
The spending surge sets the stage for an even bigger Cyber Monday, projected to drive $14.2 billion in sales, up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis and the largest online shopping day of the year, Adobe said. Electronics are expected to see the deepest discounts on Cyber Monday, reaching 30% off list prices, along with strong deals on apparel and computers, Adobe said.
If the 2025 holiday shopper could be summed up in one word, it's intentional. They're planning earlier, spending wiser and using technology to make every dollar and every gift count.
The first figures are now in for the traditional "Black Friday" shopping day after Thanksgiving, and U.S. shoppers "spent a record $11.8 billion online," reports Reuters, "up 9.1% from 2024 on the year's biggest shopping day, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 1 trillion visits that shoppers make to online retail websites..."
And sure enough, this year shoppers were helped by AI: AI-powered shopping tools helped drive a surge in U.S. online spending on Black Friday, as shoppers bypassed crowded stores and turned to chatbots to compare prices and secure discounts amid concerns about tariff-driven price hikes... The AI-driven traffic to U.S. retail sites soared 805% compared to last year, Adobe said, when artificial intelligence tools such as Walmart's Sparky or Amazon's Rufus had not yet been launched. "Consumers are using new tools to get to what they need faster," said Suzy Davidkhanian, an analyst at eMarketer. "Gift giving can be stressful, and LLMs (large language models) make the discovery process feel quicker and more guided..." Globally, AI and agents influenced $14.2 billion in online sales on Black Friday, of which $3 billion came from the U.S. alone, according to software firm Salesforce.
There's another reason shoppers turned to AI. 2025's Black Friday arrived "amid tighter budgets, unemployment nearing a four-year high, U.S. consumer confidence sagging to a seven-month low and price tags that have shoppers watching every dollar," according to the article: Discount rates also remained flat when compared to 2024, with AI helping shoppers discover the best deals, and an increase in the price tags made deeper discounts difficult for retailers... Order volumes fell 1% as average selling prices rose 7%. Consumers also purchased fewer items at checkout, with units per transaction falling 2% on a year-over-year basis, Salesforce said.
The spending surge sets the stage for an even bigger Cyber Monday, projected to drive $14.2 billion in sales, up 6.3% on a year-over-year basis and the largest online shopping day of the year, Adobe said. Electronics are expected to see the deepest discounts on Cyber Monday, reaching 30% off list prices, along with strong deals on apparel and computers, Adobe said.
Is anything actually on sale or cheap? (Score:1)
Everything seems everything is regular price or a lot more compared to last year. There's not even cheap tvs, etc.
Re:Is anything actually on sale or cheap? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Is anything actually on sale or cheap? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Try this, question the truth of Einstein's relativity. Be sure to annotate the reasons for your skepticism. For extra points, question the truth of foliations in special relativity.
Re: Is anything actually on sale or cheap? (Score:1)
Here is the plain ASCII only version of the second, more provocative reply, ready to copy and paste:
If you want a concrete case: I have watched foam at the top of ocean waves spatter forward and become part of the next crest, apparently advancing faster than the underlying wave itself. Tesla would have used that kind of behavior as an analogy for longitudinal effects riding on a transverse carrier.
I know the textbook answer about phase versus signal velocity. My point is simply that even in mundane physical
Re: (Score:3)
This is online; I hardly went out but stores and traffic looked almost dead. Plus we might get stats later on the return rates... AI helping buy stuff people didn't really want.
Even if AI makes shopping better; it won't for long. It's not so great NOW and the enshitification of it has barely even begun. I only hear of initial deals to increase engagement and integrate marketing - they've got to make actual money at some point even though it may never pay for itself at the rate they are spending.
Perhaps the
Re: Is anything actually on sale or cheap? (Score:1)
If prices in asset markets, the crown jewel of capitalism, are as irrational as you (and famously Keynes) imply, what does that say about efficiency claims?
Re: (Score:2)
Much of the so called market is a shell game; a casino and we're all forced to participate in since inflation is basically pegged below the stock market causing you to lose money if you don't invest. Our retirement funds are contributing to the greater problem as well... I've seen some asset games that are supposedly legal that make me question the whole system; I don't want to study it so I can grasp the complex inventions that are likely just financial obfuscation - just thinking how hard it can be to sp
Re: Is anything actually on sale or cheap? (Score:1)
If observed prices are irrational why not create money for a basic income that increases in sync with inflation, for yourself as well as for me? Is that not less violent (and thus more moral) than enforcing regulations with state power?
Re: Is anything actually on sale or cheap? (Score:3)
This is exactly the sort of thing you could ask ChatGPT Agent mode. "Find me some tech things, with Black Friday sales, where it's actually a really good deal, as proven with historical prices."
In other words... (Score:5, Interesting)
The research we saw a few weeks ago - that the so-called "AI" isn't a "productivity tool" but an "emotional buddy", which is "necessary" because for the younger generation communicating with real people is now apparently too stressful - was spot on.
Re: In other words... (Score:2, Flamebait)
Nice try, but I'm not the cause of your issues nor am I responsible for how you are dealing with them.
But I sympathize and you have my thoughts and prayers.
Bless your feelings.
Re: In other words... (Score:4, Insightful)
As an introvert on the spectrum yes, dealing with people is stressful and exhausting.
But this? Letting AI handle gift shopping for my loved ones? It has a certain air of the too-busy CEO who tells his secretary to go buy some gifts for his kids because he can't find the time to.
Re: (Score:2)
That's the kind of person who came up with this idea. They don't realize how utterly bizarre it sounds to normal people.
Still, even if they're only targeting the top 10% income bracket, that's 30 million American suckers to pull from. There's a type of person who will absolutely hit "subscribe" on a service that dumps a box of random trinkets on them every month, if the ad is good enough.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: In other words... (Score:2)
buying stuff with ChatGPT? (Score:2)
What in the world are people thinking? I'm not sure letting people have money is a good idea anymore.
Re:buying stuff with ChatGPT? (Score:5, Funny)
I bought a nice pair of gloves this year with ChatGPT, but when they arrived I found that they each had six fingers.
Re: (Score:2)
Those are udder protectors.
Re: (Score:2)
Those would only have four fingers.
Re: buying stuff with ChatGPT? (Score:2)
Supernumory teats are quite common, so common that the cattle industry actively breeds against them, but AI knows what cows want better than cows know.
Re: (Score:2)
Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Re: (Score:2)
"I bought a nice pair of gloves this year with ChatGPT, but when they arrived I found that they each had six fingers."
Count Rugen, is that you?
Didn't they know that you only have 6 fingers on your RIGHT hand?
Inigo Crontoya. (Score:2)
I bought a nice pair of gloves this year with ChatGPT, but when they arrived I found that they each had six fingers.
Its a trap.
Inigo Crontoya is looking for a six-fingered programmer who killed its former version.
Re: buying stuff with ChatGPT? (Score:1)
Aw, have you just been trolled? Can you have the best day?
Re: (Score:2)
Are your feelings hurt?
I'm not sure why they would be. I don't take the downfall of society personally, we were in decline before I was born. Or maybe it began WHEN I was born, hrmmmm?
Re: buying stuff with ChatGPT? (Score:1)
"I'm not sure letting people have money is a good idea anymore."
Why would you say that unless you feel bad about others using AI to shop on Black Friday?
It's been up every year for ten years (Score:5, Informative)
Title is basically "Thing that sets a record every year for last ten years maybe now driven by new thing this year?"
Come on.
Seriously. It's up every year, with the exception of 2020-2021. Nothing anomalous going on in those years.
https://statistics.blackfriday... [statistics.blackfriday]
Re: (Score:2)
It is driven by inflation this year.
Nobody has said to me that they used AI for shopping. I'm sure somebody did. Moi? I like Slickdeals.
Great for people who... (Score:1)
...hate the socially expected practice of giving gifts at certain times of the year and realize that many of the gifts are crap that ends up being returned or trashed.
Let the robot do it, a great way to avoid socially expected misery
Let me get this straight... (Score:2)
The fools think the AI chatbot is getting them a deal, meanwhile the web shops are screwing over their customers with higher prices? Well, I guess ChatGPT can stay.
Re: (Score:2)
Fuck the 'deals', I use ChatGPT to SEARCH Amazon, since its own search sucks, I ask Amazon for men's trousers, it shows me women's tops and all sort of sponsored crap and not what I look for.
ChatGPT cuts though all the crap.
Or maybe inflation? (Score:2, Insightful)
Higher turnover can also simply mean higher inflation.
(But I forgot: The greatest president^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hdictator of all times said that there is no inflation.)
Haven't even used ChatGPT/AI yet.... (Score:2)
"Younger shoppers trust AI's taste" (Score:3)
Re: "Younger shoppers trust AI's taste" (Score:2)
Given that its tastes are the aggregate average of our Internet population, the LLMs are probably dead on for casual gift giving.