Black Friday sets online spending record of $11.8B, Adobe says

American consumers spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, according to data from Adobe Analytics, which says it tracks more than 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites.

That’s a new record, and up from $10.8 billion spent on Black Friday last year, Adobe says. Between 10am and 2pm, online shoppers were supposedly spending $12.5 million every minute. Forbes reports that Adobe said in a statement that the numbers show Black Friday has become “a major e-commerce moment, as more shoppers opt to stay home and take advantage of deals.” 

The company projects that Cyber Monday (coming in two days, on December 1) will be even bigger, with $14.2 billion spent online, according to Reuters.

Black Friday data from companies like Adobe and Salesforce can provide an early indicator of broader holiday shopping trends. Adobe is projecting a total of $253.4 billion in holiday spending this year, compared to $241.1 billion in 2024.

Salesforce said it tracked $79 billion in global spending on Black Friday, with $18 billion of that in the United States, year-over-year increases of 6% and 3%, respectively. But this growth may have less to do with increased consumer demand and instead reflecting higher prices — Salesforce data also shows that prices were up an average of 7%, while order volumes were down 1%.

And both Adobe and Salesforce claim to see a growing influence of AI on holiday shopping. For example, Salesforce said that between Thanksgiving and Black Friday, AI and AI agents influenced $22 billion in global sales, though it’s not clear how broadly that’s defined.

The data is less clear about how online trends compare to in-person shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, with RetailNext telling Forbes that in-store traffic appears to be down 3.4% nationwide, while Pass_by said foot traffic is up 1.17% overall, and up an even more impressive 7.9% in department stores.