Online spending on Black Friday set a new record through AI-powered shopping tools, Reuters reports.
U.S. shoppers spent a total $11.8 billion online, which was a 9.1% increase from the previous year, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 1 trillion visits made buy shoppers on retail websites. The new record was set despite tighter budgets, unemployment set to reach a four-year high, consumer confidence dropping to a seven-month low and higher price tags.
Online shopping demand rose by 10.4% in e-commerce sales during Black Friday, while in-store sales increased by 1.7% since 2024, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse. The AI-driven online traffic increased by 805% from 2024, according to Adobe, which was prior to new artificial intelligence tolls, such as Walmart’s Sparky and Amazon’s Rufus, being launched.
“Consumers are using new tools to get to what they need faster,” said Suzy Davidkhanian, an analyst at eMarketer, via Reuters. “Gift giving can be stressful, and LLMs (large language models) make the discovery process feel quicker and more guided.”
Hot selling Black Friday items included LEGO sets and Pokémon cards, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5 gaming consoles and various electronic products.
“There are two things driving up the average selling price in the United States,” said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce via Reuters. “The first is absolutely the impact of tariffs, especially on those discretionary categories where we’ve seen a lot of growth in selling price. The other is the fact that we’re seeing a much stronger higher-income earner than average-income earner, evidenced by the strength in the luxury category,” she added.
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