1 - What happened in Black Friday 2025?

Q4 2026 WORKSHOP - DAY 1

What happened in Black Friday 2025?

https://www.shopify.com/news/bfcm-data-2025

📈 $14.6 billion in global sales, +27% increase in sales from 2024

🎉 81+ million consumers bought from Shopify-powered brands

🛍️ Hottest product categories: Cosmetics, clothing, activewear, fitness & nutrition

🛒 Average cart price: $114

🌎 Top selling countries: US, UK, Australia, Germany, Canada

🏢 Top selling cities: Los Angeles, New York, London, San Francisco, Miami

🕜 Peak sales/minute: $5.1 million at 12:01PM EST on Black Friday

💳 39% year-over-year increase in sales made via Shop Pay

Shopify BFCM Sales Evolution

2019 → $2.9B

2020 → $5.1B (+75.9% YoY)

2021 → $6.3B (+23.5% YoY)

2022 → $7.5B (+19.0% YoY)

2023 → $9.3B (+24.0% YoY)

2024 → $11.5B (+23.7% YoY)

2025 → $14.6B (+27.0% YoY)

2026 → $17-19B (20-30% growth rate)

Just looking at this:

• Black Friday isn’t dying or declining
• It gets bigger every year

Other Aggregated Data Sources

ADOBE ARTICLE

https://news.adobe.com/news/2025/12/adobe-cyber-monday-hits-record

https://news.adobe.com/news/2026/01/adobe-holiday-shopping-season

Based on Adobe Analytics data, Generative AI tools drove a 693.4% increase in traffic to retail sites

🤖 AI Became a Real eCommerce Acquisition Channel in 2025

+693% YoY — Traffic from AI tools → retail websites

+670% YoY — AI traffic on Cyber Monday

+38% — Conversion rate of AI traffic vs. other traffic on Black Friday

+31% — Conversion rate of AI traffic vs. other sources during Holiday 2025

AI traffic is still small compared with established channels — but its growth and purchase intent are becoming impossible to ignore.

______________________________________________________________________

NRF Article

Meta Peak Season Resources

(coming soon…)

From a 2025 webinar, from Meta:

• UGC Videos
• "Must buy for Black Friday 2026"
• "Top 5 Best XMAS Presents"

• Article-Style Images
• "Top 7 Products for Black Friday 2025"
• "Why a (your product) is the Best XMAS Gift"

CONCLUSION

• BFCM is growing
• Competition for demand is also growing