Holiday weekend sets shopping records

Consumers went shopping in record numbers over the holiday weekend, both in-store and online, and they spent record amounts, according to reports. The National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics reported that a record 202.9 million consumers shopped during the five-day holiday weekend, from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. That's up from 197 million shoppers last year, and it surpasses the previous record of 200.4 million, set in 2023.

The total number of shoppers exceeded the NRF's expectations. Going into the holiday weekend, the retail trade association said it expected 186.9 million consumers to go over the five-day period.

The online channel drew the most shoppers: 134.9 million, up from 124.3 million last year, a 9 percent increase. A total of 129.5 million consumers shopped in-store, a 3 percent increase from 126 million in 2024.

Black Friday was the biggest shopping day, attracting 80.3 million in-store and 85.7 million online shoppers, the NRF said. And shoppers ramped up their activity over the weekend.

• Saturday drew 62.7 million in-store shoppers (up slightly from 61.1 million last year) and a huge leap in online shoppers, 63 million compared with 53.9 million last year.

• The Sunday after Thanksgiving drew a record 32.6 million in-store shoppers, a 27 percent increase over 2024, and 38.7 million online shoppers, up from 32.8 million last year.

• Cyber Monday was the second most popular day for online shipping, attracting 75.9 million shoppers to websites, compared to 64.4 million shoppers in 2024.

"This year's record turnout reflects a highly engaged consumer who is focused on value, responds to compelling promotions, and seizes upon the opportunity to make the winter holidays special and meaningful," said NRF President and CEO Matthew Shay.

More shoppers, more money spent

U.S. retail sales, excluding auto, rose 4.1 percent on Black Friday, compared to Black Friday 2024, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which measures all payment types used for in-store and online retail sales. Spending outperformed in pockets of the country, including New England, the Midwest and Southeast, Mastercard reported.

Two of the biggest winners were sellers of apparel (sales climbed 5.7 percent) and restaurants (4.5 percent).

Nearly all (96 percent) weekend shoppers made holiday-related purchases, according to NRF, spending $337.86 on average for items like gifts, holiday apparel, decorations and other seasonal items. This is up from $315.56 last year and the highest total since 2019's record of $361.90. Approximately 67 percent of individual consumer spend ($225.74) was for gifts.

Top gift purchases included clothing and accessories, followed by toys. Books and other media saw a 22 percent increase in sales over last year making this the third most popular category of gifts purchases over the holiday weekend.

The NRF-Prosper data incorporates a survey of 3,099 adult consumers conducted Nov. 26 through Nov. 30, 2025.

Online sales post healthy gains

According to Salesforce.com global online sales grew 7 percent year-on-year over the weekend. U.S. online sales rose 5 percent YoY, the software company said.

Mastercard, meanwhile, reported that ecommerce retail sales (excluding autos) rose 10.4 percent YoY on Black Friday.

Adobe Analytics reported that U.S. shoppers spent $14.25 billion on Cyber Monday, pushing the weekend's online spending total to $44.2 billion.

"Consumers are showing incredible savviness this season," said Michelle Meyer, chief economist at Mastercard Economics Institute. "They're navigating an uncertain environment by shopping early, leveraging promotions, and investing in wish-list items."

"Despite headwinds like tariffs and higher prices, consumers are not holding back from holiday shopping," said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at Salesforce. "This isn't just a shopping holiday; it's a confident commitment from consumers to buy what they want, even if it means a higher ticket price."

Mobile, social media AI push spending

Based on Saleforce's data, mobile shopping has become the digital default for consumers. Over the weekend, 72 percent of global orders and 81 percent of global traffic was initiated using mobile devices. In the U.S., 72 percent of orders and 79 percent of traffic came through mobile devices.

More consumers are using digital wallets as their default payment method, Salesforce said, accounting for 30 percent of U.S. online orders, up from 28 percent last year. Social media drove 15 percent of U.S. digital traffic to retailer sites this weekend, according to Salesforce.

But the real online shopping accelerator appears to have been artificial intelligence. The share of global and U.S. online traffic from third-party AI agent channels over the weekend tripled compared to the same time period last year, Salesforce said.

And this AI-referred traffic drove significantly higher conversion rates compared to traffic coming from social media platforms. AI agent channel traffic saw eight-times the conversion that social media channels did over the weekend.

Retailers with their own branded shopping agents on their websites saw three times greater sales growth over the weekend than those that didn't (8 percent versus 2.6 percent), Salesforce reported. "AI is the ultimate purchase accelerator, guiding consumers with clear intent straight to the buy button," Schwartz said.

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