Black Friday Online Spending Hit a Record. Here's What Sales Teams Should Do Next
U.S. consumers spent $11.8 billion online on Black Friday, up 9.1% year over year and above the forecast. The heaviest buying window ran 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., with roughly $12.5 million spent every minute. The shift is clear: more shoppers chose online deals over store lines.
Global momentum showed up too. Online sales hit $79 billion worldwide (+6%), and $18 billion in the U.S. (+3%). Good, but not wild-growth came with pricing pressure.
AI Is Now Driving Real Revenue
AI wasn't just a gimmick this year. AI-generated visits to U.S. retail sites jumped 805%. AI agents influenced an estimated $14.2 billion in global sales and $3 billion in the U.S.
- Deploy guided selling: on-site AI chat that recommends products, bundles, and add-ons based on intent signals.
- Pipe AI interactions into your CRM: tag AI-assisted sessions, attribute conversions, and retarget high-intent chats within 24 hours.
- Use AI to scale outreach: draft personalized emails/SMS, objection handling, and cart-recovery messages at volume.
Pricing Reality: Higher ASPs, Lower Volumes
Average selling prices were up ~7%, while order volumes dipped ~1%. Shoppers bought, but they felt the pinch from inflation and tariffs.
- Counter sticker shock: push bundles, limited-time "build your own kit," and free-shipping thresholds that improve AOV without heavy margin hits.
- Offer payment flexibility: BNPL and split-pay at checkout to reduce friction on bigger carts.
- Make discounts obvious: price anchoring and side-by-side savings beat vague "sitewide" promos.
Strike During the Peak: 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
That four-hour block carried the day. If your campaigns weren't stacked there, you missed cheap wins.
- Concentrate sends and bids: schedule your biggest email/SMS drops and paid spikes for late morning through early afternoon.
- Launch "micro-offers" on the hour during peak to drive repeat visits and urgency.
- Staff live chat and AI handoffs aggressively in that window; response time is revenue.
Merch and Messaging That Worked
Discounts on electronics, toys, and apparel pulled attention. If you sell adjacent categories, align with those use cases.
- Lead with outcomes, not specs: show the "after" (use-case bundles, gifting guides, quick comparisons).
- Surface social proof fast: top reviews and best-sellers above the fold, especially on mobile.
- One-click add-ons: warranties, accessories, and gift wrap at checkout.
Stores: Mixed Signals, So Go Omnichannel
Foot traffic reads were conflicting. We won't get a clean scorecard until major Q4 results land in early 2026.
- Lean on BOPIS/curbside to bridge online intent to local inventory.
- Sync promos across channels to prevent price whiplash. In-store teams should honor key online offers.
- Use store events to boost new customer capture, then push repeat purchases online.
Make Cyber Monday Your Conversion Cleanup
Cyber Monday is still the biggest e-commerce day. Treat it like the final of a tournament, not "just another promo."
- Retarget browse and cart abandoners from the weekend with price-drop alerts or bundle swaps.
- Shorten the path: prebuilt carts in emails/SMS, deep links to checkout, and instant apply of codes.
- Set clear shipping cutoffs and extended returns to remove last-minute friction.
What to Track This Week
- AI-assisted revenue: sessions with AI chat, conversion rate, AOV, and time to purchase.
- Price elasticity: discount depth vs. margin by category; find the floor where volume returns.
- Peak-hour effectiveness: sends, bids, and chat staffing mapped to revenue per minute.
- Offer fatigue: engagement by subject line and creative-rotate hooks every 6-8 hours.
Skill Up Your Sales Org (Fast)
Your team will sell more if they know how to work with AI day to day-prospecting, follow-up, and on-site guidance. If you need a shortcut, explore practical courses for sales roles here:
Bottom line: demand is there, but it's choosy. Concentrate effort where shoppers are buying (late morning online), use AI to guide and capture intent, and fight price sensitivity with smart offers instead of blanket discounts. Keep the momentum rolling into Cyber Monday and clean up the open opportunities.
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