Leading up to Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, there was a massive argument in the shopping press.

Is Black Friday going to be huge because of deal-seekers or will the tough economy hit sales hard?

Thankfully for those of us who financially depend on Black Friday going well, it was the former.

So much ink has been spilled in the press about why this happened, I thought it would be useful to do a bit of a press round-up around what this says about the current state of the online shopping economy.

Also in this edition:

🦘Australia Boots Teens Off Social Media

🤔 X Exposes Profile Locations, Then Immediately Stops

🤝 WMG’s Suno Lawsuit Turns Into a Partnership

💌 YouTube Teases DMs

💪🏼 Jobs from TikTok, Netflix, and Henkel

🎭 …and a dank meme from yours truly!

Let’s get into it.

TLDR:

Sales numbers are still rolling in for Black Friday 2025 (it is still Cyber Monday, afterall), but it’s clear the economic doomers missed the mark.

It was a big shopping day.

But this was despite mostly failing in-person sales.

So what did we learn this year?

Ecommerce is a runaway train that isn’t slowing down

Adobe Analytics estimates U.S. ecommerce sales on Black Friday to be $11.8 billion, which is 9.1% higher than last year. Salesforce is saying $18 billion in the US and $70 billion worldwide.

And over 50% of that happened on mobile phones.

That’s a massive amount of sales. Tens of millions per minute during peak hours.

There’s a lot of punditry trying to explain why this jump happened (AI, social commerce, targeted digital marketing, deal-seekers), but I think it’s more simple than that:

Everyone’s already shopping online, so impulse buying is easy.

I can speak personally that unlike past years when Amazon and Walmart would show me all of the top deals, I noticed my feed was far more curated around specific items I’ve bought in the past. That’s huge.

AI Shopping is Getting Mainstream

AI shopping on Black Friday saw an 805% increase from last year, per Adobe Analytics.

And in the run-up to Black Friday, I saw multiple clickbait explainers with the headlines, “How to use AI to find the best Black Friday deals.”

I admit it: I’m one of them.

We needed a new TV and I knew what features I wanted, and I had my ChatGPT agent find me the best deal.

Then I double-checked (as I always do with AI) and it turned out to be correct.

I suspect this trend will grow even more next year as the shopping experience is still pretty weak within AI windows. I can’t wait to see the purchasing happen within my chat window.

Most Brick and Mortar Fell, Unless They Gave Stuff Away

Target offered collectible shopping swag bags to the first 100 customers on Black Friday.

The result?

They seemed to be one of the biggest winners in terms of in-person shopping.

Lowes also gave away a free bucket. And JCPenny gave away a snow globe.

And Walmart’s novelty Kraft Macaroni & Cheese 65 box mega-box that sold out immediately.

Anyone who knows retail can see why this makes sense.

One hundred swag bags? Considering the brands probably provided the product, this probably cost them a few hundred bucks per store.

And the result was millions of dollars.

Games, competitions, and collectibles work. A next-level Black Friday brand would have had custom streetwear collabs drop at their stores for the first handful of customers and watch Gen Z battle for it on StockX all day.

The Bad Part: Prices Were Way Up

Prices, on average, were 7% higher this year than last for Black Friday goods. That’s a massive bit of inflation, which was already out of control last year.

In other words, sales volume was actually 1% down this year.

The higher sales totals were due to higher prices.

There isn’t a lot of disagreement on what’s causing this: tariffs are hitting a lot of popular Black Friday products hard, including beauty, wellness, electronics, and fashion.

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What creators, brands, governments, and platforms are making waves this week in the name of fortune, fame, and fun?

🦘On December 10, Australia will no longer allow kids under the age of 16 to have social media accounts. The panic is already starting as kids scramble to download photos and find new methods to connect with friends. Another reason why I’m so bullish on the future of communication and dark social apps.

🤔 Continuing X’s ongoing series “stuff anyone in social media could have told you would happen”, X briefly decided to show the location of origin for accounts, then, when many MAGA accounts were shown to be not-American, it was removed. X is now, per usual, doing backflips to explain why this happened without stating the obvious: “Elon had a fit.”

🤝 I love a good ‘enemies-to-lovers’ plotline. Warner Music Group settled their lawsuit with Suno for an undisclosed amount, announcing a partnership they say will protect their artists. With ex-YouTube bigwig Robert Kincyl at the helm of WMG, it’s not surprising they are the first to figure out how to play along with AI.

💌 YouTube got rid of DMs in 2019, but now they’re making a comeback! So what’s changed? Simple: AI. As content loses value and true community/relationship-building gains importance, YouTube needs to ensure it remains a solution for creators to build meaningful careers. DMs won’t be a full solution, but a step in the right direction.

Creator Manager, Cross-Platform, TikTok

Are we a few weeks away from yet another shutdown deadline for TikTok in the US? Absolutely. Will it shut down? Absolutely not. It’s still a great time to get in with TikTok. My clients are still finding loads of success on the platform and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Creator & Talent Partnerships, Social Marketing - Games Manager, Netflix

Have you seen what’s been going on with Netflix and games lately? They have Pictionary in the TV app that you can play with your family on your phone. That’s right! Jackbox Games-style! And just like Jackbox Games, there’s a ton of opportunity to bring these games onto YouTube and Twitch.

Senior Manager, Social Channel & Creator Marketing – Meta & Pinterest MSDS, Henkel

Insanely long job name aside: if you’re interested in going in-house with a brand, this would be a great one. The makers of all and Snuggle have iconic brands with strong advertising histories, but have never driven much impact on social platforms. If you think you can turn them into the Duolingo of laundry products, this could be your perfect role.