Black Friday sales numbers: what the day is, how sales are measured and official figures
NRF counted a record 202.9 million shoppers over Thanksgiving weekend 2025, and the Census Bureau measured $365,160 million in Q4 online sales. Data, no coupons.
In this article
A record 202.9 million people shopped in the US during the five days from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday 2025, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), up from 197 million the year before. Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and none of the sources below publishes a dollar total for the day itself. For dollars instead of shoppers, the Census Bureau measured $365,160 million in US retail e-commerce sales in Q4 2025, the quarter that contains the date.
Key points
- The NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics counted 202.9 million shoppers over Thanksgiving weekend 2025, beating the previous record of 200.4 million set in 2023.
- Black Friday remained the top shopping day of the weekend, with 80.3 million in-store shoppers and 85.7 million online in 2025, slightly fewer than in 2024.
- Census Bureau data puts Q4 2025 retail e-commerce at $365,160 million, or 18.3% of total retail sales.
- Average holiday spending per weekend shopper was $337.86 in 2025, against $315.56 in 2024, according to the NRF.
- None of the official sources below isolates Black Friday dollar sales: the Census Bureau reports by quarter, and so does Spain's CNMC.
What Black Friday is
Thanksgiving is a federal holiday in the US, and the Friday after it opens the retail holiday season. For its own figures, the NRF, the trade group of US retailers, defines that season as Nov. 1 through Dec. 311. Black Friday sits near the start of that window, inside the five days the NRF tracks from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday.
Why "black"? None of the official sources cited below documents where the name comes from (several stories circulate, each repeated with more confidence than evidence).
The date has spread well beyond the US. Retailers in Spain and Mexico run their own Black Friday promotions, though none of the sources below publishes results for the day in either country. Mexico also has El Buen Fin, Mexico's November sales event, with its own organizers and calendar.
When is Black Friday 2026?
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, and none of the sources below publishes a calendar for the 2026 edition, so confirm the date with each retailer's own announcement. Cyber Monday follows three days later. The Saturday and Sunday in between round out the five days the NRF tracks.
How Black Friday sales numbers are measured
Three kinds of data get quoted every year, and they answer different questions. The Census Bureau counts sales: it defines e-commerce as sales of goods and services where the buyer places the order, or the price and terms are negotiated, over the internet, an extranet, EDI, email or another online system3. Its estimates cover only businesses with paid employees.
The NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics count people. Their post-weekend survey for 2025 asked 3,099 adult consumers and carries a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points1. Abroad, Spain's competition and markets regulator (CNMC) publishes quarterly e-commerce turnover and transaction counts7, and Mexico's Online Sales Association (AMVO) reports gross merchandise value, or GMV8.
Example: to find the share of US retail purchases made online in Q4 2025, divide e-commerce sales by total retail sales and multiply by 100: 365,160 / 1,999,440 × 100 = 18.26%. The Census Bureau publishes the rounded figure, 18.3%.
Official US sales figures by year
The Census Bureau's not seasonally adjusted quarterly series makes it possible to compare the last quarter of each year, the one that holds Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Christmas3.
| Year | Retail e-commerce sales, Q4 (millions of dollars, not adjusted) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 275,587 |
| 2022 | 289,493 |
| 2023 | 317,892 |
| 2024 | 345,872 |
| 2025 | 365,160 |
From Q4 2024 to Q4 2025, online retail sales grew 5.6%, and their share of total retail moved from 17.8% to 18.3%. But a quarter covers October, November and December, and the Census Bureau does not say how much of that total came from Black Friday.
Black Friday shoppers by day, according to the NRF
Because the NRF figures come from a survey, they count people who say they shopped, never dollars spent1.
| Shoppers (millions) | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Full weekend, Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday | 197 | 202.9 |
| In-store, full weekend | 126 | 129.5 |
| Online, full weekend | 124.3 | 134.9 |
| Black Friday, in-store | 81.7 | 80.3 |
| Black Friday, online | 87.3 | 85.7 |
| Saturday, in-store | 61.1 | 62.7 |
| Saturday, online | 53.9 | 63 |
| Sunday, in-store | 25.6 | 32.6 |
| Cyber Monday, online | 64.4 | 75.9 |
| Cyber Monday, on mobile devices | 40.4 | 46.9 |
The 2025 weekend total was 3.0% higher than in 2024. The 85.7 million people who shopped online on Friday equal 63.5% of all online shoppers that weekend. Weekend shoppers spent $337.86 on average on gifts, holiday apparel, decorations and other seasonal items, compared with $315.56 a year earlier.
Supermarkets (47%) and online (45%) were the top shopping destinations. Clothing and accessories led gift purchases at 51%, followed by toys at 32%. In the NRF's pre-holiday survey of 8,000 adults, debit cards were the most popular way to pay for gifts (44%), ahead of credit cards (37%) and cash (16%)2.
Outside the US: Spain and Mexico
Spain has the closest equivalent to the Census series. The CNMC reported €31,418 million in e-commerce turnover for Q4 2025, up 22% from a year earlier, across more than 575 million transactions (+20.2%)5.
| Spain, CNMC | Q2 2025 | Q4 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Turnover | €28,346 million | €31,418 million |
| Year-over-year change in turnover | +22.6% | +22% |
| Transactions | More than 493 million (+16.8%) | More than 575 million (+20.2%) |
For all of 2025, Spanish e-commerce topped €114,800 million, 20.6% more than the year before. In Q4, travel agencies and tour operators took 7.1% of turnover, and sales from Spain to buyers abroad reached €18,164 million (+14.8%)5. The Q2 2025 column in the table comes from the CNMC's earlier release6. The CNMC does not separate Black Friday week from the rest of the quarter.
None of the sources below gives an official Black Friday figure for Mexico.
The numbers there come from El Buen Fin and from the AMVO, which organizes Hot Sale, Mexico's spring online sales event. The AMVO's 2025 summary reports more than 680 participating companies and nearly 30 billion pesos in Hot Sale sales. Its Online Sales Study 2026 puts 2025 retail e-commerce GMV at 941 billion pesos and digital shoppers at 77.2 million, an estimate based on INEGI's ENDUTIH household survey; the trade group's own sample was 1,048 digital shoppers8.
What changed in the last season
Online grew faster than stores in 2025: weekend online shoppers rose 9% and in-store shoppers 3%, according to the NRF. Black Friday lost a little traffic in both channels while online Saturday, in-store Sunday (a record, up 27%) and Cyber Monday gained, and the NRF release offers no explanation for the shift. And the newest Census number comes after that season, so it belongs in a separate box: Q2 2026 retail e-commerce was $340,200 million seasonally adjusted, up 3.8% from Q1 2026 and 12.2% from Q2 20254.
Anyone checking retailer claims against these series may find the guide on how to read industry reports useful.
Common mix-ups
Shoppers versus sales. The 202.9 million figure counts survey respondents scaled up to the population, so it says nothing about dollars. Daily figures also can't be added up, since one person may shop in a store and online, or on Friday and again on Monday.
Adjusted versus not adjusted. The $340,200 million for Q2 2026 is seasonally adjusted, while the $365,160 million for Q4 2025 is not, so the two don't compare. In Q2 2026, e-commerce made up 16.4% of total sales on an unadjusted basis, with adjusted total retail sales of $1,986,500 million.
Black Friday, Cyber Monday and El Buen Fin. The first two are US dates that other countries adopted; El Buen Fin is a Mexican campaign with its own organizers. Census coverage has a blind spot too: businesses without paid employees are left out.
The Census Bureau releases Q3 2026 e-commerce data on November 19, 2026, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, and the quarter that includes this year's Black Friday will only appear in a later report.
Frequently asked questions
When is Black Friday 2026?
It is the Friday after Thanksgiving. None of the sources below publishes a calendar for the 2026 edition. Cyber Monday follows on the next Monday. The NRF counts both inside a holiday season that runs from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31.
How many people shop on Black Friday?
According to the NRF and Prosper Insights & Analytics survey of 3,099 adults, 80.3 million people shopped in stores and 85.7 million online on Black Friday 2025. In 2024 the figures were 81.7 million and 87.3 million. Even with that dip, Black Friday stayed the top shopping day of the weekend in both channels.
How much do Americans spend on Black Friday?
None of the sources below publishes a dollar total for the day itself. The NRF reports $337.86 in average holiday spending per shopper across the whole 2025 weekend, and the Census Bureau reports $365,160 million in retail e-commerce for Q4 2025, a quarter that also includes October and December.
Are there official Black Friday figures for Mexico or Spain?
Not for the day. Spain's CNMC reports quarterly e-commerce, with €31,418 million in Q4 2025. In Mexico, the available numbers cover El Buen Fin and the AMVO's annual data, including 941 billion pesos in 2025 retail e-commerce GMV.
Sources
- National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, "Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend Draws a Record 203 Million Shoppers" (December 2, 2025). Weekend and daily shoppers, average spending, destinations, gifts, sample and margin of error, holiday season definition. nrf.com. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
- National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics, "Thanksgiving Weekend Expected to Draw Largest Number of Shoppers on Record" (November 2025). Pre-holiday survey sample and gift payment methods. nrf.com. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
- Census Bureau, "Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales, not seasonally adjusted series" (tsnotadjustedsales.xlsx, 2026 edition). Q4 e-commerce and total retail sales from 2021 to 2025, e-commerce share, definition and coverage. census.gov. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
- Census Bureau, "Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales Report" (Q2 2026). Adjusted sales, changes, unadjusted share and next release date. census.gov. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
- CNMC, "Press release: e-commerce in Q4 2025" (2026). Turnover, transactions, sectors and cross-border sales for Q4 and full-year 2025. cnmc.es. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
- CNMC, "Press release: e-commerce in Q2 2025" (2026). Turnover and transactions for Q2 2025. cnmc.es. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
- CNMC, "CNMC Data: e-commerce". What the quarterly series measures. data.cnmc.es. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
- Asociación de Venta Online (AMVO), "Online Sales Study 2026, press version" (2026). Hot Sale 2025, Mexico's retail e-commerce GMV, digital shoppers and sample base. images.produ.com. Accessed Nov 2, 2026.
Chart: our own, with data from Census Bureau, Quarterly Retail E-Commerce Sales (source 3).
fact.mr is not affiliated with consulting firms with similar names.
Found an error? Write to us at [email protected].
