Black Friday deals started early this year, but the event itself drew more shoppers than expected. The National Retail Federation and Prosper Insights & Analytics reported that the past holiday weekend drew 202.9 million shoppers — breaking the 2023 record of 200.4 million and surpassing expectations of 186.9 million. For the total holiday season (November and December 2025), Forrester’s annual Holiday Retail Forecast projects 4.4% YOY total holiday retail sales growth and online retail sales to reach $270 billion.

In Forrester’s review of 116 US retail websites on both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we saw that retailers went above and beyond with promotions to spur spending:

  • Black Friday discounts were widespread and increased with more dollars spent. In line with last year, 91% of retailers we reviewed participated in Black Friday promotions. Nine out of 10 of those participants had some kind of discount or offer, and one-third offered sitewide sales, including Footlocker, J.Crew, and Skechers. Other holiday perks for online shoppers included extended returns windows (e.g., Macy’s and Microsoft) and gifts with purchases. Brands like Brooks Brothers and Victoria’s Secret offered additional discounts on top of sitewide reductions for their loyalty members.
  • Cyber Monday encouraged more spending with some omnichannel sales. Ninety-one percent of brands that we reviewed also participated in Cyber Monday. A portion of retailers like Ace Hardware focused their promotions on their loyalty member base, with sitewide discounts for members only. Others like Bass Pro Shops offered their Cyber Monday sales to their in-person shoppers if they were a loyalty member. Buy-more-save-more deals were also popular, with Bloomingdale’s and Disney tiering discounts based on how much shoppers purchased.

With Christmas just a few weeks away, keep a pulse on the holidays with our dedicated blog series! Our guidance covers brand-boosting security advice, marketing guidance for SEO, and how to tune your site search to adapt to customers’ holiday needs. If you’re a Forrester client, you can also schedule time with Forrester analysts via a guidance session or inquiry.

 

This blog was coauthored with Delilah Gonzalez, senior research associate.