AI-powered shopping tools helped drive a surge in US online spending on Black Friday, as shoppers bypassed crowded stores and turned to chatbots to compare prices and secure discounts amid concerns about tariff-driven price hikes.
US shoppers spent a record 11.8bn R201.9bn online, up 9.1 from 2024 on the years biggest shopping day, according to Adobe Analytics, which tracks 1-trillion visits that shoppers make to online retail websites.
The holiday shopping season arrives amid tighter budgets, unemployment nearing a four-year high, US consumer confidence sagging to a seven-month low and price tags that have shoppers watching every dollar.