The data is in from this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) sales. The results from the year’s biggest sales event always offer valuable insights about the state of the economy, but this year’s data points to some new and interesting trends in the retail industry.
In particular, this year’s data offers new insights into AI’s impact on the way people shop and how retailers should use AI in their customer interactions. Let’s take a look at the three most striking trends and what they mean for retailers.
Spending shifts to the top
CNN: “Consumers have bought fewer items this holiday season, but the average selling prices are higher.”
Overall sales revenues increased this BFCM, but the data suggests that a significant portion of that growth could be due to inflation. With middle- and lower-income consumers buying less, the wealthiest buyers made up the difference with larger purchases. Rising costs have had little effect on the appetite of high-income consumers, and retailers should look to increase revenues with these customers as they plan for 2026.
Takeaway: Your best customers are more important than ever before.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday always bring in an influx of new customers, but this year’s data confirmed something we already knew: retailers should focus on expanding relationships with their best customers.
Personalized communication and offers can increase the average purchase size of your top consumers and, over time, increase their customer lifetime value (CLV). Effective personalization requires a comprehensive, data-backed overview of customers with an up-to-date understanding of their behaviors and intent.
With Amperity’s Real-Time Personalization, complete customer profiles and real-time insights personalize interactions with high-value customers across all channels. Your best customers feel seen, understood and rewarded - driving repeat purchases and increased revenues.
AI shopping on the rise
Forbes: “...customers leveraged AI tools to identify the best deals, which boosted AI-driven traffic to retailers’ websites by 805% year-on-year.”
Forbes highlights how GenAI tools are changing the way people shop. This year, many of those who previously used Google to find BFCM deals turned to ChatGPT instead.
Leading retailers are already taking note. Amazon and Walmart are building in-house AI tools to give shoppers the search experience they prefer while keeping them inside company-owned channels.
Takeaway: You need customer-facing AI tools - supported by customer data.
An 805% jump in AI-driven traffic is a red flashing light for retailers: figure out your AI strategy by next BFCM or risk falling behind the competition.
Amperity’s 2025 State of AI in Retail report found that just 43% of retailers are using AI in customer-facing applications. Over the next 12 months, companies must prioritize this side of their business to catch up with industry leaders.
AI models can quickly and accurately help you target customers, predicting those likely to return versus those that need incentives. But AI is only as good as the data it’s trained on. Customer-facing AI tools, in particular, need access to large amounts of high-quality data to make informed recommendations and avoid off-putting hallucinations.
Successful, customer-facing AI initiatives depend on reliable identity resolution. Amperity’s Identity Resolution consolidates customer data across all touchpoints, using AI to accurately resolve identities and create stable customer IDs that evolve as new data is collected. Without identity resolution, you’re left with fragmented and duplicated data that reduces the value of your AI outputs
Holiday sales events still matter
CNBC: “...online shopping turnout jumped even more — by 9% year over year — as 134.9 million people shopped on retailers’ websites and apps.”
As BFCM sales continue to grow, shoppers are leaning more towards online shopping experiences. Retailers need to continue investing in and optimizing their digital channels to meet customers where they are in 2026.
Takeaway: Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still high-stakes events for retailers, but what you do after matters more.
There may no longer be people camping outside big box stores, but year-on-year growth shows holiday sales events are still crucial, especially online. Retailers should be dedicating resources to BFCM strategies, using customer data they collect throughout the year to shape their marketing campaigns and offers.
With almost 135 million people shopping online, BFCM offers a huge opportunity to attract new customers. Retailers need to capitalize on this surge by converting first-time buyers into long-term customers through loyalty strategies like personalization.
Amperity helps retailers personalize their marketing and sales outreach with Real-Time Profiles. Amperity’s Identity Resolution Agent ensures customer profiles are complete, and accurate by unifying data from all touchpoints and eliminating duplicates. Profiles are then supplemented with data from interactions as they occur, ensuring customer IDs are always based on the latest behavioral signals.
Armed with real-time personalization, retailers can tailor their outputs for each customer, sending buyers the offers they want when it’s most likely to move the needle. Personalization should be fundamental to your post-Black Friday strategy: helping you simultaneously deepen relationships with your strongest customers while also establishing trust with new shoppers.
For more on how to build your post-Black Friday strategy, check out our recently released 2025 Retail Holiday Guide to AI and Customer Data.