5 smart tips to save money on Black Friday and holiday shopping
Check out our 5 expert tips to stretch your budget and get the best deals this Black Friday and holiday season.
The best shopping weekend is coming.
According to the National Retail Federation’s annual survey, a record 186.9 million people plan to shop in stores or online between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday in 2025, up from 183.4 million the year before.
According to the survey, Black Friday still holds the top spot, with 130.4 million people (70%) reporting that they plan to shop on that day. Cyber Monday follows, with 40% of respondents, or 73.9 million people, planning to shop.
More than half of shoppers said they head out on Black Friday for “can’t-miss” deals, while others expressed a love of tradition or wanted to get their holiday shopping done over the long weekend.
With so many people planning to do most of their shopping in about four days, the question arises: Which day is better for increasing shopping sales? Black Friday vs. Cyber Monday, which shopping holiday will come out on top?Here’s what you need to know.
When is Black Friday 2025? History of the shopping event.
Black Friday occurs the day after Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 27th this year), and the shopping holiday falls on Friday, November 28th.
The title “Black Friday” is believed to have been coined by Philadelphia police in the 1950s to describe the chaos observed as out-of-town shoppers flocked to the city, USA TODAY previously reported.
By 1961, the name had stuck in Philadelphia, but it didn’t catch on nationally until the late 1980s. Retailers seized the opportunity to reframe the day in a more positive light, concocting an analogy in which a store goes from being “in the red” (going into the red) to being “in the black” (making a profit) due to an explosion in sales the day after Thanksgiving.
When is Cyber Monday in 2025? History of online shopping events.
Cyber Monday is held on the first Monday after Thanksgiving. This year it will be Monday, December 1st.
What started out as a response or complement to Black Friday ended up being just as beneficial for retailers. This official term was coined in 2005 by the National Retail Federation. That’s when the organization noticed a rush of online shopping on the Monday after Thanksgiving, as people returned to work and used faster (at the time) internet connections at offices than at home to start their holiday lists.
Similar to Black Friday, retailers benefited by turning this into a full-fledged sales event with a focus on online shopping and sales.
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are becoming one big shopping event
Black Friday and Cyber Monday used to be two different events, especially when brick-and-mortar stores and in-store flash sales were popular.
But between online shopping becoming a popular year-round transaction method for many consumers and the current trend among retailers to extend shopping holidays into multi-day events to cash in, the two are more or less intertwined. And the COVID-19 pandemic has likely pushed some of the last in-store holdouts into the digital space.
Shopping holidays now often continue back-to-back with no real breaks, like Amazon’s Black Friday week, which starts early on November 20th and is directly connected to its Cyber Monday sale until December 1st. Although the sale is labeled as part of two different events, it functions as one long-term sale.
In some cases, the same sales simply roll over to a “new” holiday promotion and the brand name changes. In some cases, stores choose to save certain types of sales for just that day, so Black Friday and Cyber Monday may be more or less the same thing, but be sure to pay attention to the official sale dates for the items you really want.
Which is better on Cyber Monday or Black Friday? See the data.
There’s a reason Black Friday and Cyber Monday have been able to continue to have such an impact on consumers. Because some of the sales are truly too good to pass up.
According to data compiled by Adobe Analytics, pre-Thanksgiving discounts rise to an average of about 21% and reach 28% by Cyber Monday.
Sales of computers, apparel and other electronics are expected to peak at 23-28% off on Cyber Monday, while TVs, toys, appliances and furniture are expected to peak at about 23-27% off on Black Friday.
According to the Capital One Shopping report, the average Black Friday discount in 2024 was 38.2% at top retailers, with the steepest discounts on jewelry (59.7% off on average), apparel and accessories (36.9% off), furniture (36.1% off), and home appliances (35.6% off). This year’s biggest discounts are expected to be on toys (27% off), TVs (23% off), and furniture/appliances (18% off).
Meanwhile, Cyber Monday sales in 2024 exceeded Black Friday sales by 22.2%, a difference of $10.8 billion. The biggest average discounts for Cyber Monday 2025 are expected to be in electronics (28% off) and apparel (25% off). The biggest discounts in 2024 were in electronics (30.1% off), followed by toys (26.1% off) and apparel (23.2% off).
Adobe predicted that sales for the holiday season (November 1 to December 31) would be a record $253.4 billion, an increase of 5.3% from a year ago. Cyber Monday alone is expected to achieve record sales of $14.2 billion (up 6.8% year over year), followed by Black Friday at $11.7 billion (up 8.3%) and Thanksgiving itself at $6.4 billion (up 4.9%).
Popular Black Friday deals
As interest in online shopping increases, retailers are starting to roll out their “Black Friday” sales earlier and for longer periods, giving customers more time to get their cash. Many retailers are already seeing price cuts, including Amazon, Walmart, and Target. However, some of the biggest deals are usually booked on the same day.
Amazon’s Black Friday 2025 sale begins early on Thursday, November 20th, kicking off into the Cyber Monday sale with up to 50% off on select Amazon devices, including Echo smart speakers, Fire smart TVs, Fire Stick, Kindle, and Ring doorbells.
Walmart’s Black Friday sale begins exclusively online from November 25th to 27th and runs online and in stores from November 28th to 30th. The sale includes up to 60% off everything from cookware and beauty products to toys and clothing.
Popular Cyber Monday sales
Similar to Black Friday, Cyber Monday also expanded its reach beyond one day.
The biggest sales from retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Target, and Walmart are often reserved for Cyber Monday itself, but are often available for at least two days, if not the entire “Cyber Week.”
Amazon’s Cyber Monday event starts on Saturday, November 29th and runs for three days until Monday, December 1st. As usual, the sale will feature all kinds of sales, including up to 50% off tech products like JBL headphones, Canon cameras and accessories, 40% off select floor care products from Bissell and iRobot, 80% off Kindle books, and 65% off paper books.
Best Buy’s Cyber Monday sale runs from Sunday, November 30th to Monday, December 1st. Sneak peek offers up to 63% off Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3 Chromebook, HP 14-inch Chromebook, and HP 15.6-inch Chromebook laptops, up to 24% off iPads and MacBooks, and up to 55% off TCL 50-inch and Samsung 27-inch TVs.
