This Friday Only: 20 Jaw-Dropping Tech Deals You Need to Grab Before Midnight

U.S. shoppers shattered e-commerce records on Black Friday 2025, spending an unprecedented $11.8 billion online, up 9.1 percent year-over-year, according to Adobe Analytics data released Saturday. Artificial-intelligence shopping assistants, one-click checkout, and aggressive same-day delivery promises powered the surge, pushing peak checkout volumes to nearly 130,000 transactions per minute. Mobile dominated: 54 percent of purchases came from smartphones, cementing on-the-go buying as the new normal. Social commerce also spiked, with TikTok Shop driving a 27 percent jump in referral traffic compared with 2024. Meanwhile, in-store foot traffic slid 5.3 percent, reflecting consumers’ growing preference for couch-commerce deals. Winners and losers • Electronics retailers led average basket size, buoyed by record-low prices on AI-enabled TVs and gaming laptops. Best-in-class promotions combined with limited drop-ship inventory created viral urgency, earning tech a “winner” label in Retail Dive’s 2025 scorecard. • Apparel chains offering exclusive digital try-ons posted double-digit online growth but lagged in stores where dressing-room lines deterred shoppers. • Home-improvement giants underperformed as consumers shifted spending toward experiential gifts such as travel packages and concert tickets, categories that saw a 32 percent uplift. Key consumer trends 1. Early Deal Fatigue: Promotions that started in late October diluted urgency; shoppers waited for deeper Black Friday 2025 markdowns before converting, creating a “last-minute boom” that concentrated almost 40 percent of the day’s revenue in the final six hours. 2. BNPL Goes Mainstream: Buy-now-pay-later orders jumped 18 percent, signaling sustained demand for flexible financing amid elevated credit-card APRs. 3. Green Friday Mindset: Searches for “refurbished electronics” and “second-hand luxury” rose 21 percent, pointing to a price-and-planet-conscious consumer. What’s next Cyber Monday 2025 is forecast to reach $12.5 billion, but analysts caution that shipping-carrier capacity and returns logistics will test retailers’ profit margins. Brands that optimize AI-driven recommendations and showcase carbon-neutral delivery options are poised to capture lingering holiday wallet share. SEO takeaway Businesses targeting “Black Friday 2025 deals,” “record online spending,” “AI shopping tools,” and “best smartphone discounts” should publish results-oriented content now, update product availability hourly, and highlight BNPL eligibility to ride the ongoing traffic wave through Cyber Week.