How could AI affect Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year?

Can AI make you a better gift-giver?

According to a new poll of 2,000 U.S. adults, one in three find AI to be a helpful assistant when they shop. And over half (57%) already use AI tools to assist with their general shopping needs.

Thirty-four percent of respondents said they're consulting AI tools for gift advice for the holiday season, 74% of whom believe it will help make them better gift-givers this year.

In fact, 32% would trust AI tools to give them better gifting advice than their friends and family and 34% have already used the tools for gift advice. According to them, AI is good at finding the lowest price on specific products (38%), getting links for specific products (37%) and brainstorming gift ideas (35%).

Commissioned by UserTesting and conducted by Talker Research, the study found AI is just one of many things shaping how people are preparing for 2025's biggest holiday shopping days.

This year, 62% plan to shop on Black Friday — 16% using Black Friday sales exclusively for their holiday shopping needs. This was an increase from a similar study also commissioned by UserTesting in 2022, which found 55% shopped Black Friday three years ago.

Meanwhile, 56% plan to shop on Cyber Monday and only 10% will shop it exclusively. Contrasting Black Friday, this was a drop from 2022, where 66% of respondents were participating in Cyber Monday sales.

Millennials were found to be most likely to take part in Cyber Monday than any other generation (61%), while Gen Z — often assumed to be the most online generation — actually was most likely to shop Black Friday sales instead (77%).

For both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, most shoppers plan on spending roughly the same this year as last (43% and 47%, respectively). But 39% of Black Friday shoppers and 30% of Cyber Monday shoppers plan on spending more.

More dollars may be spent on Black Friday this year than last ($449, compared to $423), but it doesn't appear to come without buying power concerns.

Most shoppers expressed their concerns about the economy this holiday season were either related to inflation (43%) or tariffs (31%).

Other, less fiscally-associated concerns are dealing with crowds of people (35%), if items will even be in stock (27%), shipping times (26%) and scams (22%).

"Holiday shopping can feel like an ever-increasingly daunting task every year, and shoppers are looking for any way to make it easier on themselves," said Bobby Meixner, Vice President of Solution Marketing at UserTesting. "Shoppers want that edge where they can be both better gift-givers and remain on budget. I think that's why they are starting to see AI tools as a way to achieve both goals. It's becoming one more useful resource shoppers can turn to this season."

The study found nearly a quarter (23%) believe inflation or tariffs will have a major impact on their holiday shopping this year. This has given cause for the majority of holiday shoppers (59%) to spread out their holiday shopping across a longer period of time due to economic uncertainties.

By spreading out their spending, people said they hope to stay within budget (56%) and avoid crowds of people (34%).

Fifty-nine percent already have money set aside for their holiday shopping, and nearly as many (58%) are planning to start their holiday shopping at least a month ahead of Black Friday.

An additional 14% said they've already begun: planning their holiday shopping more than four months in advance.

Some are even open to the idea of holiday shopping year-round: a third of respondents believe all deals throughout the year are more or less the same.

What really matters most to shoppers this holiday season is that shipping costs are lower (41%), they have the convenience option of picking up items in the store (20%) and having overnight shipping available (10%).

"The concerns people have around holiday shopping this year are nearly universal," continued Meixner. "Inflation and tariffs are going to have an unavoidable impact on spending this year, and we're seeing consumers react accordingly by thoroughly planning out their shopping. For retailers and brands, this means keeping a pulse on how shoppers are forecasting their finances this holiday season."

Survey methodology:

Talker Research surveyed 2,000 American adults; the survey was commissioned by UserTesting and administered and conducted online by Talker Research between Sept. 8 and Sept. 16, 2025.

We are sourcing from a non-probability frame and the two main sources we use are:

• Traditional online access panels — where respondents opt-in to take part in online market research for an incentive
• Programmatic — where respondents are online and are given the option to take part in a survey to receive a virtual incentive usually related to the online activity they are engaging in

Those who did not fit the specified sample were terminated from the survey. As the survey is fielded, dynamic online sampling is used, adjusting targeting to achieve the quotas specified as part of the sampling plan.

Regardless of which sources a respondent came from, they were directed to an Online Survey, where the survey was conducted in English; a link to the questionnaire can be shared upon request. Respondents were awarded points for completing the survey. These points have a small cash-equivalent monetary value.

Cells are only reported on for analysis if they have a minimum of 80 respondents, and statistical significance is calculated at the 95% level. Data is not weighted, but quotas and other parameters are put in place to reach the desired sample.

Interviews are excluded from the final analysis if they failed quality-checking measures. This includes:

• Speeders: Respondents who complete the survey in a time that is quicker than one-third of the median length of interview are disqualified as speeders
• Open ends: All verbatim responses (full open-ended questions as well as other please specify options) are checked for inappropriate or irrelevant text
• Bots: Captcha is enabled on surveys, which allows the research team to identify and disqualify bots
• Duplicates: Survey software has “deduping” based on digital fingerprinting, which ensures nobody is allowed to take the survey more than once

It is worth noting that this survey was only available to individuals with internet access, and the results may not be generalizable to those without internet access.