On Black Friday, are you in a store, on a screen, or waiting for Cyber Monday?
On a screen, narrowly. NRF reports 85.7 million online Black Friday shoppers in 2025 against 80.3 million in stores, and NRF says Black Friday was the top day in both channels, ahead of Cyber Monday’s 75.9 million online shoppers.
Pick your version of Friday
Imagine it is Friday morning. In one version of you, the car is idling outside a store before the doors open. In another, you are on the couch with a phone and a cup of coffee. In a third, you are doing nothing, saving your energy for Monday. The third version is the calmest, and the release does not say how many adults skipped Black Friday.
The answer: 85.7 million
The National Retail Federation (NRF) and Prosper Insights & Analytics surveyed 3,099 adult consumers from Nov. 26 to 30, 2025, with a margin of error of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points. NRF reports these shoppers for four of the five days from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday:
| Day | Online | In store |
|---|---|---|
| Black Friday | 85.7 million | 80.3 million |
| Cyber Monday | 75.9 million | not reported |
| Saturday | 63.0 million | 62.7 million |
| Sunday | 38.7 million | 32.6 million |
Each cell is the shoppers NRF reports for that day, in that channel, from one survey. NRF’s release gives no in-store figure for Cyber Monday, so that cell stays empty. Thanksgiving Day is part of the weekend total, but its own figure is not in the release.
One caution on Cyber Monday: the release gives survey dates of Nov. 26 to 30, which end before Cyber Monday (Dec. 1), and does not say how that day was measured, so treat the 75.9 million as less certain than the other figures.
The twist: online leads, but not by much
Online leads in-store by 5.4 million on Black Friday (our arithmetic: 85.7 minus 80.3). NRF does not print a margin of error for per-day counts, and the 1.8 point margin belongs to the survey as a whole, so we call this close rather than a win. Treat it as close, with online slightly ahead.
The Friday is only part of the weekend
NRF reports 202.9 million unique shoppers from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. Of those, 134.9 million shopped online and 129.5 million in stores. Black Friday’s 85.7 million is 63.5% of the online total, and its 80.3 million is 62.0% of the in-store total (our arithmetic, each channel divided by its own weekend total). These weekend totals run through Cyber Monday, so the caution above about that day applies to these shares too. So roughly three in five weekend shoppers in a channel shopped on Black Friday, and a little under two in five did not.
Sunday is worth a look. NRF calls the 32.6 million in-store shoppers that day a record, up 27% from 25.6 million in 2024. Online still led that Sunday, with 38.7 million. For odds tied to another holiday, see New Year’s resolutions: making them and keeping them.
Why you cannot add the days
People shop on several days and in both channels, so the daily counts overlap. The weekend totals show it: 129.5 million in stores plus 134.9 million online is 264.4 million, yet NRF reports 202.9 million unique people (our arithmetic). If each channel total counts a person once, the difference is shoppers counted in both channels: about 61.5 million (264.4 minus 202.9, our arithmetic). For a holiday count of a different kind, see drunk driving deaths at New Year’s.
These are survey answers from adults, reported in millions by NRF, and the release does not print how respondents were scaled up.
So where will you be?
NRF’s survey puts the screen ahead, narrowly: 85.7 million online shoppers on Black Friday 2025, with 80.3 million in stores close behind. The number to remember is 85.7 million.
Sources and method
- NRF, “Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend Draws a Record 203 Million Shoppers,” Dec. 2, 2025, accessed Oct. 19, 2026: https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/thanksgiving-holiday-weekend-draws-a-record-203-million-shoppers
Method: These are NRF’s 2025 results from its release of Dec. 2, 2025, and no 2026 count is used here. 61.5 million is 264.4 minus 202.9. 5.4 million is 85.7 minus 80.3. 63.5% is 85.7 divided by 134.9. 62.0% is 80.3 divided by 129.5. 264.4 million is 129.5 plus 134.9.
Last checked and corrections
Last checked: October 19, 2026. This article was machine-checked against the sources above and has not been expert-reviewed. Spotted an error or a newer public figure? Please tell us on our contact page with the article link and we will review it.