Black Friday Deals Change Direction in 2025 as AI Tools Outperform Discounts

Black Friday 2025 drew a sharp line between retailers who got it and those who didn't.

The brands that packed stores mixed technology with theater, giving shoppers AI assistants, exclusive giveaways, and in-store perks.

The ones that flopped stuck to cookie-cutter markdowns or played pricing games that shoppers spotted immediately.

Target and Walmart transformed shopping into an event with scarcity tactics and entertainment.

On the other hand, competitors blended into the background of identical sale signs.

What we've learned this year is that when discounts alone stop bringing people through the door, you need something else to stand out.

1. Exclusive Giveaways Created Differentiation

Target handed out iridescent tote bags to the first 100 customers, with ten containing prizes worth up to $350.

The giveaway worked, filling Target stores early Friday morning, though it later sparked backlash from shoppers who waited hours only to leave empty-handed.

Meanwhile, Lowe's raffled off $2,000 appliances and ran holiday craft workshops for families.

It also gave away free product buckets to the first 50 customers and set up photo ops with animated characters like the Grinch.

These tactics gave consumers reasons to choose one retailer over another, which makes sense when you look at the constraints these businesses are facing.

Rising costs limited how deep discounts could go, and many retailers offered similar markdown percentages across categories.

For example, electronics saw peak discounts of 29% off, according to Adobe Analytics.

When everyone offers similar markdowns, price stops being a differentiator.

2. AI Steered Holiday Shopping Decisions

Walmart deployed its AI shopping assistant "Sparky" and turned the sale into a soap opera-style entertainment campaign called "Deals of Desire."

Sparky helped shoppers find gifts and compare options in real time, which kept customers engaged longer during peak decision moments.

The retail giant also structured the sale as a multi-wave event, with Walmart+ members getting five hours of early access to each phase.

On the other hand, Best Buy leaned into convenience with:

• Extended returns until January 15, 2026
• An AI Gift Finder in the mobile app
• Deals that started on November 20

This gave shoppers time to plan what they would buy without enduring a chaotic morning.

Adobe Analytics found that AI traffic to U.S. retail websites exploded by 805% compared to 2024.

Shoppers landing from AI services were 38% more likely to actually buy something.

Traffic from AI-powered tools and chatbots also surged significantly throughout the shopping weekend, according to Salesforce data.

Yagmur Ilgen, creative director at digital agency Baunfire, says these numbers point to how people actually shop online during big retail moments.

“When shoppers arrive through AI tools, they’re already closer to a decision. They’re coming in with options narrowed down and intent already formed.

And so, product pages and checkout need to meet this pace so people can move from interest to purchase without friction."

This explains why retailers putting AI at the center of their experience saw stronger conversion rates.

3. Price Manipulation Backfired Publicly

The brands that lost this year stuck to discounts that consumers immediately saw through using price-tracking tools.

Amazon faced widespread criticism for price manipulation tactics as shoppers used these tools to expose inflated Black Friday deals.

One shopper reported that a coffee machine became "$159 now $139 LIMITED TIME" during Black Friday, despite being $129 just two weeks earlier.

Nintendo was also called out for eliminating popular Switch bundles after raising hardware prices over the summer.

Meanwhile, brands like Gap, Levi Strauss, and Under Armour started their Black Friday sales on Thanksgiving with promotions comparable to those offered earlier in the season.

This made the "special" Black Friday sale feel anything but special.

Consumers equipped with tracking apps and AI search engines can now catch these tactics immediately, and they don't hesitate to call brands out on social media.

4. BNPL Dominated Black Friday Weekend

Mobile commerce dominated the weekend, with consumers making 73% of purchases on phones, according to DemandSage data.

"Buy Now, Pay Later" (BNPL) usage also climbed 8.9% year-over-year, hitting $747.5 million in online spending.

The National Retail Federation projects holiday sales will top $1 trillion for the first time, despite growth slowing to 3.7-4.2% compared to 4.3% in 2024.

These conditions meant brands needed to offer far more than a discount to justify a store visit or an online purchase.

Brands that won with their Black Friday deals followed strategic approaches that marketers can steal for next year:

• Offer value competitors can’t match, using giveaways and early access to stand out when discounts look the same.
• Use AI to cut friction, since assistants and gift finders help turn browsers into buyers.
• Create experiences worth showing up for, through workshops, entertainment, or in-store moments that feel participatory.

The lesson cuts across categories. When pricing power shrinks, differentiation has to come from somewhere else.

Our Take: Can This Strategy Scale Beyond the Holidays?

I think the real test comes in January, and AI assistants will become table stakes.

Target and Lowe's proved that experiential value drives traffic, but sustaining momentum without holiday urgency will be harder.

The data also shows that consumers are skeptical of deals now, making authenticity non-negotiable.

What I find most interesting is how quickly AI adoption happened on both sides.

Retailers deployed assistants while shoppers used ChatGPT to compare prices, creating an arms race where neither side can rely on information asymmetry anymore.

I think the brands that win in 2026 will be the ones that accept this reality and build strategies around transparency.

As AI shopping tools reshape how consumers discover products, read how ChatGPT's new shopping research feature is pulling product discovery away from Google and what it means for retail visibility.

Need help building differentiated retail strategies that go beyond discounts?

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