According to new research from Copacino Fujikado’s partner, the Northwestern Spiegel Medill Research Center, the 2025 holiday season reveals a powerful contradiction: Americans are excited to shop, but increasingly cautious about how they spend. And no phenomenon embodies that tension of enthusiasm and economic restraint quite like you, Black Friday.
You’ve come a long way since your name was coined 50 years ago. You’re growing up. Your adorable children—Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday, and Giving Tuesday—are carving out their own identities and becoming part of culture. You’re not as volatile; we’ve seen fewer doorbuster dustups make the national news in recent years. You’re less frenzied; your disciples are more likely to greet you from a comfy chair in a cozy home than a folding chair in a frigid parking lot. Yet, you still managed to set new records for spending this year. Kudos.
You’re one of the hottest topics around Thanksgiving dinner tables. You appeal to people’s nostalgic tendencies in addition to their consumerist ones. The Spiegel Research Center analysis of data from Prosper Research & Analytics showed that among people delaying purchases until sales events start, a full one-third say they wait… because it’s tradition (33.2%).
But you’re more than just a day, aren’t you? You’ve become the symbolic peak of a much longer shopping climb. The aforementioned study showed the majority of Americans now start holiday shopping well before November: 51.9% begin in October or earlier. But early starts don’t mean early finishes. Even with all that October activity, 60.3% of shoppers say they’ll still be wrapping up purchases in December.
Your hypnotic powers have faded; you don’t trigger impulse buying and undisciplined spending the way you used to. The SRC study found that 55.2% of consumers said the economy will affect their holiday spending in 2025, and 35.4% expect to compare prices online more. Most shoppers are navigating the holidays with their financial guards up.
Another quiet revolution is happening inside your evolution: what people are buying, and how they feel about it, is changing. Items that feel useful, durable, or “worth it” in a tighter economy are becoming more important. One in four shoppers (23.5%) say they’re planning to buy more practical gifts or necessities this year. Furthermore, almost three in five consumers are considering gently used or refurbished items as gifts (59.1%). Thoughtfulness is growing around a day commonly associated with thoughtless spending.
I daresay you are mellowing out in your old age, Black Friday. But we’d both agree this is a good thing. You just wanted to be the day people got a break on a perfect gift for loved ones. But the wheels of commerce warped you into the poster child for mindless splurging. I’m eager to see how you show up in 2026… and secretly hoping “Warm Up Wednesday” never becomes a thing.
Check out the full study from the Spiegel Research Center.
Read more about Copacino Fujikado’s unique, first-of-its-kind partnership with Northwestern University’s Medill Spiegel Research Center (SRC) here.
