How Black Friday 2025 Is Turning Into a Full-Blown Shopping Season
Black Friday used to be one 24-hour sales frenzy: stores opening at dawn (or earlier) the day after Thanksgiving, shoppers lining up, and a blast of headline bargains. Over the last decade that single-day event stretched into a long weekend — then into Cyber Week — and in 2025 the trend is clear: Black Friday has become a season . Retailers, marketplaces and shoppers now treat the entire fall and early-winter period as one extended holiday shopping window. Here’s what’s driving the change, what the data say, how shoppers and small businesses should prepare, and what the shift means for the U.S. retail landscape. How we got here: urgency meets endurance Two complementary forces powered the shift from a single day to a season. First, retailers discovered they can drive higher total revenue by spreading discounts across weeks: earlier deals capture impatient shoppers and relieve pressure on logistics, while later promotions convert shoppers who wait. Second, consumers — especially ...