Holiday season is fast-approaching—and so is the biggest shopping season of the year. Black Friday is just 23 days away, a day synonymous with deal-chasing and a widespread shop-til-you-drop attitude among consumers.
TL;DR
- Inflation forces Americans to use Black Friday for essential groceries and toiletries.
- One in four consumers plan to use Black Friday solely for everyday necessities.
- Shoppers doubt Black Friday deal authenticity, suspecting inflated pre-sale prices.
- Retailers need transparency and clear discounts to build shopper confidence in a tough economy.
But Black Friday will look a little different this year, a new survey shows. Instead of cashing in on discounts for mega TVs and luxury appliances, consumers this year are just trying to get by. Spending priorities are shifting because inflation has hit consumers so hard in 2025 that one in four consumers say they plan to use Black Friday only for everyday essentials like groceries, toiletries, and household basics, according to survey results released by point-of-sale and payments system platform Lightspeed.
“Black Friday is still a make-or-break moment for retailers, but shopper behavior is shifting,” Dax Dasilva, founder and CEO of Lightspeed Commerce, said in a statement. “Shoppers are still under the pressure of a higher cost of living, so fairness, transparency, and empathy matter more than ever.”
For its study, Lightspeed polled 3,000 adults across the U.S. And Canada, discovering that almost fifty percent of those surveyed intend to divide their spending between essential items and more upscale buys.
Although President Donald Trump claims to have “defeated” inflation, claiming in September at the United Nations General Assembly grocery prices are down, there’s not much evidence for that. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during a high-profile speech in August just before the first rate cut this year “inflation, though still somewhat elevated, has come down from its post-pandemic highs.”
However, other industry specialists and economists contend that food costs might keep climbing, potentially even doubling. Raymond Robertson, a labor economist at Texas A&M’s Bush School of Government with experience advising U.S. Agencies on trade and labor policy, recently told Coins2Day’s Eva Roytberg that a surge in grocery expenses is probable this winter. He further forecasts that produce prices might escalate by 50% to 100% by the start of next year.
“This is like when you see a flood coming, the tsunami is coming in, and the water’s gone up two inches,” he said.
Back in spring, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said customers were exhibiting “stressed behaviors.” This was the same time period consumer confidence hit a 12-year low. “You can see that the money runs out before the month is gone, you can see that people are buying smaller pack sizes at the end of the month,” McMillon said.
What should worry retailers even more is the discovery that shoppers largely doubt the genuineness of most Black Friday deals.
According to the Lightspeed survey, 84% of consumers suspect retailers artificially raise prices before sales events to make discounts appear larger. This situation bears a resemblance to earlier this autumn when Target and Walmart staff alleged the retailer forced them to remove price tags to facilitate price adjustments due to tariffs.
“Consumers are buying fast and deciding later, so it’s up to retailers to guide that journey. The best way to do that is with clarity—showing what discounts really mean, being upfront about fit and product details, and keeping customers informed on delivery and stock,” Lightspeed’s Dasilva said. “When shoppers feel confident, they buy smarter and return less. In a tight economy, transparency is the strongest sales strategy retailers have.”