ITASCA, Ill., Dec. 1, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Black Friday 2025 saw a striking shift in consumer behavior, with shoppers making significantly more transactions but spending less per purchase, according to data released today by Accertify, Inc., a leading unified risk decisioning platform provider.
Analysis of over 52.5 million transactions shows that while online shopping volume surged 24% year-over-year, the average transaction value fell 17% to $115.46, the lowest level since 2021. The data suggests a fundamental change in how consumers approach holiday shopping: more frequent, smaller purchases rather than big-ticket commitments.
“Consumers seem to be changing Black Friday,” said Mark Michelon, the president of Accertify. “People are spending their money on more transactions instead of making big purchases all at once.” Whether this is because people are being more careful with their money, the rise of buy-now-pay-later alternatives, or just the fact that shopping on a mobile device makes people want to buy things right away, it shows a big change in how people think about purchasing.
The trend was most noticeable in retail, where the number of transactions rose by 11.4% to 27 million, but the average amount spent fell by 7%. Total retail sales were $3.73 billion, a 3.6% increase from 2024. However, the boost came from more sales, not bigger purchases.
The Numbers for Black Friday 2025
Accertify handled $6.06 billion in transactions on Black Friday. This is a 3% increase from 2024 and the first time the company has ever done more over $6 billion in one day. The number of transactions went grown from 42.3 million in 2024 to 52.5 million. The busiest time was from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Central, when the corporation handled 3.27 million transactions worth $392 million.
Different patterns were seen in other parts of the industry:
Airlines: Transactions increased 19% to 2.16 million and dollars rose 18% to $931 million, with average transaction values holding essentially flat year-over-year.
Travel and Entertainment: Transaction volume remained flat while total transaction dollars increased 13.5% year-over-year, pushing average transaction value up 13.2% year-over-year to $302.66.
AI Helps Merchants Deal with the Spike
The move toward more transactions makes it harder for retailers to deal with the danger of fraud. Accertify’s clients had a median approval rate of 99.25%, up from 98.93% in 2024. This was possible because Accertify’s AI and machine learning algorithms automated risk decisioning to handle the 24% increase in volume.
Michelon stated, “More transactions means more work for fraud teams.” “Machine learning is what lets businesses keep up with how customers are changing without lowering approval rates, letting fraud slip through, or ruining the customer experience.”
*The numbers in this release are from Accertify client data from Black Friday 2021 to 2025.
What Accertify Does
Accertify, Inc. is a top provider of unified risk decisioning platforms. They offer fraud prevention, chargeback management, account protection, abuse prevention, and payment gateway solutions to clients in many different industries around the world. Accertify’s solutions and services secure online business by lowering losses from fraud, making business procedures easier, and keeping the customer experience high. This helps clients develop their businesses.
