Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving in the United States and the traditional start of the holiday shopping season. In 2026, it falls on Friday, November 27.
It has grown from a single day of store doorbusters into a five-day online event that ends on Cyber Monday.
For online businesses, it is one of the highest-revenue weeks of the year.
Adobe’s 2026 holiday forecast expects U.S. shoppers to spend $12.9 billion online on Black Friday alone, up 9.2% from last year.
Get Free TikTok Ad Credit Up to $6000 [Limited Time Offer]
What Is Black Friday?
Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, when U.S. retailers launch their biggest holiday discounts. It falls on Friday, November 27, 2026. Today it is the center of Cyber Week, the five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, when both stores and online sellers run their deepest sales of the year.
When Is Black Friday 2026?
Black Friday is always the Friday after the fourth Thursday in November. These are the related shopping days for 2026.
| Day | Date | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving | Thursday, November 26 | Many online sales start this day |
| Black Friday | Friday, November 27 | Biggest discounts on TVs, toys, apparel, and appliances |
| Small Business Saturday | Saturday, November 28 | Encourages shopping at local and small businesses |
| Cyber Monday | Monday, November 30 | Online-focused sales; biggest online spending day |
| Giving Tuesday | Tuesday, December 1 | Focused on charitable giving, not discounts |
The best-day notes in the table come from Adobe’s forecast.
It expects the deepest electronics and computer discounts on Cyber Monday, and the best TV, toy, apparel, and appliance deals on Black Friday.
Why Is It Called Black Friday?
The popular story says stores went from losing money, in the red, to profit, in the black, on this day.
According to Britannica’s history of the name, that story is not the true origin.
The term started in Philadelphia in the early 1960s.
Police officers used it to describe the traffic jams, crowds, and shoplifting when suburban shoppers flooded the city the day after Thanksgiving.
Merchants disliked the name and tried to rebrand the day as Big Friday.
The red-to-black profit story only spread nationwide in the late 1980s, and Britannica notes that most stores saw their biggest sales on the Saturday before Christmas.
How Black Friday Became an Online Event
Black Friday began as an in-store event built around doorbusters, limited stock at very low prices for the first shoppers through the door.
Online shopping changed the shape of the week. Cyber Monday was added as an online-focused day, and sales now run across the whole weekend and often start weeks earlier.
Adobe’s numbers show how far this has gone. It expects Cyber Week to bring in $47.5 billion online in 2026, 17.3% of all U.S. online spending in November and December.
Black Friday vs Cyber Monday
The two days now overlap, but they still have different strengths.
| Black Friday | Cyber Monday | |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 date | November 27 | November 30 |
| Forecast U.S. online spending | $12.9 billion | $15.1 billion |
| Growth vs 2025 | +9.2% | +6.2% |
| Best categories, per Adobe | TVs, toys, apparel, appliances, furniture | Electronics, computers |
Cyber Monday is still the biggest online shopping day. Black Friday is growing faster, helped by earlier and bigger discounts.
Halloween sales now start the season a month earlier, so it helps to know how Black Friday compares with Halloween sales before choosing when to buy or when to discount.
Why Black Friday Matters for Online Businesses
For an online store or software company, Black Friday week concentrates a large share of the year’s buying intent into a few days.
Four shifts in Adobe’s 2026 forecast matter most for sellers.
- Mobile buying: Adobe expects 63% of Thanksgiving online spending, and 57.4% of the whole season, to come from mobile devices.
- Earlier discounts: deals start at up to 14% off in early November and reach up to 30% during Cyber Week, so shoppers compare prices for weeks.
- Buy now, pay later: Adobe expects $21.3 billion in holiday spending through buy now, pay later in November and December.
- AI-assisted shopping: Adobe expects traffic from AI chat and browser services to U.S. retail sites to rise 130% this season.
Each of these changes what a seller should prepare: a fast mobile checkout, an early offer plan, flexible payment options, and product pages that answer questions clearly.
Is Black Friday Only for Retailers?
No. Software companies, service businesses, course creators, and agencies all run Black Friday offers.
Software and digital products are a large part of the sale.
Annual plan discounts, extended trials, and lifetime deals are common Black Friday offers for SaaS companies, which plan around churn and renewal rather than stock.
Plan Your Black Friday as a Seller
These guides cover each part of running a Black Friday sale in 2026, in the order most businesses need them.
- Plan the dates: the Black Friday checklist puts every task in a dated week from October to December.
- Choose the offer: compare Black Friday promotion ideas by what each one costs in margin.
- Understand the buyer: scarcity, anchoring, and urgency shape the psychology behind Black Friday buying.
- Avoid costly errors: check your plan against common Black Friday marketing mistakes, including pricing rules.
- Get found in search: prepare your sale page with the Black Friday SEO checklist.
- Sell software: SaaS companies can use the Black Friday SaaS sales strategy for discount and renewal math.
- Advertise on TikTok: build audiences in early November, then run Black Friday TikTok ads to them in Cyber Week.
Shopping for Your Own Business This Black Friday
Black Friday is also when many businesses buy their own tools at lower prices. Software and hosting deals have their own catch: the renewal price after the first term.
Compare Black Friday SaaS deals on AI, marketing, and lifetime plans, and check a host’s three-year cost before you grab Black Friday hosting deals.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Short answers to the questions people ask most about Black Friday.
What is Black Friday celebrated for?
Black Friday marks the start of the holiday shopping season in the United States, the day after Thanksgiving.
It is not a holiday in the legal sense. It is a retail event, built around discounts that stores and online sellers offer to bring in holiday shoppers early.
Why is Black Friday actually called Black Friday?
The name comes from Philadelphia police in the early 1960s, who used it to describe the crowds and traffic on the day after Thanksgiving, according to Britannica.
The idea that stores move from red to black ink that day is a later story that spread in the late 1980s, not the original meaning.
Does Black Friday actually save you money?
It can, for some categories. Adobe expects discounts of up to 30% off listed price during Cyber Week 2026, compared with up to 14% in early November.
The savings depend on the product. Compare the sale price with the regular price, and for software or hosting, check the renewal price too.
When is Black Friday in 2026?
Black Friday 2026 is Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving on November 26.
Cyber Monday follows on November 30. Many online sales start on Thanksgiving or earlier and run through Cyber Monday, the five days Adobe calls Cyber Week.
What is the difference between Black Friday and Cyber Monday?
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving and started as an in-store event. Cyber Monday is the following Monday and started as an online shopping day.
Today both are online events. Adobe expects Cyber Monday to bring the most U.S. online spending in 2026, while Black Friday grows faster.
Black Friday in One Sentence
Black Friday is the Friday after Thanksgiving, the start of a five-day sales event that now drives a large share of the year’s online spending.
If you sell online, start with the dated checklist and pick your offer early. If you are buying tools for your business, compare renewal prices before you check out.