Black Friday is most popular among Generation Z

Black Friday is proving to be more popular with younger consumers than older ones, according to a new report provided exclusively to CNBC.

AT&T BusinessMorning Consult’s 2025 Holiday Shopping Survey found that 40% of Gen Z members and 32% of Millennials plan to do most of their shopping on Black Friday. On the other hand, older generations prefer to shop later in the season, just a week or two before Christmas, the survey showed.

“Black Friday is always a big deal, and the prices, offers and announcements offered during that period are likely what will appeal to Gen Z, especially things done on social media,” said Angela Rutherford, vice president of mid-market sales at AT&T.

The excitement for Black Friday comes even as Generation Z plans to pull back on their spending.

Consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers reported in September that Gen Z shoppers plan to spend 23% less on average this holiday season than last year — the largest decline ever among any generation and a big change from the previous year, when Gen Z said they planned to spend 37% more.

As non-wealthy Americans face pressure from rising prices and economic uncertainty, some reports show signs of a “K-shaped” economy that may extend into the holiday season, with wealthier consumers spending more and lower-income consumers shopping more conservatively.

A new Deloitte survey found that consumers overall plan to spend 4% less on Black Friday than they did last year, primarily due to concerns about financial constraints and rising costs of living.

However, Rutherford said consumers have become more “deliberate and value-driven” in their holiday shopping this year.

This spending translates into more support for small businesses rather than large retailers, with 77% of consumers reporting they would do all their shopping at small businesses if they could and if the price were the same, according to an AT&T survey.

Compared to last year, the number of survey respondents who said they shop at small businesses to boost their local economies rose by 8 percentage points.

“I think there’s a price consciousness, along with the mentality of ‘If I can still save money or get a good price, I’ll keep shopping local,’” Rutherford said.

The AT&T survey also found that 72% of people reported they got their gift ideas from in-person shopping rather than social media.

Even as AI begins to reshape the way people shop, more than half of shoppers said they were more likely to use traditional online search methods to buy their gifts this holiday season than AI — just 9% of those surveyed said they were more likely to use AI to find gifts.

“AI has exploded over the past couple of years, and it’s creeping into all aspects of life,” Rutherford said. “I think over time, you’ll see a shift from traditional search to AI for shopping.”