Shopify merchants worldwide generated a record $14.6 billion in sales over the 2025 Black Friday–Cyber Monday (BFCM) period — up 27 % year‑over‑year (24 % on a constant‑currency basis).
That surge was powered by more than 81 million global shoppers, with over 94,900 merchants hitting their highest‑ever selling day and 15,800+ making their first sale on the platform. Peak demand hit $5.1 million in gross merchandise volume per minute on Black Friday at 12:01 p.m. EST — a clear signal of high shopper engagement and the strength of digital commerce heading into the holiday season.
Categories like cosmetics, clothing, activewear, fitness, and nutrition led the sales surge — confirming enduring strength for fashion, wellness, and lifestyle products in online retail.
Resilience — Despite Cyber Monday Setbacks
The result is especially notable because the surge came despite a partly disruptive technical outage on Cyber Monday. On December 1, many merchants temporarily lost access to backend admin tools and point-of-sale (POS) functions due to login/authentication issues, restricting some sellers from managing orders or checkout systems.
Nevertheless, storefronts and checkout paths remained operational, allowing many customer purchases to go through. Shopify quickly acknowledged the disruption, resolved the login issues within hours, and confirmed recovery of admin and POS systems.
What This Means for E‑Commerce, Retail & Omnichannel Players
- Independent brands remain powerful. The massive BFCM haul shows that small and mid‑size merchants — not just major retailers — continue to capture a big share of holiday e‑commerce demand.
- Platform infrastructure matters. The outage underscores that reliability is critical — a single disruption on a peak shopping day can put considerable revenue and merchant trust at risk.
- Omnichannel retailers should double down on flexibility. For larger retailers with both online and offline channels, these results highlight the value of integrating digital commerce — especially with rising online volume and shopper expectation for seamless experiences.
- Holiday momentum likely continues. Given the strong BFCM performance, many brands and retailers could ride this wave into December, especially if supply chains and fulfillment hold up.
