Black Friday and Cyber Monday continue to be two of the most influential shopping moments of the year, but they are also becoming more complex, more digitally shaped, and more psychologically nuanced than ever before. Traditional tracking studies can tell us what changed from year to year, but the modern consumer journey demands something deeper: clarity around the why, and brands need the ability to uncover it at scale, with consistency, speed, and analytical rigor.
This year, we ran our annual BFCM tracker using a next-generation methodology that blends quantitative continuity with AI-powered qualitative intelligence through Suzy Speaks. We maintained the same closed-ended questions from our 2024 wave to preserve year-over-year comparability, while layering in AI-driven dynamic probing that followed up on respondents’ answers in real time. This allowed us to capture not just behaviors, but motivations and emotional drivers—without losing the continuity of the previous quant study.
The result is a dramatically richer understanding of how shoppers approached BFCM 2025. And while we won’t share the specific numbers here (those are available in the full downloadable report), we can share the high-level directional shifts, and why the methodology behind this tracker represents a turning point for consumer insights.
A Tracker built for the modern consumer: Quant + AI-powered conversations
The core innovation in this year’s tracker comes from combining two components:
1. Suzy Speaks' ability to merge quant and dynamic AI probing: Respondents first answered structured, multiple-choice questions that mirrored our 2024 tracker. Then, based on their selections, Suzy’s AI moderator intelligently probed deeper—asking “why,” “what made you feel that way,” or “how did you decide that,” depending on context.
This created a dataset that contained both robust statistical patterns and rich qualitative context tied to each respondent’s decision-making, priorities, and emotional logic.
2. An expert-engineered, 8-step AI analysis workflow: To analyze this hybrid dataset, we used the AI-powered workflow designed entirely by research experts on Suzy’s Center of Excellence team. This workflow revolutionizes qualitative analysis by delivering.
What this means for brand teams is simple: You get the quant accuracy you trust, paired with qualitative insight you could never achieve manually.
Download The New BFCM Game Plan: Price-Smart, Tech-Driven, and Hyper-Intentional to access:
- Year-over-year quantitative deltas
- Impactful quotes from US consumers
- Strategic implications for brands
