For years, Black Friday, and even Thanksgiving night, had become about lines at departments stores and shopping as a contact sport. Eventually, more and more Americans shifted their holiday shopping to eCommerce and newly created holidays like Cyber Monday and Prime Day.

This year, will the biggest shopping day of the year be about the U.S. versus China? Classic gifts versus cheap crap?

Is it beginning to look like an Amazon vs. Temu/Shein Christmas?

As The Business of Fashion put it, “On Black Friday, it’s Shein and Temu versus the world. As much as you might think that Shein and Temu are about cheap knockoffs, and not places people might get their ‘real’ gifts - think again.”

“Gen Z will turn to Temu and Shein for Black Friday shopping,” reports Modern Retail. Even Good Morning America is pushing Temu this holiday.

However, in terms of retail media, Temu is a big time advertiser, not an ad seller. The Black Friday/Cyber Monday ad blitz is likely to live on Amazon, Walmart and of course TikTok. But in the long term, we may be witnessing a major shift in how American’s shop. This could all be just a 2024 trend, or drastic reboot – which will have major implications for retailers, eCommerce players, and of course, holiday-dependent advertisers.

In the meantime, other news:

• Ad buyers double down on Walmart’s retail media business as it steps out of Amazon’s shadow - Kimeko McCoy [Digiday]

• Modern Retail x Attest Research: Gen Z will turn to Temu and Shein for Black Friday shopping - Cale Guthrie Weissman [Modern Retail]

• As a Chronically Online Shopping Editor, I'm Loving These TikTok-Famous Black Friday Deals - Lauren Gruber [Cosmopolitan]

• 2025 trend: Retail media networks wade into unfamiliar waters to satisfy advertiser demands for incrementality - Max Willens & Sarah Marzano [eMarketer]