Black Friday with Shopify & Amazon 11/28/25

Summary

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Squawk Pod: Black Friday with Shopify & Amazon (11/28/25)

Main Theme

The November 28th, 2025 episode of CNBC’s Squawk Pod gives listeners an up-to-the-minute look at Black Friday retail trends, with deep dives into live sales data from Shopify and Amazon. Anchors Becky Quick, Steve Liesman, and Robert Frank dissect the latest on consumer spending, digital and in-store trends, discounts, and the strategic fusion of commerce and streaming sports. The episode also touches on breaking economic and geopolitical news impacting the market.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Market Overview & Early Morning Disruptions

• CME Center Outage: A major data center cooling issue at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange halted trading in stock index futures, crude oil, Treasuries, and FX. Markets were expected to see fractional gains at the open based on proxy ETFs, with low volume and potential for choppy trading due to the outage.
  • Quote: "Thanks for having me in on a day when nothing's working." — Robert Frank (05:06)
• Market Performance: November marked the first down month in years for markets, despite a recent rally spurred by Fed comments.
  • Quote: "We're still riding the Williams rally..." — Becky Quick (04:18)

2. Major News Updates

• National Security: Discussion of a deadly shooting targeting National Guard members in Washington, news of President Trump “permanently pausing migration from all third world countries,” and speculation on what this means for policy and affected populations.
  • (06:42)
• Geopolitics & Tech: Updates on Russia expressing willingness for serious peace talks over Ukraine, and the sensitive issue of a TSMC chip executive moving to Intel, raising concerns about technology transfer and national security.
  • Quote: "He was responsible for a lot of Intel's superiority in the chips industry." — Steve Liesman (09:53)
• Supply Chain Tensions: Dutch chipmaker Nexperia's public dispute with its China unit over communication and supply chain control, highlighting continued global supply chain instability.

3. Retail in the Spotlight: Black Friday Trends and Data

A. On-the-Ground Reporting: Mall Traffic & Promotions

• Live from Paramus Mall: Courtney Reagan reports a strong in-person turnout, especially among Gen Z shoppers, with long lines at brands like Lululemon and Hollister.
  • Insight: Black Friday remains the biggest in-store shopping day despite shifts in doorbuster culture. 130 million Americans are projected to shop; Adobe predicts nearly $12 billion in U.S. online sales, an 8% increase over last year.
    • Quote: "The cadence has changed for the day... but it is still a very, very important day for retail." — Courtney Reagan (14:54)
  • Top Searched Brands: Apple (+315%), H&M (+248%), Samsung, Marshalls, Adidas.
  • Consumer Behavior: Promotions are typical (30-40% off); value and product “newness” are key motivators, not just price.
    • Quote: "Value means more than just what it costs, but if it increases performance... consumers are buying it. And even without a discount." — Courtney Reagan (17:59)

B. Shopify President Harley Finkelstein: Live E-Commerce Pulse

• Sales Data: 12% of U.S. e-commerce runs on Shopify; at Black Friday’s peak, 2.4 million sales per minute and 17 million unique shoppers since Thanksgiving night.
  • Quote: “Every 26 seconds a brand new entrepreneur is getting their first sale right now on Shopify.” — Harley Finkelstein (20:06)
• Trending Categories & Brands: Skincare, vitamins, supplements, activewear, and home goods lead the way. Specific popular products include Alo Yoga’s crewneck pullover and Cozy Earth bamboo sheets.
• Omnichannel Evolution: Shopify powers brands across digital and physical, with many DTC brands like Gymshark or Figs moving from online-only into brick-and-mortar as consumer discovery shifts seamlessly from TikTok to web to mall.
  • Quote: “It sort of feels like a post-Omni Channel world right now... we're trying to with Shopify is power every single channel.” — Harley Finkelstein (22:52)
• Discounts & Pricing: Promotions are standard (10–30%). Notably, brands are holding prices steady, choosing value and customer loyalty over deep discounting.
  • Quote: “Consumers are actually looking for value more than they're looking for discounts, meaning they're voting with their wallets to buy from brands they love.” — Harley Finkelstein (21:42)
• Growth: Shopify outperforming last year’s numbers but will release final figures after the holiday weekend.

4. Amazon’s Black Friday Play: Commerce Meets Streaming Sports

Guest: Jay Marine, Head of US Prime Video, Amazon

• Event Strategy: 15 hours of live Black Friday sports programming, including NFL, NBA, PGA, and international games, all made available globally for free (no Prime required).
  • Quote: "We started this tradition a couple of years ago with Black Friday football and we've really invested a lot to grow that on behalf of Amazon customers." — Jay Marine (27:01)
• Shop While You Watch: Integration of shopping deals directly with live sports, allowing “couch commerce” to thrive—viewers can buy deals while watching the games.
• Why the Investment? Amazon’s aim is to enhance Prime’s value, attracting and retaining members by bundling top-tier live events alongside shopping incentives and entertainment.
  • Quote: "Our goal is to add more value to Prime, make Prime the best membership program in the world." — Jay Marine (28:49)
• Advertising Impact: Black Friday advertising on Prime Video up 40% YoY; brands see the value in integrated, full-funnel experiences.
• Profitability? Marine doesn’t break out sports or Prime Video profits but says continued investment reflects Amazon’s satisfaction with results.
• Global Reach: This is the first year Amazon delivers a live NFL game worldwide, broadening the U.S. sports export model.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• [05:06] Robert Frank: “Thanks for having me in on a day when nothing's working. I mean I haven't done this in like a year and you have me in and nothing's working.”
• [14:54] Courtney Reagan: “There's lines at Lululemon and Hollister ... lots of Gen Zers as you might expect, hitting the stores early ... but it is still a very very important day for retail.”
• [20:06] Harley Finkelstein: “Every 26 seconds a brand new entrepreneur is getting their first sale right now on Shopify. So those little fireworks, that's a new entrepreneur being born.”
• [21:42] Harley Finkelstein: “Consumers are actually looking for value more than they're looking for discounts, meaning they're voting with their wallets to buy from brands they love.”
• [22:52] Harley Finkelstein: “It sort of feels like a post-Omni Channel world right now ... consumers are kind of starting with a TikTok video, then they're moving to the online store, then they're moving to Roblox, then they're going to the offline store.”
• [27:01] Jay Marine: “We started this tradition a couple years ago with Black Friday football and we've really invested a lot to grow that on behalf of Amazon customers.”
• [28:49] Jay Marine: “Our goal is to add more value to Prime, make Prime the best membership program in the world.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:19] Black Friday retail preview begins with Courtney Reagan.
• [05:06] Market and data center outage humor with Robert Frank.
• [14:54–19:08] Courtney Reagan live from Paramus Mall: in-store trends, most-searched brands, and discount analysis.
• [19:12–24:18] Interview: Harley Finkelstein (Shopify) — Real-time Black Friday data, trending products, value vs. discount debate, DTC-to-retail shifts.
• [26:34–32:15] Interview: Jay Marine (Amazon) — Black Friday’s sports/commerce programming, integration of shopping and live events, advertising insights.

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Tone & Style

The episode features CNBC’s trademark blend of data-driven analysis and conversational banter, with a dose of market-moving news, candid real-time commentary, and accessible breakdowns for retail investors and shoppers alike.

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For Listeners: What You’ll Walk Away With

• Black Friday remains both a physical and online retail force, underpinned by shifting consumer behaviors.
• Digital-first brands are increasingly leveraging omnichannel strategies, merging online discovery with in-store experiences.
• Value (not just price) is top-of-mind for shoppers.
• Amazon and Shopify’s investments into rich, interactive experiences (from streaming sports to real-time commerce) are reshaping holiday shopping—and the data shows it’s paying off.

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Transcript

[Announcer]

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[Becky Quick]

This is Squawkpod and I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa on today's episode. It's Black Friday. The holiday shopping season is officially upon us so we're going to The Mall with CNBC's Courtney Regan.

[Courtney Reagan]

The cadence has changed for the day as far as when traffic peaks between, but it is still a very, very important day for retail.

[Becky Quick]

We're checking in on Shopify with President Harley Finkelstein's minute to minute sales numbers.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Skincare, vitamins, supplements, activewear.

[Steve Liesman]

So people are shopping for themselves right now, right?

[Becky Quick]

And on Amazon with head of US Prime Video Jay Marine, the platform is touting Black Friday football and Black Friday.

[Jay Marine]

Shopping and we're gonna have Black Friday deals happening all throughout the day that you can shop throughout the game and really and take from your couch.

[Becky Quick]

Plus the rest of today's news that got us squawking like Russian President Putin ready for serious peace talks with Ukraine. And a cooling issue at a data center caused a major outage at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

[Robert Frank]

Thanks for having me in on a day when nothing's working.

[Becky Quick]

It's Friday, November 28th and Squawkpod begins right now.

Stand Becky by in 3, 2, 1. Q please.

[Steve Liesman]

Good morning everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on cnbc. We are live from the NASDAQ market site in Times Square. I'm Becky Quick along with Steve Liesman and Robert Frank, Joe and Andrew are off today but hello and wake up. If you are just getting up this morning you better check things out. Early this morning the Chicago Mercantile Exchange saying that its markets were halted because of a cooling issue at a data center. Among the markets that are impacted by this outage stock index futures, crude oil prices, Treasuries and foreign exchange. The CME says that after the outage is resolved it may take some time for moves in the impacted contracts to be seen. The Data center operator Cyrus1 just saying that it has restarted several chillers at limited capacity and engineers are working to restore that capacity. We are going to show you some of the moves in the large ETFs that track the indices. Based on those proxies for the markets we could see fractional gains for stocks at the open. And we probably should point out for you too that just before futures went down it was looking like things were positive. Pointing to a positive futures moves. I think the S and P futures were up by about 110 of a percent before that went down. And here's what you see right now in those major ETFs that tracks things Invesco's triple cues, that's up by about 4.10of a percent. The spider for the S&P 500 up by about a quarter percent. And the spider Dow up by just fractionally just by less than 1. 10 of a percent. We will continue to follow all of this. But guys, if you were looking at what happened last week, things were looking pretty good for what had been a relatively weak market or weak month for the markets. Last week you saw the Dow, The S&P 500, the NASDAQ, the NASDAQ 100, the Russell 2000 and the Dow Transports all posting their fourth straight session in a row. And it really turned around. The markets that had seen so much weakness for the month looking at a.

[Becky Quick]

Pretty down month for November. It's the first time we've had a down month in November in a long time. It looks like it'll still be down depending what happens today. Now today is already a low volume day so this could be a little bit choppy if these futures issues don't get fixed right away, particularly in the treasury market. As Steve knows, we're still riding the Williams rally which was based on, you know, John Williams saying that that look, we probably likely should have a cut and that's what really sparked that four day rally after questions about the trade. So if the futures are unsteady today or there's wide spreads between bids and asks. It could be an interesting page.

[Robert Frank]

I just want to say thanks for having me in on a day when nothing's working. I mean I haven't done this in like a year and you have me in and nothing's working. I mean it's all right.

[Becky Quick]

I mean there's no correlation.

[Steve Liesman]

Welcome to the big leagues. We're going to throw you right into the heat and the fire. Most things that people care about are not going to be too much.

[Robert Frank]

And you feel good about these ETFs as proxies, they're okay?

[Steve Liesman]

Perhaps. I mean I won't say I just.

[Becky Quick]

Show the Mag 7. I mean the individual stock futures are trading. We should point that out.

[Steve Liesman]

Right.

[Becky Quick]

And since the Mag 7 have been driving the market there has been a bit of broadening but. But I think it is would be useful if we start showing those tech stocks because those are the ones that really.

[Robert Frank]

I know this pathetic desk on national television. But when I'm looking at this 10 year at 399, is that a real quote?

[Steve Liesman]

I don't believe so.

[Robert Frank]

You don't think so?

[Steve Liesman]

I don't. I don't think so.

[Robert Frank]

And my Fed probabilities aren't working. No.

[Steve Liesman]

I don't know.

[Becky Quick]

Fed futures are not. Fed futures are not trading.

[Robert Frank]

Developing story One of two guard members shot in a targeted ambush shooting in Washington on Wednesday has died. Sarah Beckstrom was 20, 20 years old. She began, she began serving in the West Virginia National Guard in June of 2023. President Trump said she died of her wounds last night. The other guardsman was identified as a 24, a 24 year old Andrew Wolf. The President said he was in very bad shape and fighting for his life. The suspected Guzman Ramanula lock and wall was also shot and taken to a hospital. The CIA said he's an Afghan national who worked with U.S. forces during the war in Afghanistan. Late last night President Trump posting on Truth Social that he is quote permanently pausing migration from all third world countries. He also said he would end all federal benefits and subsidies to non citizens.

[Becky Quick]

Yeah, we don't know what that means.

[Schwab/Ameritrade Announcer]

Right.

[Becky Quick]

What does the freeze mean? Which countries are the Wall Street Journal.

[Robert Frank]

Already editorializing against this move by the President? I mean this gentleman is, you know, terrible person who committed this was working for the CIA in Afghanistan. And the Wall Street Journal pointing out this morning that is not helpful for US forces that will eventually go in there. Many Afghans who have come back because they were in danger for staying in Afghanistan. Yeah, of course by the imbroglio, perhaps we shall say for how Biden exited there, but you still had to bring back these people.

[Becky Quick]

Russian President Vladimir Putin's breaking his silence on the peace plan that was proposed by the US saying Moscow is ready for, quote, serious discussions. He said that the plan could be the basis for future agreements, but no final version of exists yet. And he confirmed that US envoy Steve Witkoff is expected to visit Moscow next week and meet with Putin. A lot of intrigue over the, over the past week about who leaked it and you know, whose motives and whether this will really throw a wrench into the process. But yeah, this could be interesting.

[Announcer]

Yeah.

[Steve Liesman]

And to see if they are serious about it because to this point it has been Russia that has been the, the bulwark that has kind of thwarted anything you could have going on in terms of peace talks.

[Robert Frank]

Apparently Ukraine also said that they would that anything that, that forced them to give up sovereign territory was a non starter for them. So it doesn't seem like the parameters of this are being embraced by either side. We can tell.

[Becky Quick]

Dutch chipmaker Nick Spiria has published an open letter calling on its China unit to restore supply chain operations. The company said it published the letter after repeated attempts to establish direct communications through conventional channels, but did not get any, quote, meaningful response. Now in the last few minutes, this is important. Nextperia China did respond with a statement saying there's no situation where, quote, it cannot be contacted. So that's kind of strange. It said the Dutch company has implemented destructive measures against its employees, including deleting email accounts and terminating it access and that it demands the company, quote, abandon improper intentions to replace Chinese capacity. Now, why this matters? Well, it's a big problem for automakers because Nuxperia makes billions of low tech chips that are used in cars. Connect the battery to the motors, for instance, lights to the sensors, braking systems to the airbag controllers, entertainment systems, all that stuff. Automakers have repeatedly warned of a looming shortage of these chips given that that could halt production. So this appears to be an intra company battle between nextperia and its China unit, which maybe was worried about some treatment of workers. But they have phoned home, it appears, or at least issued a statement. So we'll see whether that actually affects the production of these chips or not. Kind of a strange situation where they both went public. Experia saying please call us and the company in the Chinese unit saying we have and there's this issue.

[Steve Liesman]

Wow, that is lots to take in. And by the way, there's a story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal today about a very interesting situation with intel hiring a tsmc, a Taiwan semiconductor chip executive, and Taiwan now investigating that executive's residence, saying that they're worried he's going to be taking TSMC secrets with them back to Intel. And he's Taiwanese, but he does have a PhD from Berkeley and he worked at intel starting in the 80s until 2004. He was responsible for a lot of Intel's superiority in the chips industry. He went on an advisory role for TSME starting last year and the company was fine with that. They say they thought he was going back to academia, but when they found out he's going to intel, it really sparked concerns and I can understand that from Taiwan because if the Taiwan doesn't, if Taiwan doesn't have the US kind of beholden to its chips, it probably feels like it is much less secure in terms of a China takeover, in terms of leverage for that. So, you know, he's saying no way. Intel saying they don't think there's any problem here, that this is a, you know, a spurious kind of investigation. But you start thinking from a nationalistic point of view from Taiwan to see what's happening with this, how the United States is so eager to make sure we are no longer as reliant on Taiwan or China or anybody else.

[Becky Quick]

So it's geopolitically sensitive. It's also so commercially sensitive now because in this air race, whoever gets the leg up in providing those chips, whether it's to, in video, whether it's to Google, was everyone else. I mean, that is the growth. Right. So if they've got secrets from TSMC that are useful in AI production, which I'm sure they are and I'm sure that's the core of the issue. Yeah, there's a lot of money in there.

[Steve Liesman]

But it sounds like this guy in particular is like himself a walking reason. A guy who was very responsible at intel for a lot of growth for 20 plus years before going to TSMC, you didn't see the United States kind of saying you can't leave with those secrets when you go, and you go over. And by the way, this is.

[Becky Quick]

Maybe intel just didn't have them.

[Steve Liesman]

Yeah, but it's a, when he did, he was responsible for a lot of.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Intel superior leading companies when intel was successful.

[Steve Liesman]

But you can bet the US government's going to have a say in this too because they now own 10% of intel.

[Becky Quick]

Right. That's true.

[Steve Liesman]

Political perspectives on this. Things are going to get hotter and hotter.

[Becky Quick]

Yeah, that's True teas will be next.

Coming up next on Squawk Pod, Black Fridays in full swing. Shopify president Harley Finkelstein has the data on when, where and how consumers are shopping. This year.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Consumers are kind of starting with a TikTok video, then they're moving to the online store, then they're moving to Roblox, then they're going to the offline store. And so we're trying to with Shopify is power every Single channel plus CNBC's.

[Becky Quick]

Courtney Reagan is on the ground at the mall.

[Courtney Reagan]

There's lines at Lululemon and Hollister sort of down this quarter. Lots of Gen Z ers.

[Becky Quick]

We'll be right back.

[Steve Liesman]

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[Becky Quick]

This is Squawkpod Up.

I'm Becky Q.

[Steve Liesman]

You're watching Squawkbox right here on cnbc. I'm Becky Quick along with Steve Liesman and Robert Frank. Joe and Andrew are off today.

[Becky Quick]

The retail sector shifting into high gear for Black Friday. Our Courtney Reagan is live at the mall in Paramus, New Jersey with the setup. Courtney, what does it look like?

[Courtney Reagan]

Hi, good morning Robert. Perfect timing because truly this doors are just opening right here behind me. Aritzia is the store right behind me. There has been a line that has been forming and everyone is flowing in. There's lines at Lululemon and Hollister sort of down this quarter. Lots of Gen Z errors as you might expect, hitting the stores early and I can tell you from covering Black Friday over the last decade and a half the cadence has changed for the day as far as when traffic peaks, but it is still a very very important day for retail. The National Retail Federation as a matter of fact. Does it predict that 130.4 million Americans will shop in some form today, making it the biggest day of this critical five day strength stretch between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday. Retail traffic counting firms forecast today will again be the biggest in store shopping day of the year, even if not as many shoppers line up for those doorbusters as in your past. Still the biggest of 365 days of the year. Now Adobe predicts that US online sales will hit nearly $12 billion today. That's up more than 8% from last year, which also is the biggest growth rate of the five big days between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, what's often referred to as Cyber Week. Salesforce says the E commerce sales on Black Friday did surpass Cyber Monday totals last year and think they will again this year. Now consumers, they're already awake and shopping, yes behind me but also online. According to Captivize network of 3 million websites, the top searched retail brands on Black Friday compared to last Black Friday Apple Those searches up 315% H&M of 248% Samsung up 133% Marshalls that's owned by TJX up 116% and Adidas up 115%. Now Thanksgiving Day of course the kickoff for what's considered this Cyber week. As in recent years, orders surge post Thanksgiving dinner. Third party logistics company Shipbob says its peak was between 9 and 10pm Thursday and that peak hour was 182% higher traffic wise than the day's low point which was between 7 and 8am on Thanksgiving. Toys and Games held the number one spot led by sales of Tony's. That is one of those hot items. At least that was expected by retailers like Target and Walmart and Kohl's ship Bob CMO Casey Armstrong is somewhat surprised that beauty surged to the number two spot as far as categories go at 118% growth compared to this point last year. So we will see what happens. But as the cadence has changed online with the peaks happening later in the day Same thing happens here in store. Yes, there's door busters, but in a lot of cases the traffic really, really picks up as the day moves on. Back over to you guys.

[Becky Quick]

Yeah, you mentioned H and M and Marshalls as being two standouts there. Those are obviously price sensitive retailers. What do you see in terms of promotions? Price promotions. Paramus has a pretty wide range of brands, but are you seeing any big sort of price promotions yet or do you think we're going to see those closer to Christmas?

[Courtney Reagan]

So I would call the promotions fairly typical from what you see on a Black Friday. So 30, 40% off in some cases, which are pretty big percentages off, particularly when you have a retailer like an H and M or behind me in Aritzia that is offering sort of a blanket discount across the store, which you don't often see for the rest of the year. But shoppers did tell Deloitte that they plan to spend about 4% less on this five day stretch. But remember what shoppers say they'll do and then what they actually do can end up being very different. Look at the consumer confidence numbers we got from the government this past week. They were pretty dour. But when you look at what the retailers were seeing and what they saw, they said, I actually shoppers are buying, especially when you offer them something that they find value in. And value means more than just what it costs. But if it increases performance, if it's a sporting good, for example, is what Dick's Sporting Good says, or it has newness as far as a fashion apparel item, consumers are buying it. And even without a discount.

[Becky Quick]

All right, Court, thanks so much. I know we're going to see you throughout the day and you'll tell us later, I'm sure, how many actual shopping bags are full later today, as opposed.

[Steve Liesman]

Yes, exactly, exactly.

[Becky Quick]

Thanks, Court.

[Steve Liesman]

Black Friday is in full swing this morning and our next guest is powering many of those sales. Harley Finkelstein is the president of Shopify. And Harley, thank you for coming in today.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Great to be here.

[Steve Liesman]

You've got data that is not just up to the hour, but up to the almost minute.

[Harley Finkelstein]

We do, yeah, we have, we have minute, minutes, minute data right now. As we talked about, we have about 12% of all US E commerce on Shopify. Obviously, most people think that we support small business, which is our bread and butter. But some of your favorite brands, from aloe to viori to figs to Gymshark to Mattel, also use Shopify as well. And so I have, I have top product categories. I also have is that like live.

[Steve Liesman]

Now sales per minute to add.

[Harley Finkelstein]

So right now, 2.4 million sales per minute.

[Robert Frank]

Becky, get off the phone. Becky.

[Jay Marine]

Becky, get off the phone.

[Steve Liesman]

No, but 2.4 million as of when? I mean, since starting. Starting at midnight.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Sorry. So right now we're seeing 2.4 million sales per minute.

[Announcer]

Every minute.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Every minute. 23,000. 23,000 change orders per minute. And since last night when we started counting 17 million unique shoppers across all stores on Shopify, what's really cool is every one of those little dots. So that's a store and that's the. The arc is actually where it's being shipped to something else. That's really cool. Every 26 seconds a brand new entrepreneur is getting their first sale right now on Shopify. So those little fireworks, that's a new entrepreneur being born. Effectively.

[Becky Quick]

It's like an angel gets their wings.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Exactly. That's exactly right. Let's go into top product categories. So right now, top product categories. Skin care, vitamins, supplements, activewear.

[Becky Quick]

Wow. So there is fit, wellness, fitness.

[Harley Finkelstein]

That's right. Skin care, skincare, vitamins, supplements, activewear.

[Steve Liesman]

So people are shopping for themselves right now.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Right?

[Robert Frank]

People who do yoga are shopping well.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Makeup also is doing well.

[Steve Liesman]

Women who are shopping for themselves. I'm telling you that Right.

[Robert Frank]

Yoga women.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Let's talk about trending merchant products. So right now the aloe yoga accolade crewneck pullover is trending. Very cozy earth bamboo sheets and merit beauty flush balm is is also trending right now. Here's something that's really interesting. Home seems to be the hero the last 12 hours or so. Last year was more the outside. You saw things like ski equipment, adventure equipment, camping. This year you're seeing a lot of like Christmas Tree 3 with candles from Goose Creek caraway cooking ware sets. You're seeing puzzles. You're seeing.

[Robert Frank]

So back to the home. Because we did the home in the pandemic and then we got tired of the home. I'm done with the home. I got another.

[Steve Liesman]

How much of the physical sales that you are seeing are being driven by discounts? Discounts.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Interesting you say that. So one of the things we're also seeing is that certainly discounts are there and people are waiting for it. But it seems to be that consumers are actually looking for value more than they're looking for discounts, meaning they're voting with their wallets to buy from brands they love. If they love Vori or they love on running, they're waiting for discounts from those particular stores. The other thing that's happening.

[Steve Liesman]

How big are the discounts really, on average?

[Harley Finkelstein]

The truth is the discounts range from anywhere from 10% up to 30%, which is usually average. Steve, you probably look at that as much as I do. But the thing that's interesting is that a lot of the traditional online retailers, so for example Gymshark, which is pure online, they're now opening up offline stores. Figs, which is the hospital Scrub company, they open up physical stores near hospitals so that during lunch breaks for healthcare workers they can go downstairs and buy directly there as well. To Covis, which makes I think the best cowboy boots on the planet. They're opening up these saloons all over America. 50 stores.

[Becky Quick]

That's a Covis.

[Harley Finkelstein]

To Covis. To Covis. That's a pure online store, historically that now have 50 offline stores where you can go and get your boot shined.

[Robert Frank]

Wait, an offline store is brick and mortar?

[Harley Finkelstein]

Brick and mortar, Steve.

[Robert Frank]

Okay, yeah, that's weird. You came at it from a different angle.

[Harley Finkelstein]

Yeah. So brick and mortar. That's right. Now they're moving offline.

[Robert Frank]

Can we put you in the corner and come back to you every 10 minutes?

[Harley Finkelstein]

Yes, you. Absolutely. I just want one more thing though. Something else that's happening is you're going to hate this term, Steve, because you study this too. But I do think also what's happening is it sort of feels like a post Omni Channel world right now. What I mean by that is consumers are kind of starting with a TikTok video, then they're moving to the online store, then they're moving to Roblox, then they're going to the offline store. And so we're trying to do with Shopify is power every single channel so that consumers can find their products wherever they want to do it. As opposed to this online versus offline. It's really retail bricks and mortar stores. We do, yeah. We have tons of physical retailers that are using Shopify. Point of sale.

[Robert Frank]

We can't let you go without asking what I think is probably one of the most important. How we doing relative to last year?

[Harley Finkelstein]

Relative, we're doing better than last year.

[Robert Frank]

How much can you tell us how yet?

[Harley Finkelstein]

So too early on Monday I'll be able to. Monday afternoon I can tell you we did last year we did 11.5 billion over the four day period on Shopify. The year before was 9.3 billion. We'll see what happens.

[Robert Frank]

Can you correct for inflation and for the growth of your business in that data?

[Harley Finkelstein]

We do. I mean obviously we do have more merchants joining as well in terms of inflation. Obviously one of things I said this on the last earnings call. We have not seen our merchants increasing pricing all too much, which is really interesting. So they're actually keeping it fairly standard. But the thing that we are certainly seeing across the board is that this direct to consumer, these brands that have this connection with the end consumer, they're doing really well right now and most of consumers favorite brands are on Shopify.

[Robert Frank]

Becky has the thanks here. But I just want to say Harley, stay in constant touch.

[Becky Quick]

Okay.

[Robert Frank]

Thanks.

[Harley Finkelstein]

It means a lot.

[Steve Liesman]

Yeah Harley, thank you for coming in. We appreciate it, appreciate it. And we want those numbers on Monday.

[Becky Quick]

Next on Squawk Pod, how another shopping power player is managing this holiday. Amazon's head of Prime Video, US Global sports and advertising, J. Marine. It's shopping and sports all in one.

[Jay Marine]

We started this tradition a couple of years ago with Black Friday football and we've really invested a lot to grow that on behalf of Amazon customers.

[Becky Quick]

We'll be right back.

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[Becky Quick]

You'Re listening to Squawk Pod Today with Becky Quick, Robert Frank and Steve Leesman. Robert Frank kicks things off.

All right. Attention sports fans. Amazon prime was going to air the Black Friday NFL matchup between the Eagles and the Bears later today. Joining us now live from Lincoln Field, it's Jay Marine, Amazon head of global sports and advertising, as well as the head of prime video in the, in the U.S. jay, great to see you this morning. Fifteen hours of live programming today. Tell us what that means for viewers and what it means for Amazon.

[Jay Marine]

Yeah, well, first of all, thanks for having me. It's going to be a fantastic day for Amazon customers today. You know, we started this tradition a couple years ago with Black Friday football and we've really invested a lot to grow that on behalf of Amazon customers. So we'll have 15 hours of live sports for fans and customers at home. There's no prime membership needed. We're making this available for, for free to all Amazon customers. It all starts at 9am with the capital Skins Game. We've worked with the PGA Tour to bring that Skins Game back. We'll go then right at 1:30 right into our pre game for Black Friday football. We have an incredible matchup with the Eagles hosting the Bears. Both teams in first place in their division. And of course, the crowd and atmosphere at at Philadelphia is just fantastic. And then we'll go right from there to Madison Square Garden where the Knicks are hosting the Bucs. That's actually an NBA cup elimination game. And then we'll go out west where Luka and the Lakers are going to host the Mavs. So really, if you're a sports fan and an Amazon customer, it's going to be a fantastic day. And we're going to have Black Friday deals happening all throughout the day that you can shop throughout the game and really and take action right from your, right from your couch to take advantage of all those deals today.

[Becky Quick]

So I could see why sports fans would love this. Now, from an investor point of view, we know that Amazon has invested a ton of money into the NBA, into the NFL, into these other sports franchises to get these licenses. What return are you seeing so far or what returns do you expect, expect from all that investment?

[Jay Marine]

Yeah, it's a good question. It is. Sports are really working for us. You know, we've been at this for a while now and it's not just here in the U.S. of course, we have the NFL, NBA, as you mentioned, we have NASCAR. We recently announced we'll be broadcasting four additional hours of the Masters. But in Europe, we have Champions League Soccer across The uk, uk, Italy and Germany. In Canada, we have NHL. So what you really see us doing is bringing prime members the biggest top tier sports in their country. And so our goal is to add more value to prime, make prime the best membership program in the world. So what does that mean? That means prime members are getting more value than we're asking them to pay. And sports is another piece to that, to add on to everything we're doing in entertainment industry. Prime Video, everything we're doing with same day shipping across the retail business as well as prime music. So if we're, if we continue to do that and deliver for fans and deliver for prime members, the rest, the rest takes care of itself. And, and we like what we're seeing. And you know, the other thing I should probably add here is advertisers also like what they're seeing with us. So, you know, as you can imagine, I'm Black Friday. But also across the entire year, advertisers have responded to what we're able to offer on Prime Video in our entertainment as well as in sports, because we can really offer full funnel advertising and a chance to really close the loop all the way to purchase, which is great for customers, but it's, and it's also great for advertisers.

[Steve Liesman]

Hey, Jay, that was what I was going to kind of follow up and dig a little deeper into. I understand Amazon saying, okay, okay, Amazon prime has to be very important. Prime Video has to be very important to driving and making sure we're offering all of these things. But I bet also as the business leader of Prime Video, you're looking at it and saying we want to be profitable. I know advertising for Black Friday on Prime video was up 40% year over year, and that's incredibly impressive. But is Prime Video profitable if you strip it out and just look at what you're spending versus what you're making?

[Jay Marine]

Yeah, I think as you know, we don't break that out. What I would say is we really like what we're seeing. And, and as proof of that, you see us investing more in sports, continuing to invest more in entertainment, because at the end of the day, it all has to make sense and make financial sense. And over the long run, and what we're seeing, we really like on that trajectory, which is why you continue to see us do more. And we're always going to try to find ways to invest more on behalf of prime members and into the prime membership. You know, I should also add that the other thing we're doing differently this year as a first is all of these sporting events are going to be made available globally. So again, that's free to any Amazon customer globally. And so this will be the first year we're taking an NFL game globally. And you know, I give a huge amount of credit to Roger Goodell and that whole team for helping us to make that happen. And they've really done a fantastic job growing their international fan base with the number of games they're playing across the globe. And you watch the fandom that that turns out for those games, whether it's in Munich or London, it's really fantastic. So we're excited to be a part of that.

[Becky Quick]

All right, Jay joining us from Lincoln Field. It's going to be a great game today between the Eagles and the Bears. We appreciate your time. Thanks so much.

[Jay Marine]

Thank you. Have a great Black Friday.

[Steve Liesman]

I want to thank both Robert and Steve for being here with me today. Thank you guys. We appreciate it.

[Robert Frank]

Happy holidays to all of our CNBC family and viewers.

[Steve Liesman]

That's right.

[Becky Quick]

That's the podcast for today and for this holiday shortened week. Enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin. Tune in weekday mornings on cnbc starting at 6 Eastern to catch them live. You can also follow Squawkpod wherever you you get your podcasts. We'll meet you right back here on Monday. Happy digesting.

We are clear. Thanks guys.

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Trading at Schwab is powered by Ameritrade Unlocking the power of thinkorswim the award winning trading platforms loaded with features that let you dive deeper into the market. You can visualize your trades in a new light on thinkorswim desktop with robust charting and analysis tools all while you uncover new opportunities with up to the minute market news and insights. ThinkOrSwim is available on desktop, web and mobile to meet you where you are so you never miss a thing. It's built by the trading obsessed to help you trade brilliantly. Learn [e-mail] trading.