Overview
- Adobe reports a 6.8% year-over-year increase for Nov. 1–Dec. 31, 2025, outpacing its prior $253.4 billion projection yet slowing from last year’s 8.7% growth.
- Buy now, pay later spending reached about $20 billion, up 9.8% from 2024, with Cyber Monday setting a BNPL record at $1.03 billion.
- Traffic from generative AI tools to retailer sites jumped 693.4% year over year, signaling rapid adoption of AI for product discovery and deal-finding.
- Salesforce’s concurrent data shows $1.29 trillion in global online holiday sales and estimates AI and agents influenced roughly 20% of retail revenue, or $262 billion.
- Smartphones drove 56.4% of transactions as discount-driven demand lifted higher-ticket categories, led by $59.8 billion in electronics and the fastest growth in groceries at 10.2%.