Salesforce, Inc. said on the 15th that it released research findings analyzing global consumer shopping data during the 2025 holiday shopping season.
The study was conducted based on data from about 1.5 billion consumers in 89 countries from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, 2025. According to Salesforce, Inc., global online sales during the period rose 7% from a year earlier to $1.29 trillion. Despite average selling prices rising 7% year over year in both global and U.S. markets, order volume increased 3% globally and 1% in the U.S., indicating that overall consumer recovery held. In particular, global sales in the final two weeks of December rose 12% from a year earlier, showing that year-end shopping demand concentrated in the latter part of the season.
Salesforce, Inc. cited the spread of artificial intelligence (AI) and AI agent technologies as the key drivers of growth this holiday season. Revenue influenced by AI and AI agents—such as personalized product recommendations, AI-driven product discovery, and automated customer support—reached $262 billion, accounting for about 20% of total retail sales. Corporations that adopted AI agents posted sales growth rates 59% higher than those that did not, and their average sales growth rate was 6.2%, far outpacing the 3.9% of non-adopters.
AI's influence also expanded in the shopping discovery phase. Traffic from AI search channels such as ChatGPT and Perplexity roughly doubled from a year earlier, and the purchase conversion rate of consumers coming through those channels was about nine times higher than social media referrals. Post-purchase use of AI agents also increased, with AI-based customer service usage during the holiday season up 126% compared with the start of the season.
Changes also appeared across overall consumer shopping behavior. Volumes of repetitive tasks such as changing shipping addresses and processing returns rose 142% compared with the prior two months, and $181 billion—14% of global online purchase value during the same period—was recorded as returns, with return volume up 10% from a year earlier. About 20% of all orders used the BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick Up In Store) method of buying online and picking up in store, and in the final five days before Christmas, that share rose to 33%.
Park Se-jin, head of Salesforce, Inc. Korea, said, "These data show that AI agents have moved beyond a mere technology trend to become a core growth engine that determines the success or failure of corporations in retail," and added, "The 59% higher sales growth recorded by corporations that adopted AI agents suggests that an agentic strategy is an essential element for securing competitive advantage."