Salesforce: Global online holiday sales near $1.3T, rise 4% in U.S.
Online sales during the 2025 holiday season broke records both globally and domestically.
New analysis from Salesforce indicates that during the complete Nov. 1 - Dec. 31, 2025 holiday shopping season, online sales reached $1.29 trillion globally and $294 billion in the U.S. These totals both set new records and represented 7% growth globally and 4% growth in the U.S. compared to the 2024 holiday season.
Online sales growth in the last two weeks of December outpaced year-over-year increases observed earlier in the holiday season, reaching 12% globally and 9% in the U.S.
[READ MORE: Salesforce: Global online holiday sales top $1T by mid-December; U.S. sales up 4%]
Salesforce findings in several notable areas of online holiday e-commerce include:
Artificial intelligence
AI and agents drove 20% of all retail sales and fueled $262 billion in revenue through personalized recommendations and deeper customer engagement. December saw a 66% jump in the number of agentic AI-based service conversations from November, while interactions during the week of Christmas grew 12% year over year.
The share of global and U.S. traffic from third-party AI search channels like ChatGPT and Perplexity doubled compared to 2024, and shoppers referred to retailer websites from AI-based search channels converted nine times more often than those coming through social media referrals.
AI agents handled 142% more tasks in November and December than they had in the prior two months and shoppers used retailers’ AI and agents for customer service 126% more during the holiday rush than in the two months prior.
Buy online, pickup in store
Nearly one-in-five orders was made via BOPIS, with that rate climbing to one-in-three during the final five days before Christmas. BOPIS usage peaked on Monday, Dec. 22, when 35% of all online orders were placed for in-store pickup.
Returns
More than $181 billion of global online purchases made between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, 2025, have already been returned. This accounts for 14% of all purchases and marks a 10% increase in holiday returns from 2024. Items purchased in-store during the final four days before Christmas have the highest likelihood of being returned in January.
Spending growth vs. price increases
Across the holiday season, the average selling price increased 7% year over year both worldwide and in the U.S. However, seasonal order volumes increased 3% globally and 1% in the U.S. compared with 2024.
"The 2025 holiday season marked a definitive shift to a new era of ‘agentic’ shopping," said Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights, Salesforce. "While shoppers remained resilient in the face of higher prices, the real story was how retailers leaned on AI and agents to navigate the holiday rush. Agents didn't just drive $262 billion in sales through high-intent discovery; they became the operational heroes of the season — handling a 142% surge in tasks like returns and shipping updates. This wasn't just a bigger holiday season than last year; it was a more efficient, intelligent one."
