**Record-Breaking Holiday Season Driven by AI Agents**
The 2025 holiday shopping season set new records, with $1.29 trillion in global sales driven by a definitive shift toward AI-driven agentic shopping. According to Salesforce data, global online sales increased by 7% from last year, with U.S. sales reaching $294 billion, up 4% from 2024. This growth was fueled by a resilient consumer base that leveraged mobile devices and AI agents to find the best deals.
**Key Trends and Takeaways**
Three significant trends emerged during the 2025 holiday season:
1. **Agentic Commerce: From Chat to Operations**
AI agents have moved beyond basic customer service queries to become fundamental drivers of revenue and streamlined operations. They influenced 20% of global retail sales, with traffic from AI-powered searches converting nine times more often than traffic from social media referrals.
2. **Mobile Dominance in Discovery and Purchase**
Mobile devices cemented their status as the default for shopping, with 78% of global online traffic and 70% of orders originating from mobile devices during the critical Cyber Week period.
3. **The High-Cost, High-Return Economy**
Consumers spent more time researching and conducting diligence before committing to higher-priced items, with the average selling price rising 7% globally and in the U.S. However, this also led to a 10% increase in returns, representing 14% of all purchases.
**Implications for Marketing Leaders**
To succeed in the months ahead, marketing leaders should consider the following next steps:
1. **Deploy Owned Agentic AI**
Integrate proprietary AI agents into digital storefronts to capture high-intent traffic and close sales with discerning consumers.
2. **Automate the Post-Purchase Loop**
Deploy AI agents to handle low-complexity, high-volume tasks, such as address updates and return initiations, to protect margins and free up human agents for complex issues.
3. **Optimize for Mobile Discovery and BOPIS**
Ensure seamless mobile experiences, particularly for last-minute shoppers who switch to “buy online, pick up in store” (BOPIS) in the final days before the holiday.
**The Rise of Operational AI**
The 2025 holiday season marked the end of the era of purely experimental AI and the arrival of operational AI. AI agents and mobile commerce dominated retail in 2025, influencing product discovery, conversion, and post-purchase service. Retailers integrating branded AI agents into their ecosystems significantly outperformed their peers, signaling that agentic capabilities are now a competitive necessity rather than a novelty.
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Source: Forbes Report
