Sales Strategy
Holiday 2025: AI Drives $262 Billion in Record-Breaking Sales February 03, 2026 (0 comments)
San Juan Capistrano, CA--Despite forecasts predicting flat e-commerce traffic, the 2025 holiday season delivered record-breaking results, driven largely by a surge in artificial intelligence usage. Global online spending hit $1.3 trillion, a 7% increase year-over-year. According to Salesforce, AI influenced $262 billion of that total, emerging as a critical revenue driver.
[Image via iStock.com/filo]
High-Intent Traffic Outperforms Social Media
According to an article by Shop Surf Eat Outdoor, the holiday season defied expectations with a late-season traffic surge of over 20%. Salesforce data indicates that the "quality" of this traffic was the differentiator. Visitors referred by AI search engines converted at a rate nine times higher than those coming from social media.
Unlike passive social scrollers, these users are "highly motivated buyers." Having conducted deep research via Large Language Models (LLMs) before clicking, they arrived ready to transact, spending nearly 140% more time on retailer sites than social referrals.
The Rise of "Agentic" Sales and Service
Retailers who deployed brand-owned AI agents saw 59% higher sales growth compared to those who did not. These "agentic" systems, such as Williams Sonoma’s "Olive," have evolved beyond simple support bots into autonomous associates capable of meal planning and complex decision-making.
Salesforce reports that autonomous actions by these agents increased by 142% during the holidays. The article added that by handling complex workflows like returns and shipping updates without human intervention, brands like Pandora improved case deflection by 60% and raised Net Promoter Scores (NPS) by 10%.
2026 Outlook: Breaking the Chat Bubble
The article noted that the success of 2025 signals a shift for 2026: AI will move out of the customer service corner and into the fabric of the website. Future agents will integrate into search bars to ask clarifying questions or appear in shopping carts to offer shipping alternatives. By unifying inventory, order history, and personal preferences, these tools will proactively prevent returns and drive sales through hyper-personalized recommendations.
Learn more in this article by Shop Surf Eat Outdoor.