AI Has Changed Holiday Shopping: What the Numbers Say

The holiday shopping season has always been a barometer for how people shop, but 2025 feels like the year the rules changed. For marketers watching patterns shift under their feet, the surprise was not that AI played a role. It was how central it became to the way people research, discover and actually buy gifts.

Source- Freepik

According to Salesforce’s data on the 2025 shopping season, AI and agent-driven experiences powered a significant chunk of overall commerce, contributing roughly 20 percent of total retail sales globally and generating more than $260 billion in revenue. Shoppers used AI-powered tools for product recommendations, personalised offers and customer service more during the peak holiday weeks than at any point earlier in the year.

This shift was not only in big numbers. Younger consumers, especially Gen Z and millennials, reported a greater willingness to let AI guide their decisions — from gift ideas to price comparisons — while adopting chatbots and recommendation engines as part of the normal shopper journey. Surveys suggest this generation relies on these tools to handle uncertainty and reduce stress during the frantic holiday rush.

Behind these trends lie changes in consumer expectation. What started as curiosity about AI soon turned into habitual use, with a growing share of shoppers expecting personalised deals and conversational search experiences. Retailers that leaned into these tools saw deeper engagement, while those that treated AI as a seasonal novelty risked being left behind.

The takeaway for marketers is that AI is no longer an experimental feature of holiday campaigns. It has become part of the foundation of modern shopping: shaping discovery, comparison and purchase in ways that are measurable and meaningful this year and beyond.

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