U.S. consumers spent $257.8 billion online for the 2025 holiday season, which is a 6.8% year-over-year increase, according to Adobe Analytics data.
Adobe’s estimates are based on analysis of 1 trillion web visits to U.S. retailers and 100 million SKUs. Adobe’s data is for online transactions only, from Nov. 1-Dec. 31, 2025.
Retail marketers can thank discounts and investments in social media ads and influencers for the boost in online sales, according to Adobe data.
Impact of Marketing Investments on 2025 Holiday Season
Sales generated through consumers visiting a retail site from social media increased 40.3% year over year, with social media generating 4.6% of holiday revenue, up from 3.3% of revenue in 2024. This is separate from social media influencers, which generated one in five online holiday purchases (20.4% of sales from affiliates and partners) up from 17.6% share of revenue from the 2024 holiday season. Paid search and email also drove a significant share of revenue, according to Adobe without providing specific figures.
Generative artificial intelligence chat services, like ChatGPT, also increased its share of referring sales, according to Adobe data. Consumers especially used these tools to find deals and research products. Traffic to U.S. retail sites from generative AI increased 670% year over year. Adobe did not reveal the percent of traffic that comes from generative AI.
“While the base of users remains modest, the uptick shows the value AI can deliver as a shopping assistant,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, in a press release. “These services were used most in categories including video games, toys, appliances, electronics and personal care products.”
Discounts
Retailers’ strong discounts drove the considerable increase in online sales this holiday season, according to Adobe. In many categories, the average peak discount rate was higher than in 2024:
- Electronics — 30.9% off listed price compared with 30.1% in 2024
- Toys — 29.6% peak discount (vs. 28%)
- Apparel — 25.1% peak discount (vs. 23.2%)
- Televisions — 24.3% peak discount (vs. 24.2%)
- Computers — 23.4% peak discount (vs. 22.8%)
- Sporting goods — 20.3% peak discount (vs. 19.5%)
- Appliances — 20.2% peak discount (vs. 19.2%)
- Furniture — 18.8% peak discount (vs. 19%)
Deep discounts also enticed shoppers to purchase higher-ticket items and many shoppers “traded up,” according to Adobe.
Adobe also Found for the 2025 Online Holiday Season:
- Consumers made the majority of online purchase via smartphones, with small screens representing 56.4% of all holiday sales.
- Mobile sales reached $145.2 billion for the holiday season, a 10.7% year-over-year increase.
- Shoppers used buy now pay later buttons to spend $20 billion online during the holiday season, a 9.8% year-over-year increase.
- Shoppers picked up 17.1% of online holiday orders curbside, among the retailers that offered this fulfillment option. Curbside pickup use peaked on Dec. 23, with 39% of online orders fulfilled with this method on that day.
- In the days following Christmas (Dec. 26-Dec. 31) returned products increased 4.7% compared with last year. For the entire holiday season period, returns decreased 1.2% year over year.
- Shoppers spent a record amount — $44.2 billion, a 7.7% year-over-year increase — during the five-day period Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday.
