• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, January 6, 2026

Email marketing teams are only now getting the full picture from the 2025 shopping season. 

Global online sales hit the $1.29 trillion mark during the holidays, including $294 billion in the United States, according to new figures reported by Salesforce.

Sales rose worldwide by 12% YoY in the last two weeks of December and 9% in the U.S. 

AI and agents influenced 20% of all sales, amounting to $262 million in revenue. 

The report is based on the global shopping activity of over 1.5 billion consumers 

Moreover, shoppers referred from ChatGPT and other AI-powered search channels converted nine times more often than those referred by social media. 

Brands that used their own AI agents — i.e., Pandora, SharkNinja, and Funko — enjoyed a 59% higher growth rate, or 6.2%, versus 3.9% for those that did not. 

Overall, there was a 66% boost in agentic AI-powered service conversations in December over the prior month. And this grew by 12% during the week of Christmas and Boxing Day YoY. 

Agents handled 142% more tasks for consumers than they did in the previous two months. These chores included returns, which totaled $181 million in the period between November 1 and December 31 and accounted for 14% of all purchases. 

"The 2025 holiday season marked a definitive shift to a new era of ‘agentic’ shopping,” says Caila Schwartz, director of consumer insights at 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.”

Schwartz adds that agents “didn't just drive $262 billion in sales through high-intent discovery; they became the operational heroes of the season.”