Online Holiday Spending Jumps 9% in the U.S., Led by Smartphones - Adobe

According to Adobe (NASDAQ: ADBE) Analytics data, online spending in the U.S. for the 2024 holiday season increased by approximately 9%, with most purchases made via smartphones.

Total online spending between November 1 and December 31 reached about $241.4 billion, slightly exceeding Adobe's September forecast of $240.8 billion. During the same period in 2023, online spending saw a growth of 4.9%.

Adobe's data revealed that 54.5% of online shopping transactions during the holiday season were made through smartphones, up from 51.1% in 2023.

Vivek Pandya, chief analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, stated, “The 2024 holiday season demonstrated that e-commerce is being reshaped by consumers who now prefer to transact on smaller screens and are turning to AI-driven services for a more efficient shopping experience.”

According to Adobe, AI-powered chatbots offering product recommendations and shopping assistance contributed to a 1,300% increase in customer traffic to retail websites. The company's data tracks e-commerce by monitoring online transactions across websites and obtaining data from 85% of the top 100 online retailers in the U.S.

Salesforce data also indicated that AI-powered chatbots and other shopping features facilitated consumers' shopping and return processes during the 2024 holiday season.

Adobe also pointed out the growing popularity of flexible payment options like buy now, pay later (BNPL) services among price-sensitive customers.

BNPL usage accounted for $18.2 billion of online spending during the 2024 holiday shopping season, marking a 9.6% increase compared to the previous year.