The 2024 holiday season exceeded expectations, with U.S. consumers spending a total of $241.4 billion online between November 1 and December 31, 2024. This marked an 8.7% increase from the previous year, surpassing Adobe’s initial projection of $240.8 billion in ecommerce sales, which represented an 8.4% year-over-year growth.
Inflation did not play a significant role in driving these record-breaking sales figures. In fact, consumer prices have been on a downward trend for the past 27 months, with a 2.6% decrease in November 2024 compared to the previous year. Apparel prices were down by nearly 8% year-over-year in November 2024, according to Adobe’s Digital Price Index.
Mobile transactions were a key driver of the 2024 holiday season, with smartphones accounting for 54.5% of all online purchases. Furthermore, 79.1% of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) orders were made using smartphones.
The use of AI agents, specifically genAI-powered chatbots, saw a significant increase in traffic to retail sites, up by 1,300% year-over-year according to Adobe. A survey of 5,000 consumers revealed that seven out of ten respondents found genAI-powered assistants to be helpful.
The top three ecommerce categories that contributed to over half (54%) of all online sales were electronics, apparel, and furniture/home goods. Electronics sales totaled $55.3 billion, up by 8.8% year-over-year, while apparel sales reached $45.6 billion, marking a 9.9% increase from the previous year. Furniture and home goods sales amounted to $29.2 billion, up by 6.8% year-over-year.
Grocery and cosmetics were the fastest-growing categories in ecommerce during the holiday season, with grocery sales increasing by 12.9% year-over-year to $21.5 billion and cosmetics sales growing by 12.2% to $7.7 billion.
Discounts played a significant role in driving sales performance during the holidays, with electronics benefiting from the highest peak discounts at 30.1% off the listed price. Consumers are increasingly taking advantage of discounts and mobile shopping experiences to purchase a wide range of product categories, including groceries and furniture, not just limited to gift-giving items.
The trends observed during the 2024 holiday season are indicative of a broader shift towards year-round shopping habits that prioritize discounts and mobile convenience. For more insights and data from Adobe Analytics on the holiday season, you can visit their website here.
Contributing authors play a valuable role in creating content for MarTech, bringing their expertise and insights to the martech community. Their contributions are carefully reviewed for quality and relevance, with the editorial staff overseeing the process to ensure the content meets the needs of our readers. The opinions expressed by our contributors are their own and contribute to the diverse perspectives shared on our platform.