By Investing.com — The 2024 holiday season saw a near 9% increase in online spending in the U.S., with most purchases made via smartphones, according to data from Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Analytics.
The total online expenditure between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31 reached approximately $241.4 billion, slightly exceeding Adobe’s September forecast of $240.8 billion. The same period in 2023 saw a growth of 4.9% in online spending.
Adobe’s data revealed that smartphones were used for 54.5% of online shopping transactions during the holiday season, a rise from 51.1% in 2023.
“The 2024 holiday season showed that e-commerce is being reshaped by a consumer who now prefers to transact on smaller screens and lean on AI-powered services to shop more efficiently,” said Vivek Pandya, lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights.
AI-powered chatbots, offering product recommendations and shopping assistance, contributed to a 1,300% increase in customer traffic to retail websites, according to Adobe.
The company’s data tracks e-commerce by monitoring online transactions across websites, accessing data from 85% of the top 100 U.S. internet retailers.
Salesforce (NYSE:CRM) data also indicated that AI-powered chatbots and other shopping features facilitated consumer purchases and returns during the 2024 holiday season.
Adobe also highlighted the growing popularity of flexible payment options, such as buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, among price-sensitive customers.
BNPL usage accounted for $18.2 billion in online spending during the 2024 holiday shopping season, marking a 9.6% increase from the previous year.
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