On Tuesday Eastern Time, Adobe data showed that during the 2024 holiday shopping season (from November 1 to December 31), U.S. e-commerce sales reached a new high, with total spending hitting $241.4 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.7%. This growth was primarily driven by discount promotions and AI-driven shopping assistants effectively stimulating consumer purchasing desires. Despite inflationary pressures prompting consumers to tighten spending and prioritize necessities, the data indicates that consumers are still willing to increase spending at specific times.
The strong performance of e-commerce is a positive sign for the retail industry. Although companies have not yet released specific sales data, retail giants such as Walmart, Target, and Macy's will begin releasing their fourth-quarter financial reports in late February, at which time they will disclose sales performance, including the key shopping season, helping investors to more comprehensively assess the overall performance of the 2024 holiday shopping season and its impact on the retail industry.
<h2>Significant Impact of Discount Promotions</h2>
This data is based on Adobe Analytics' in-depth analysis of over 1 trillion visits to U.S. retail websites, 100 million unique products, and 18 different product categories.
Adobe pointed out that the growth in online consumption is driven by increased demand rather than rising prices. Adobe's Digital Price Index shows that e-commerce product prices have declined month-on-month for 27 consecutive months. In fact, Adobe's data is unadjusted for inflation; if inflation is taken into account, the actual consumption growth may be even higher.
Under inflationary pressure, consumers are tightening spending and prioritizing necessities. Vivek Pandya, chief analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, stated that due to high food and housing prices, consumers are waiting for specific opportunities to purchase non-essentials in hopes of obtaining lower prices. He described this pattern as &#34;event-driven shopping.&#34;
Pandya explained, &#34;At certain specific moments and opportunities, we see consumers significantly increase spending because they see value. Outside of these periods, growth tends to recede. For example, consumers shop during Amazon's Prime Day event or promotional days like Presidents' Day and Memorial Day.&#34;
Adobe's data found that substantial discounts are a key factor motivating holiday shoppers to spend. Compared to the 2023 holiday season, a 1% price reduction leads to approximately a 1% increase in product demand, contributing an additional $2.25 billion to online spending.
<h2>AI Shopping Assistants as an Emerging Driving Force</h2>
Adobe also noted that AI shopping assistants have become a new factor driving holiday consumption. Compared to the same period last year, retail website traffic utilizing generative AI chatbots surged by 1300%. Consumers are increasingly using this technology to seek gift ideas and cheaper products.
Adobe data analyst Vivek Pandya stated that although AI technology is still in its early stages and the user base is relatively limited, these chatbots have already begun to have a significant impact on the click-through rates and purchase volumes of retail websites. Pandya pointed out, &#34;Consumers are very strategic; they carefully consider where to buy, when to buy, and which products offer the best value.&#34;
In this process, generative AI assistants are helping consumers, becoming their 'co-pilot' in the shopping journey.
Smartphones played a central role in the 2024 holiday shopping season, with the proportion of mobile shopping continuing to rise. According to Adobe, over 55% of e-commerce purchases were made through smartphones, rather than laptops or other devices. This figure has increased from about 51% in the same period last year.
Additionally, &#34;buy now, pay later,&#34; a credit option that allows consumers to pay for purchases in installments, showed strong growth again this holiday shopping season. According to Adobe's statistics, the usage of this payment method increased by 9.6% year-on-year, contributing $18.2 billion to online spending, setting a historical high for the holiday season.
It is worth mentioning that Cyber Monday set a single-day record for &#34;buy now, pay later&#34; spending, with a total of $991.2 million spent through this method on that day.
<h2>Sales Structure: Electronics, Clothing, and Home Goods Dominate</h2>
During the holiday shopping season, electronics had the largest discounts, with reductions of up to 30.1% off the list price. This was followed by toys, which had discounts of up to 28%; televisions with discounts of up to 24.2%; and clothing with maximum discounts of 23.2%. Overall, electronics, clothing, and home goods were the three main consumer categories during the holiday season, accounting for about 54% of total online spending, indicating that consumers still prefer these traditional popular categories during the holiday season.
Meanwhile, the fastest-growing categories year-on-year were groceries and cosmetics, with the former growing nearly 13% to $21.5 billion and the latter growing 12.2% to $7.7 billion

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Adobe data shows that during the 2024 holiday shopping season, total e-commerce sales in the United States increased by 8.7% year-on-year to $241.4 billion, setting a new historical high. More than half of the total spending was concentrated on electronics, clothing, and home goods, while groceries and cosmetics became the fastest-growing categories. AI shopping assistants and significant discounts were key factors motivating holiday shoppers to spend

- During the 2024 holiday shopping season, U.S. e-commerce sales reached a record high of $241.4 billion, an 8.7% increase from the previous year, driven by discounts and AI shopping assistants.  
- Despite inflation pressures leading consumers to prioritize essentials, they showed willingness to spend during specific promotional events, with significant discounts boosting demand.  
- Mobile shopping accounted for over 55% of e-commerce purchases, and the "buy now, pay later" option saw a 9.6% increase, contributing $18.2 billion to online spending.

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U.S. holiday season e-commerce sales soared to a record $241.4 billion, driven primarily by discount promotions and AI shopping assistants