Salesforce: Global online holiday sales reach $1.17T

Online holiday shoppers spent more than $1 trillion during the 2023 season.

According to analysis of over 1.5 billion online shoppers across its Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud platforms, Salesforce reports that Global online sales reached $1.17 trillion during the 2023 holiday season (November and December), up 3% year over year (YoY). according to an analysis of over 1.5 billion online shoppers across the Salesforce Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Service Cloud platforms.

U.S. online sales rose 1% YoY to $272 billion, while online holiday sales in Europe increased 6% YoY. Salesforce data also indicates the global average online discount rate across the entire holiday season was 21%, the highest it’s been since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.

In addition, Salesforce data shows that more than 17% of all online holiday orders were influenced by artificial intelligence (AI) in November and December, equaling $199 billion and higher than the $194 billion prediction Salesforce released in December. Cyber Week alone saw $51 billion in online sales influenced by AI.

Salesforce examines the state of digital commerce

Salesforce also released the third edition of its annual “State of Commerce” study, analyzing trends in e-commerce, AI and digital payment. Highlights follow:

Only 3% of surveyed e-commerce organizations have no AI plans, although adoption is nascent. Nearly three in 10 (29%) respondents have fully implemented AI in their workflows so far, and that group reports notable benefits to internal processes and productivity. 

In fact, respondents using AI credit the technology with an average time savings of 6.4 hours per week. In addition, 48% of respondents are experimenting with AI, and 20% are evaluating how it will fit into their operations.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents report that customer service drives substantial incremental e-commerce revenue. Meanwhile, digital wallets, a category that includes Apple Pay, Google Pay and Amazon Pay, remained popular throughout the holiday season, with usage growing 54% during the months of November and December compared to the same time period the previous year. 

However, Salesforce data shows that cryptocurrency adoption rates have stalled after significantly rising during 2022.

Salesforce analyzed buying activity of over 1.5 billion B2C and B2B shoppers across 64 countries occurring in November and December 2023 on websites operating on Salesforce Commerce Cloud. To qualify for inclusion in this analysis, sites were required to meet a monthly minimum visit and order threshold. 

For the State of Commerce study, Salesforce conducted a double-blind survey of 2,700 professionals in e-commerce, customer service, information technology, marketing, operations, and sales/business development roles whose job duties include e-commerce strategy and execution. Data was collected between Oct. 6 – Nov. 8, 2023. Respondents were sourced from Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, the U.K. and the U.S.