The trend: The influence of AI was felt more acutely this holiday season, as shoppers leaned on generative AI (genAI) tools to research products and deals and turned to AI-powered customer service for assistance.

The numbers: Globally, AI and agents influenced 20% of all retail sales, or $262 billion in revenues, according to Salesforce’s final holiday tally. Both Salesforce and Adobe pointed to the rising sway of platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity on consumer purchasing decisions.

• Per Salesforce, the share of global and US traffic originating from AI search platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity doubled YoY.
• Adobe reported an even bigger spike—693.4%—in traffic to retail sales from genAI tools.

However, while AI’s influence is growing, the number of people who use AI as a shopping assistant remains small. Just 2% of US digital buyers report starting their online product searches with an AI assistant or chatbot, according to a September survey by CivicScience and EMARKETER.

Shoppers were far more likely to use AI in a customer service capacity.

• Roughly 4 in 5 respondents (78%) reported at least one interaction with an AI or automated customer service platform, and 73% said a growing share of their customer service experiences were handled by AI or automation, according to a LiveOps survey.
• Use of retailers’ AI and agents for customer service was 126% higher in November and December compared with the two months prior, per Salesforce, with more shoppers relying on agents to complete tasks such as initiating returns or updating delivery addresses.

Why it matters: Despite the hype around AI shopping assistants and agents, they account for a small fraction of AI’s overall influence on retail sales.

Still, companies with their own AI agents saw an average growth rate that was 59% higher than those without, per Salesforce. At the same time, shoppers who land on retailers’ sites from genAI sources spend more time and are more engaged than visitors coming from paid search, social media, and other non-AI channels.

But rather than focus on AI’s revenue-driving ability, retailers should direct their attention to areas where the technology can reduce friction in the customer experience—such as by making it easier to initiate returns—and deliver more immediate benefit to shoppers.