In another record-breaking holiday shopping season, consumers increasingly turned to their mobile phones. The majority of online transactions occurred via smartphone, surpassing a quarter of a trillion dollars for the first time.
According to the 2025 Holiday Shopping Trends report from Adobe, two trends continued to drive mobile purchases: buy now, pay later and agentic AI.
Good old-fashioned convenience also played a part, as mobile shopping peaked on Christmas Day, accounting for two-thirds of all sales. Cyber Monday remained the biggest e-commerce day of the season, with $14.25 billion in online spending—up 7.1% from 2024.
BNPL for the Holidays
For the first time, BNPL spending hit $20 billion, a 9.8% increase and $1.8 billion more than the 2024 season. More than $1 billion of this was spent via BNPL plans on Cyber Monday alone. Originally an e-commerce service, BNPL has only recently expanded into physical cards, with over 80% of purchases made via smartphones this past season.
“BNPL is nearly ubiquitous for all major e-commerce retailers at checkout, and BNPL vendors operate their own digital marketplaces which encourage shopping through strategic offers,” said Ben Danner, Senior Analyst, Credit and Commercial at Javelin Strategy & Research. “BNPL is particularly popular among higher ticket item purchases, which certainly occur around the holidays—think of getting that new 4K TV. Its strong growth particularly in the holiday season is demonstrative of its success in the market.”
Agentic AI Enters the Store
Although smaller in scale than BNPL, agentic AI grew even faster during the holidays. Traffic to retail sites from generative AI tools jumped nearly 700% from 2024, reflecting their increasing prominence throughout 2025.
Separate data from Salesforce reported that agentic AI influenced more than 20% of global retail sales during the season. Usage surged closer to the holidays, with shoppers relying on these tools 66% more in December than in November.
