In an October full of retail sales promotions, consumers spent $88.7 billion online, up 8.2% year-over-year and with a significant part of that spend directed to products to enhance home spaces, according to data compiled by Adobe Analytics.
Mobile continued to drive the majority of e-commerce spending compared to desktop, with a 51.4% share representing $45.6 billion in sales, up 11.6% from October 2024.
Online spend spiked on October 7 and October 8 during the Amazon Prime Big Deal Days event, a period when other major retailers, including Walmart and Target, ran their own promotions. Across those two days, consumers spent a total of $9.1 billion online. up 7.3% year over year, driven in part by average discounts that peaked at 18% off list price.
In October, holiday décor was a hot commodity with online sales rising 130% versus average spend levels in September, as were other products for the home, as consumers took advantage of promotional occasions to upgrade their households. As regards refrigerators and freezers, for example, spending was up 55%. Online sales rose 83% for hand tools and 62% for power tools, another indication of more consumer focus on homes.
Adobe data suggests generative AI traffic is not only rising but also driving higher conversion than non-AI traffic. In October, traffic from generative AI sources increased by 1,200% year over year, Adobe pointed out. Consumers using AI who landed on a retail site were 16% more likely to convert versus non-AI traffic sources such as paid search, affiliates and partners, email, organic search and social media.
October is the second month in a row when AI traffic conversion was higher than that from other sources, with the advantage being 5% in September. In August, traffic from generative AI sources was 9% less likely to convert. The trend reversal provides evidence that consumers are more comfortable completing a transaction directly after an AI-powered chat or browser interaction, Adobe noted. Shoppers who arrived at a site via generative AI sources were 13.6% more engaged compared to non-AI sources, meaning they were exploring more content on retail platforms.
Online revenue share attributed to social media traffic rose by 28% year over year in October. At the same time, affiliates and partner share, including influencers, gained 15% year over year. Although major vehicles such as paid search and email continue to be reliable online traffic and sales drivers, Adobe said consumers increasingly are turning to social media to discover and learn about new products.
As for evolving credit use as the holidays approach, Adobe added that buy-now-pay-later financing drove $7.1 billion in spending during October, up 7.6% year over year.
