Holiday Shoppers Spent a Record $1.2T Online, 36% Took on Debt

The holiday shopping season is finally behind us once again, and the latest surveys have finally arrived to reveal how it all went down.

Shoppers spent more than ever online, one survey found, and some of them went into debt to do it, according to a second survey.

Here are the specific findings of each report, along with any other interesting details they’ve surfaced about the state of online consumption as we enter 2025.

Holiday Retail Sales Hit a Record $1.2 Trillion Globally

Online holiday sales around the world reached $1.2 trillion for the first time ever, and crossed $282 billion in the United States alone, according to a Salesforce report.

That’s above expectations, and marks a 3% year-over-year growth worldwide (4% YoY for the US).

AI tools may have had a six-fingered hand in the matter, since Salesforce estimates that $229 billion of those global online sales were “influenced by AI and agents in the form of product recommendations, targeted offers, and conversational customer service support.”

However, one more finding is worth noting: The same study found that more than $122 billion of global purchases have already been returned, which marks a 28% increase from last year. Clearly, shoppers are taking full advantage of store’s return policies, so that record-setting $1.2 trillion number may ultimately fall much lower when to comes to the total.

Over a Third of US Consumers Went Into Debt

Our second survey — out from LendingTree in partnership with QuestionPro — was smaller in scope and covered 2,049 consumers within the US only. The biggest statistic it uncovered? A full 36% of US consumers took on debt in December.

Of those debtors, 42% reported that their highest interest rate was at or above 20%. Also, the average dollar amount that consumers took on was $1,181, which is an increase from $1,028 in 2023.

“Inflation is still a big deal in this country, and it’s having a huge impact on people’s finances, including their holiday spending. If you were to only buy the same things you bought last Christmas, you’d likely have to spend more this year thanks to inflation. For many Americans, that means you either have to cut back on gifts or take on more debt.” -Matt Schulz, LendingTree chief credit analyst

When broken down by generation, Millennials took on the most debt this holiday season at 42%, with Gen Xers in second place with 37%, and Baby Boomers in last place with just 29%.

Ecommerce Debt and Jobs

These increases in debt and spending call to mind the difficult job market, which one expert predicted would only get worse across this year in Tech.co’s recent coverage of 2025 predictions.

Federal layoffs, the growth of AI, and the mass deportations promised by the next presidential administration are all reasons to expect a tough job market across 2025 and beyond.

Perhaps the most grim statistic to emerge from these new holiday shopping retrospectives comes from the LendingTree survey: “Parents of young children were the most likely to take on debt, at 48%.”