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%.
