Holiday shoppers spent a record amount online, searching out deals amid economic anxiety

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Consumers splurged this last holiday season, enticed by good deals even as they worried about growth and inflation.Online shoppers spent a record $257.8 billion during the holiday season as they snagged major discounts on electronics, sporting goods and appliances, Adobe data show.The San José company, which analyzes online transactions on its Adobe Analytics platform, said Wednesday that online consumer spending from Nov.

1 to Dec.31 jumped nearly 7% in the U.S.

compared to the same period a year earlier.The data provide a glimpse into how the U.S.

economy is impacting e-commerce.Amid anxiety around inflation, tariffs and layoffs, shoppers still opened up their wallets, especially during Cyber Monday, the biggest e-commerce day of the season.Consumers spent $14.25 billion on that day.Many shoppers also anticipated bigger discounts to come during Black Friday and Thanksgiving.“We saw that growth really scale up during those days, especially in this environment where consumers are very considerate about prices out there,” said Vivek Pandya, director of Adobe Digital Insights.Shoppers found discounts on higher-priced items such as electronics, furniture and appliances, driving up the total spending during the holidays.

Some bought electronics 30% off the listed price and used payment methods that allowed them to buy gadgets such as smartphones but pay later.The rise of chatbots, powered by artificial intelligence, and the popularity of shopping through social media meant consumers leaned more on technology to find products and deals.“We have a consumer out there that was still willing to spend during this holiday season if they felt like the price was right,” Pandya said.Adobe saw an uptick in people using smartphones to shop and AI chatbots to research products and search for deals.

Traffic from AI sources had a higher conversion rate than from non-AI sources, he said...