Is Cyber Week Set To Smash Sales Records This Year, as Salesforce Suggests?

Cyber Week — the period spanning Nov. 27 through Dec. 1 — plays host to the perennial favorite sales event, Black Friday, as well as the (relatively) new kid on the block, Cyber Monday, kicking off with the Thanksgiving holiday.

According to a Nov. 20 report issued by Salesforce, Cyber Week is projected to generate $334 billion in global online sales over the course of the event, a ~6% improvement over 2024’s spend. Concerning the U.S. market, that figure comes in at $78 billion — a more modest 3% increase.

“Digital traffic has skyrocketed, indicating shoppers are engaging early to see what’s new and build out their wish lists. This year, more shoppers are leaning on AI and agents to research products, help them budget, and prepare for the holiday season,” said Caila Schwartz, Director of Consumer Insights and Strategy for Salesforce.

“Combined with Cyber Week sales projections, we expect highly motivated shoppers who are ready to spend, despite rising prices,” Schwartz added.

The report also underscored several other notable projections:

• AI agents continue building retail sales influence: Salesforce expects that $73 billion, or nearly a quarter (22%) of all online sales, during Cyber Week will be influenced by AI agents — a significant step up from the $60 billion driven by said AI tools last year.
• Mobile sales could be bolstering AI relevancy in the space: Mobile orders will account for nearly three-quarters (70%) of all spend, and an even greater proportion of traffic (80%) this Cyber Week. This could be perceived as “[setting] the stage” for AI agents, the report noted.
• In-store shopping remains a vital channel in the U.S. market: A majority (65%) of sales stateside are anticipated to be driven by physical retail locations during this event.
• Black Friday is expected to be the biggest shopping day of the year: On Black Friday alone, a total global spend of $78 billion appears to be in the cards, with the United States market accounting for $18 billion of that sum.

Pre-Cyber Week Data Insights From Salesforce Hinge Around Mobile Wallets, Social Media Traffic, and Agentic AI in Online Retail

A bevy of other insights were also provided by Salesforce, with insights being gathered from data collected from Oct. 1 through Nov. 15 to provide the backing for analysis.

First up — mobile wallets. The usage of mobile wallets, such as Apple Pay or Google Pay, increased a whopping 31% YoY this fall. This signals increasing adoption and familiarity from the consumer side of the equation as physical cards become displaced by convenient digital equivalents.

Next, social media traffic, particularly traffic coming from YouTube and TikTok. Across all platforms, traffic initiated by social media referrals ticked upward by 15% versus 2024’s stats, reaching nearly one-fifth (16%) of all online traffic thus far this season. In particular, TikTok grew its share of the pie by an impressive 86% this time around, with YouTube not far behind — combined, these two platforms grew their proportion of social media-driven sales traffic by 79%.

Agentic AI took up much of the Salesforce copy, with an extensive breakdown on figures being presented: About 19% of online sales in the pre-Cyber Week period were driven by agentic AI; digital retailers leveraging AI tools observed a superior conversion rate, to the tune of about 5% on average, versus those who did not; traffic from AI models and agentic AI tools increased nearly fourfold YoY globally, and almost doubled in the U.S.; and the implementation of branded AI agents on owned sites showed drastic correlative results, with retailers who did this deployment seeing 13% sales growth versus those who did not (2%).

“With AI and agents set to drive $73 billion in global sales next week, delivering seven times the U.S. sales growth for retailers who implement them, it’s clear that AI has moved from a nice-to-have to an absolute necessity,” said Schwartz.

“Agents are the power brokers of Cyber Week, giving retailers the indispensable ability to convert this strong buying intent into record-breaking revenue.”