Brands that cut back on social media marketing risk losing sales.
About a quarter of sales on U.S. retail sites during the holiday season were generated by clicks on social media posts or through affiliate marketing links through influencers, publishers or other partners, according to a study Adobe Analytics of online consumer transactions. Despite its growth, influencer marketing lags behind more mature categories, such as search and digital video, in annual ad spend in the US.
Affiliates and partners, a marketing category in which brands pay influencers, publishers and other promoters a commission for linking to products, contributed about 20% of about $258 billion in revenue on U.S. retail sites during the holiday season. This type of marketing grew by approximately 16% as a percentage of sales during the 2025 holiday season compared to the same period a year ago.
Excluding influencer posts, social media marketing grew about 40% in November and December from the previous year, a “high point” in Adobe’s report. This category accounted for approximately 5% of U.S. retail site revenue. To arrive at this figure, Adobe counted user clicks from unaffiliated social posts that led to a purchase on a retailer’s site.
Adobe’s analysis focused on sales on US retail sites and did not include purchases made directly through social apps such as TikTok Shop. According to Business Insider, it helped merchants bring in more than $500 million in US sales during the four-day period between Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
TikTok Shop was one of the fastest-growing brands in the US in 2025, according to a Morning Consult report on consumer purchase considerations. Well-known brands such as Ralph Lauren and Samsung joined the platform in the US last year as the app gained popularity.
More than ever, American consumers are turning to social apps to decide what to buy. They follow the shopping habits of their peers in other regions such as Asia, where influencers can push their followers to spend millions of dollars in a single livestream. Some consider makers to be the most authentic and reliable shopping guides.
Social commerce was slow to take off in the US, where major players like Amazon and Walmart dictated shopping habits. But the format is becoming increasingly popular in the US, as TikTok Shop, Whatnot and other platforms train shoppers to buy things in social feeds.
The message for CMOs or e-commerce executives planning for 2026 is simple: make sure your social media plan is as tight as your search and email marketing strategies, or you risk missing out.
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