The forecast, released today and based on data drawn from Salesforce platforms Commerce Cloud, Marketing Cloud, Service Cloud and Agentforce, predicts that global ecommerce sales in November and December will reach a record $1.25 trillion, an increase worldwide of 4%. In the U.S., online sales are projected to increase 2.1%. "The way consumers are shopping is changing at a fundamental level," the report states, noting that AI and agents are projected to drive 21% of all holiday orders globally, resulting in $263 billion in sales.
On the user side, the most significant change is a test that allows readers to open article links directly in the Reddit app, with Reddit comments from other users pinned to the bottom. In other words, you can scroll through an article while reading Reddit comments. Reddit spokesperson Courtney Geesey-Dorr told The Verge that the feature respects publisher paywalls, meaning some users may hit subscriber-only content; some publications may opt to share unlocked gift links or soften their paywalls for Reddit users.