Santa Claus no longer comes down the chimney. Now, check your shopping cart, click, and in a few hours—or at most the next day—the gift appears at your door. In the middle of 2025, the one who makes dreams come true is not just Santa: it is e-commerce.
Before, gifting meant anticipating, going to the mall, waiting in lines, dealing with the size being out of stock or shipping taking weeks. Today immediacy rules. And this transformation is no coincidence: it is estimated that global e-commerce sales will reach between 6.4 and 8.3 trillion dollars – trillions of dollars according to the short Anglo-Saxon scale – in 2025, equivalent to about 20% of all retail purchases in the world. Yes: trillions with a “t”. This means that it is no longer a niche or a “quick option”, it is a central part of how we buy.
We consumers have already decided: we want everything faster, easier and more personalized. For example: during the Black Friday 2024 period, online sales grew more than 10% compared to the previous year in certain markets, and more and more purchases are made via mobile – 70%, to be exact.
And this change does not stop only in the high seasons. It has become the rule of the game all year round. We compare, buy and evaluate in real time; If a brand is late, it simply disappears from our radar. Companies that previously competed on price now compete on seconds, because the expectation is clear: if there is the possibility of receiving it today, why wait until tomorrow?
Once you try that speed there is no turning back. Your internal clock changes and your patience shortens. Slow shipping is no longer normal, it feels like a setback. The magic was no longer in the price; now it is in the promise fulfilled almost instantly. And that expectation completely redefines the operation of any business.
Anticipate wishes, optimize routes, deliver smiles
The new Santa Claus doesn’t just read the letter; predicts it. Thanks to technology (artificial intelligence, data processing, real-time logistics, algorithms), we can infer what we want before we even know it.
With a structure that allows you to review stock, prices, shipping routes and multiple destinations at the same time, that “click” has behind it a gigantic – and ultra-fast – system that we previously only saw in science fiction movies. But today it is real.
Santa has a secret to making your gift arrive so quickly and it’s not in his sleigh, but in the electronic brain of the warehouses. Imagine that each distribution center is a mini-headquarters for Santa. Artificial intelligence analyzes mountains of data – inventory, real-time traffic routes, courier availability – and has to decide in the blink of an eye – microseconds – if your gift should go in the blue box, if it should go out through door 4 or if it should wait for another package to fill the van.
This ability to make decisions instantly, right where the product is – what we call Edge Computing or edge computing – requires advanced hardware and very powerful processing capacity. It’s the invisible support that turns the promise of speed into a reality at your doorstep.
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From sleigh to shopping cart: the magic of e-commerce
The magic is not only in the purchase, it is in the delivery. E-commerce no longer competes by price, but by time, and that is the new retail war. It’s easy to forget how complex it is to get a package from A to B in minutes or hours. The warehouses, the distribution centers, the “last kilometers” (last mile delivery), the systems trackingeverything has been redesigned to look almost instantaneous. He “same-day delivery” (same day delivery) is no longer a luxury extra: around 76% of consumers prefer to choose free same day delivery when available.
Result? Patience is no longer a virtue in digital retail. A good part of consumers prefer “I have it today” than “I will have it tomorrow.” And companies know it: those who comply quickly earn points. Let’s face it: immediacy is rewriting consumer behavior and forcing companies to become technology companies, whether they like it or not.
Expectation is now managed with data. And part of the pleasure of gifting—the surprise, the anticipation—takes on a new form with speed and ease.
And not only that: days like Black Friday or El Buen Fin make that feeling of urgency multiply. It is no longer just a matter of “now it is cheap”, but rather “now you have it”. The strategies are designed to make the click feel as magical as the sled landing on your rooftop.
Although much of the global data may feel distant, the dynamic also applies here: digital commerce in Mexico is accelerating, and events like El Buen Fin (local version of Black Friday) prove that the Mexican consumer already expects that speed, that convenience and that “one-click” solution. For companies, this new dynamic means investing in technology, optimizing logistics and competing in a market in which speed is the key differentiator. Those that cannot respond to that expectation remain off the consumer’s radar.
So the moral is clear: if you want to get a gift – or a gift – quickly, think digital. If you want to keep the magic of giving alive, think of e-commerce as the new Santa.
Modern magic is delivered in real time
A few years ago, immediacy was a luxury. Today it is simply the standard. It no longer matters whether it is headphones or a surprise detail: today, we consider “fast” what was considered “correct” just a few years ago.
The equation changed: technology + logistics + artificial intelligence = operational magic. And no, it is not that “the algorithm does it alone”; Behind it there are thousands of processes, data and invisible decisions that work in sync so that you only see the final result: your order at the door, just in time.
The gift, then, is no longer just the object. It is also the complete experience: order, receive – quickly – and enjoy. In this new era, the click has replaced the sleigh, and the thrill of gifting now lives in the speed, precision, and fulfilled promise of a package that arrives before you miss the surprise or place another even more exciting order.
E-commerce stopped being a category and became the emotional and operational infrastructure of modern consumption.
So the next time you click, think about that white-bearded Santa… but who now uses a shopping cart and leaves your gift at the door before the foam on your cappuccino dissolves. Welcome to the new global cast.
About the author:
*Ana Peña is the corporate communications director at Intel for the Americas.
LinkedIn: Ana Pena
The opinions expressed are solely the responsibility of their authors and are completely independent of the position and editorial line of Forbes Mexico
