Global ecommerce holiday spending reached $1.3 trillion in 2025, with Cyber Week alone generating $336.6 billion in online sales. Even after that record year, more than 51% of shoppers say they’ll maintain or increase their holiday budgets in 2026.
For brands selling on Amazon, Walmart, or other online retailers, the opportunity is clear. Brands that prepare their digital shelf before October will have a much better chance of winning on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and throughout the holiday season.
This article breaks down the biggest holiday shopping trends for 2026 and what they mean for e-commerce brands.
2026 Holiday Consumer Spending Trends
Salsify surveyed more than 1,200 shoppers across the US, UK, and Canada to understand how consumers plan to shop during the 2026 holiday season. The 2026 Holiday Pulse Report explores spending intentions, shopping timelines, Black Friday and Cyber Monday behavior, AI adoption, and the factors influencing purchase decisions this holiday season.
- 51% of shoppers plan to spend about the same this holiday season, while 23% expect to spend more and only 18% plan to cut spending.
- Millennials are the biggest holiday spenders this year, with 33% planning to increase their spending, followed by Gen Z.
- Black Friday remains the biggest shopping event, with 73% of shoppers planning to shop the sales, ahead of Cyber Monday (61%).
- Holiday shopping starts well before November, with shoppers researching and buying gifts months ahead of the peak season.
- Consumers now shop across stores, ecommerce platforms, and AI shopping assistants instead of relying on a single channel.
- 40% of shoppers use AI for gift discovery, and 51% are comfortable using AI shopping agents during their purchase journey.
- 31% trust AI-generated recommendations more when product information is detailed, accurate, and complete.
- Ratings, reviews, product quality, and brand trust continue to influence holiday purchase decisions.
- 27% of shoppers plan to buy more practical and useful gifts this holiday season.
- 59% say personal values influence their holiday purchases as much as, or more than, price.
- 51% say news and global events affect how they shop during the holidays.
- Physical retail remains important, with 69% planning to buy gifts in stores despite researching online.
- Cross-channel shopping continues to grow, with 67% researching online before buying in-store and 53% doing the reverse.
In addition to the above trends, here are some other holiday shopping behavior brands must know, plus some tips on how they can respond best to them.
#1 Cross-Border Competition Will Make The Holiday Shelf More Crowded
Holiday shoppers are no longer limited to brands selling in their own country. Around 70% of global online shoppers now buy from international sellers, up from 60% a year earlier, while cross-border purchases are expected to account for roughly 20% of global Black Friday and Cyber Monday ecommerce spending in 2026.
For brands, this means holiday competition can come from sellers operating thousands of miles away. Competitive pricing, product availability, delivery promises, and marketplace visibility can determine whether shoppers choose your product or an overseas alternative.
#2 Bigger Discounts Will Not Automatically Mean Better Sales
Discounting is becoming more strategic as shoppers become more deliberate about value. Impact’s 2026 holiday research found that 36% of consumers need more than 40% off an item priced above $200 before they consider it worth buying, while smaller purchases generally require less aggressive discounts.
This creates a tricky balance for brands. Going too deep can damage margins, but failing to stay competitive can make a product invisible during peak deal periods. Monitoring competitor pricing, promotions, and marketplace sellers becomes particularly important when every percentage point can affect both conversion and profitability.
#3 Delivery And Availability Can Make Or Break The Purchase
Price may get shoppers to the product page, but fulfillment can still lose the sale. DHL reports that 67% of online shoppers have abandoned a cart because of delivery-related issues, making shipping and fulfillment a major part of the ecommerce value proposition.
During the holidays, an unavailable product or an unexpectedly long delivery window can be especially damaging. Brands need to monitor not just whether products are listed, but whether they remain in stock, buyable, competitively priced, and available with the expected delivery promise across key retailers.
#4 AI Referrals Could Send High-Intent Shoppers Straight To Competitors
AI is becoming more than a research tool. It is increasingly influencing which products shoppers actually discover and consider. BigCommerce reports that 37% of consumers plan to use AI during holiday shopping, with product comparison and price discovery among the leading use cases.
That changes the digital shelf equation. A shopper asking an AI assistant for the “best air purifier under $300” may never browse ten product pages manually. Brands therefore need accurate product information, competitive pricing, strong ratings, and complete content across the retailers and marketplaces where AI systems source product information.
#5 Amazon Marketplace Competition Could Intensify During Q4
Amazon brands may also face a slightly different competitive environment this holiday season as the marketplace mix continues to shift. Third-party sellers are forecast to account for 60% or less of Amazon’s worldwide units sold in Q4 2026, compared with 62% in Q4 2024.
For brands competing on Amazon, the holiday battle is therefore not simply about driving traffic. It is about protecting the Featured Offer, maintaining competitive pricing, keeping inventory available, and making sure the listing remains strong when marketplace competition spikes. Peak season has a rather charming habit of exposing every weakness brands ignored during the rest of the year.
What These Consumer Shopping Trends Mean For Ecommerce Brands
The 2026 holiday season is shaping up to be less about a single Black Friday spike and more about managing a longer, more competitive, more fragmented digital shelf. Brands will need to balance margin protection with competitive pricing, keep products available across channels, and make sure shoppers and AI tools can find accurate product information wherever discovery happens.
The brands best positioned for the season will be the ones that start monitoring these signals before peak demand arrives. Digital shelf analytics tools such as MetricsCart can help brands track pricing, availability, sellers, Featured Offer performance, product content, and customer feedback across major ecommerce channels, turning holiday preparation from a last-minute scramble into an ongoing process.
