As retailers push out Christmas products before Halloween, the holiday shopping season is well underway. It’s not all fun and games for shoppers, though. They worry about inflation and tariffs. Budgets are tighter (again). And consumers seek ways to save. Our annual PissedConsumer.com survey asks buyers to share their holiday shopping plans, budgets, and tips for finding deals. Learn about this year’s holiday shopping statistics and trends from the people trying to maintain traditions in the face of tighter finances. Find out how AI tools could shape holiday shopping, how pricing uncertainty influences consumer behavior, and discover online shopping trends for this holiday season. Key Insights What are the biggest holiday shopping trends for 2026? This year’s PissedConsumer.com survey offers holiday shopping insights into how rising prices affect holiday shopping and ways buyers look to save money where they can. Here are five key insights: Holiday shopping plans and budgets decrease again due to pricing concerns tied to inflation (26.1%), tariffs (18.9%), and daily cost-of-living pressure (33.3%). Most consumers (62.9%) plan to begin their 2026 holiday shopping in October (25.5%) and November (37.4%). 63.1% of consumers say Black Friday is no longer important to their holiday shopping needs (down slightly from around 65% in 2025). While very few holiday shoppers (9.9%) plan to use AI in their shopping this year, there’s increased awareness and a willingness to consider it among another 26.9% of consumers. A significant majority of consumers (86.1%) will do some, or all, of their holiday shopping online in 2026. This holiday shopping data serves retailers, members of the media, and even consumers with statistics, trends, and tips on how to make money go further with holiday shopping in 2026. Download holiday shopping trends Fewer Consumers Plan to Shop This Holiday Season When we asked consumers if they plan to shop during the 2026 holiday shopping season, only 48.9% said “yes.” Another 30.7% say they won’t, even if they have in previous years. This is lower than last year, when 57.7% of consumers planned to shop over the holiday season. That was already lower than 2024, when 67.6% said the same. That probably shouldn’t be a surprise given consumers’ broader sentiments over the holiday season this year. One-quarter of respondents said they feel the holiday season has gotten too commercial. Another 13.8% noted it being a stressful time for them financially. On top of that, 12.5% say the holidays have lost their spirit. Most Holiday Shoppers Seek an Early Start When will most people begin their holiday shopping? Only 14% plan to wait until December, while others plan to start in September (17.4%), October (25.5%), and November (37.4%). Retailers shouldn’t count on making big last-minute sales this year, as most consumers plan to get an early start on spending their leaner holiday shopping budgets. That still leaves opportunities to reach buyers on traditional big sales days. Consumers say they still plan to spend during Black Friday (18.8%), Cyber Monday (16.2%), and Small Business Saturday (9%). Rising Prices & Economic Policies Drive Down Holiday Budgets More shoppers plan to spend less than $100 this year (8.1% compared to only 7% in 2025). When it comes to higher budgets, 25% of last year’s shoppers planned to spend $ 1,000 or more, while this year that number drops to 12.8%. Consumers cite several economic concerns as reasons for these budget cuts, including cost-of-living pressure (33.3%), inflation (26.1%), and tariffs (18.9%). It all adds to an air of uncertainty over future prices, how much they might increase, and if decent deals can be found this year. It’s not all bad news for retailers. Shoppers plan to cut costs to satisfy these lower budgets in a variety of ways such as looking harder for discounts (35.5%), shopping earlier (17.3%), and switching to cheaper brands or stores (13.9%). At the same time, 13.4% of consumers say their holiday shopping plans haven’t changed at all. This leaves the holiday market open to retailers and brands that cater to budget-conscious consumers while making holiday discounts and promotions highly visible and easy-to-use. How Will Tariffs Affect Holiday Spending This Year? With the topic of tariffs in front of the public for much of the past year, we asked consumers if they were concerned about tariffs increasing holiday shopping prices. A significant majority (75.2%) have some worry that tariffs could increase their costs. This includes 47.1% who say they’re “very concerned,” 18.9% who are “somewhat concerned,” and 9.2% who are “slightly concerned.” Only 13.8% said they weren’t concerned at all about the impact of tariffs. Spread-Out Holiday Shopping Beats Big Sale Days We looked at how many consumers plan to shop on the biggest seasonal sale days: Black Friday (18.8%), Cyber Monday (16.2%), and Small Business Saturday (9%). Yet sentiments toward the biggest—Black Friday—are particularly low this year, with nearly two-thirds of consumers (63.1%) saying Black Friday isn’t important or relevant to them. Consumers aren’t waiting for big shopping days to score deals. If companies want a piece of their tightened holiday budgets, they’ll need to offer consistent sales spread throughout the holiday season. It’s more important than ever to meet consumers where they are, when they’re ready to spend, instead of expecting to drive the masses to a store on any particular day. More Consumers Turn to Online Shopping for 2026 In our 2025 holiday shopping survey, more consumers planned to do at least part of their holiday shopping in-store (87.5%). This year, that flips as more consumers (86.1%) plan to do all, or some, of their shopping online For 2026, another 68.5% plan to shop in-store. Shoppers will spend less on fuel to visit stores, and they’ll have an easier time comparing products and sellers with information at their fingertips. They’ll also have easy access to online reviews when they opt for online shopping. As a bonus, online retailers can often ship gifts directly to recipients at no extra cost, saving gift-givers even more. The web isn’t only where people plan to shop. It’s also a popular place where they seek out deals. As seen in a holiday shopping survey, consumers find deals through online ads (42.3%), retailer websites (41.8%), email promotions (31.9%), search engines (29.3%), shopping apps (26.7%), and social media (19.1%). Most Shoppers Won’t Use AI Tools for Shopping, but More Are Willing to Give Them a Try Most consumers (63.3%) say they either don’t plan to use AI tools for holiday shopping this year (52.2%), or they didn’t know it was an option (11%). That’s quite the shift from 2025, when 89.2% of consumers said the same. A similar, though slightly smaller, group of shoppers (9.9%) says they will turn to AI tools this year, compared to 10.8% last year. A more notable change is the significant number of consumers (26.9%) who say “maybe” they’ll give AI tools a try for holiday shopping help. With growing consumer exposure to AI news and more accessible and affordable tools, this is the trend to keep an eye on over the coming years. Download holiday shopping trends How Do Consumers Plan to Use AI Tools in Their Holiday Shopping? For those consumers who do expect to use AI tools, product and price comparisons are the most popular cases they cite (27.9%). With agentic AI shopping still in its early stages, our report shows that most consumers won’t use it for the 2026 holiday shopping season. That said, this is another trend to keep an eye on moving forward, especially at the rapid pace of AI adoption. What Are the Top Product Categories on Holiday Shopping Lists? The three biggest product categories consumers plan to purchase during holiday sales are clothing and footwear (48.5%), groceries and holiday food (35.6%), and gift cards (35.1%). The categories getting the least amount of love from holiday shoppers are travel and entertainment (7.7%) and subscriptions (4.2%). This year's findings suggest that consumers are increasingly prioritizing food-related holiday spending over discretionary purchases. While clothing and footwear remain the most popular category, purchase intent has dropped significantly, from 70.4% in 2025 to 48.5% in 2026. Meanwhile, groceries and holiday food have gained ground, rising from 27.8% in 2025 to 35.6% in 2026 (up 7.8 percentage points). What Do Consumers Look for in Holiday Deals? With many consumers cutting holiday budgets due to financial constraints and worries over price increases, we asked them what it takes for a holiday deal to feel worthwhile. Their top response (66.4%) is feeling they’re getting items of good quality for the price. The next top five things shoppers want to see from brands and retailers who want their hard-earned money include: free shipping (48%); trusted retailers (40%); large discounts (38.6%); positive online reviews (33.9%); easy returns (30.3%). Companies shouldn’t rely on flexible payments to help shoppers stretch those budgets though, with 42.4% of consumers saying they aren’t using things like “buy now, pay later” (BNPL). Another 47.7% aren’t familiar with these options yet. How Can Consumers Save on Holiday Shopping in 2026? For consumers hoping to save money on their holiday shopping this year, our survey respondents highlighted some suggestions based on their own plans. Waiting for sales and discounts (36.9%) isn’t the only option. Consumers also say they’ll: buy fewer gifts (36.7%); shop earlier (19%); save money in advance (17.7%); reduce spending in other areas (15.1%); choose cheaper brands or stores (12.7%). What about the high costs of holiday meals? We asked about that too. Respondents said they plan to save by: cooking at home (41.8%); preparing smaller meals (14.6%); making fewer dishes with their meals (12.5%); buying lower-cost foods (12.5%); using cheaper ingredients or store brands (10.8%); focusing more on convenience and less on traditions (6.6%). With 81.7% of consumers saying they’ve noticed holiday meal expenses increasing, consider combining more than one of those suggestions to save more, or read our 2026 report on grocery shopping trends. Conclusion Just like last year, economic and trade policies continue to have an impact on the 2026 holiday shopping season. It’s more than existing cost-of-living pressure. There’s also uncertainty over how inflation and tariffs will affect prices. That makes it more difficult to commit to traditional holiday shopping (one reason 20.4% say they still don’t know if they’ll shop this year). While shoppers cut holiday budgets again, they’re still on the lookout for great deals and other ways to save, whether on purchasing gifts or covering the costs of holiday meals. Retailers can still reach these individuals with strong discounts and promotions. A key factor for consumers in deciding if a deal is worthwhile is how much they trust a brand. That means businesses should also embrace strong customer service, especially during the hectic holiday season. Don’t expect AI to drive much holiday spending this year, but exposure seems to be increasing curiosity about these tools. That means companies should watch developments in that space to take advantage of these tools as their popularity among consumers grows. Holiday shoppers aren’t a monolith. They have different budgets, economic worries, desires for deal-hunting, and comfort levels with new technologies. The 2026 PissedConsumer.com survey on USA holiday shopping trends offers insights into the plans of different groups of consumers. We aim to help shoppers save money while also helping retailers better understand their customers’ concerns and needs. Methodology Consumer advocacy and resolution platform PissedConsumer.com conducted an online survey of its website users to highlight holiday shopping statistics from 1,307 respondents. Respondents represent the United States (82.4%), Canada (7.9%), the United Kingdom (6.9%), and Australia (2.8%). The gender breakdown of respondents is 58.1% female, 40.1% male, 1.6% who prefer not to say, and 0.2% agender. This holiday shopping survey’s age breakdown leans towards senior respondents. This holiday shopping data is current as of October 2026. For more holiday shopping insights, download the full PissedConsumer.com 2026 Holiday Shopping Trends Report.