The Holiday Shopping Funnel is Dead
AI, culture and new behaviors are creating different paths to purchase.
One season. Different shoppers. Different decisions.
Based exclusively on ThinkNow Holiday Shopping 2026: Multicultural Consumer Study, a national study of 1,500 U.S. adults.
The journey doesn’t look the same anymore
For years, holiday shopping could be represented as a relatively linear path.
Editorial note: The title and the contrast between the “old journey” and “new journey” are strategic interpretations of the behaviors measured in the study. They are not literal survey questions.
Shoppers are starting earlier. AI is entering discovery. Social media is becoming a shopping channel. Economic pressure is reshaping budgets and decisions.
Not every audience is taking the same path
ThinkNow surveyed 1,500 U.S. adults age 18+. The sample includes 500 Hispanic, 250 Black, 250 Asian and 500 Non-Hispanic White respondents. Total Market results are weighted; holiday-specific questions are based on shoppers who plan to purchase gifts.
Understand
One season. Very different shoppers.
The Total Market can tell us what is happening. Differences between audiences show where a strategy needs greater precision.
Planned spending also varies by audience. The Total Market average is $752, ranging from $528 among Asian shoppers to $785 among Non-Hispanic White shoppers.
Inflation / rising prices influence 58% of holiday shoppers. Black (58.4%) and Asian (56.2%) shoppers are the groups most likely to plan to keep total holiday spending below $500.
Reach
The journey starts earlier and in more places.
By the end of Black Friday / Cyber Monday weekend, 77.7% of shoppers have already started or finished their holiday shopping. Another 33.8% begin in September or October, while 24.0% begin in November before Thanksgiving.
Ai is entering discovery.
The generational gap is even wider: 52.3% of Gen Z and 47.7% of Millennials use or plan to use AI for gift ideas, compared with 14.6% of Boomers.
Reach
Social is becoming part of the storefront.
Online retailer sites remain the leading destination at 61.3% of the Total Market. But social media shopping varies sharply by audience and generation.
Payment behavior changes by audience, too.
The marketing question: Do you know where your audience enters the journey and which options they use to complete it?
Engage
Reach is not the same as relevance.
Technology is transforming discovery. But reaching an audience and being relevant to that audience are still two different things.
Relevance can also extend the calendar. 37.4% of Hispanic shoppers celebrate Three Kings Day and consider it important to their household. Among those who celebrate, 61.6% mention a special family dinner, 60.0% gifts for children and 52.7% traditional foods such as Rosca de Reyes.
One season. Many paths to purchase.
Holiday Shopping 2026 shows a market where timing, discovery, channels, payments, budgets, language and culture do not behave the same way across audiences.
Black Friday
for gift ideas
3.0%
in social commerce
a Spanish-language option
The average shows you the market. The differences show you the opportunity.
For sample buyers, the implication is direct: if a strategy needs to understand differences between targets, the research needs enough representation to analyze those groups separately and compare behaviors with rigor.
ThinkNow’s study was designed with oversamples of Hispanic, Black and Asian consumers and reports statistically significant differences at the 95% confidence level where applicable.