Holiday reports show AI splits travelers into two camps
▼ Summary
– Holiday shopping reports from Basis, Salesforce, Attentive, and Alchemer agree on post-pandemic trends: consumers start earlier, spend more carefully, and expect relevant experiences, but they diverge sharply on AI’s role.
– Black Friday no longer defines the season: 71% of consumers plan to shop before it, and 68% shop early to avoid shipping delays, with 57% buying year-round due to ongoing promotions.
– Shoppers are more strategic with money: 87% say economic conditions affect their shopping, 42% plan to compare more brands, and 80% say a discount of 40% or less prompts a purchase.
– AI adoption varies by measurement: Attentive finds 70% use AI in shopping, Basis reports only 17% expect to, while Salesforce views AI agents as a future discovery channel and Alchemer shows just 35.4% trust AI recommendations.
– The reports indicate consumers use AI for discovery and comparison but are hesitant to let it make purchase decisions, so marketers should focus on accurate product info, reviews, and personalization.
Four new holiday shopping reports landed last week, and while they largely agree on consumer behavior, they paint sharply different pictures of AI’s role in the season ahead. Research from Basis, Salesforce, Attentive, and Alchemer all point to a continuation of post-pandemic habits: earlier shopping starts, tighter budget discipline, and rising demand for personalized experiences. But when it comes to artificial intelligence, the data splits into opposing camps.
Black Friday still matters, but it no longer owns the calendar. Attentive reports that 71% of consumers plan to start holiday shopping before Black Friday, a jump of 12 percentage points from last year. A full 83% begin planning ahead of the big shopping weekend, and most intend to keep purchasing well after Cyber Monday. Basis arrives at a similar conclusion from another angle: 68% shop early to dodge shipping delays, 57% spread purchases across the year to catch promotions, and over half no longer view Black Friday or Cyber Monday as essential because deals now run continuously. For marketers, that means a longer window to influence decisions, but also a noisier, more crowded battlefield for consumer attention.
Shoppers are also getting more calculated. Last year, Attentive saw consumers reacting to inflation by buying less and waiting for steeper markdowns. This year, the behavior looks more like strategy than survival. Eighty-seven percent say economic conditions will shape how they shop, 42% plan to compare more brands, 41% will put needs ahead of wants, and 80% say a discount of 40% or less is enough to trigger a purchase. Basis found shoppers weighing free shipping, reviews, pricing history, and convenience alongside discounts. Salesforce adds macroeconomic context, noting that consumer pessimism is up 16% year over year and 13% more shoppers say their finances are deteriorating. The takeaway isn’t that people simply want lower prices. They’re thinking harder about when, where, and why they buy.
Now the reports start to clash.
At face value, the AI numbers seem incompatible. Attentive says 70% of consumers now use AI somewhere in their holiday shopping journey, with Baby Boomer adoption climbing from 34% last holiday season to 45% this year. The same report finds 80% of consumers ignore brands that send irrelevant or generic marketing. Basis tells a different story: only 17% of consumers expect to use AI during holiday shopping, with another 23% undecided. Those who do plan to use it mainly want help finding deals, comparing products, and generating gift ideas.
These aren’t contradictions. They’re different lenses on the same evolving behavior. Attentive measures AI use across the entire shopping journey, while Basis asks whether consumers expect to rely on AI specifically during holiday shopping. Different questions, different answers.
Salesforce looks further ahead. Rather than tracking current behavior, it argues that AI agents are becoming a new product discovery channel, sitting alongside search engines, marketplaces, and social platforms. That report is less about where shoppers are today and more about where retailers need to be tomorrow.
Alchemer adds a trust dimension. Only 35.4% of shoppers mostly or completely trust AI-generated recommendations. Reviews and input from friends and family still carry more weight when purchase decisions are made.
Taken together, the data suggests consumers are moving through multiple stages of AI adoption simultaneously. Many are comfortable using AI to find products, compare options, or brainstorm gift ideas. Far fewer are ready to hand over the final decision to an algorithm. That gap matters for marketers. Making product information accessible for AI discovery is becoming essential, but so are the fundamentals that build confidence: accurate details, robust reviews, relevant offers, and personalized experiences.
The real disagreement among these surveys is about timing, not direction. Everyone agrees holiday shopping is moving earlier, becoming more deliberate, and demanding more relevance. AI is entering that mix, but the market is still in flux. Consumers are experimenting with AI in growing numbers, marketers are expanding their use cases, and researchers are capturing different moments along that arc. The conflicting headlines are less a sign of confusion and more a snapshot of an industry deciding where AI truly belongs in the shopping experience.
(Source: MarTech)
