BY Kathy Crosett
Sellers should be working with their accounts on their holiday marketing campaigns for the year-
How do consumers feel about the economy?
Between May 2025 and now, the number of consumers who feel confident about the economy dropped from 44% to 34%. Despite their sentiment, consumers must spend on essentials. To counter rising prices, they are shopping around to get the best prices on gasoline and food.
How does the declining sentiment impact spending on discretionary items?
But for semi-
- Vehicles 28%
- Beauty supplies 25%
- Toys 32%
And in the completely discretionary spending category, consumers will make further cuts in spending for the following categories:
- Furniture and home décor 45%
- Jewelry 43%
- Hotel/
resort stays 40% - Meal at sit-
down restaurants 34%
How will the new mindset impact holiday shopping?
While consumers intend to cut back, they still plan to purchase gifts for the year-
Of the consumers who plan to spend more, Gen Xers lead the pack: 26%. In addition, around 49% of these consumers will start their shopping between now and October. And they’ll be searching online.
What will consumers be searching for?
The McKinsey data also segmented the categories most in demand by age group. While gift cards and apparel topped the list for all age groups, Gen Zers will be shopping for toys (18%) and jewelry (18%). Toys and home electronics will be the favorite picks for millennials. Gen Xers (20%) and baby boomers (17%) will shop for toys. And boomers indicate their interest in experiential spending around the holidays with 15% looking to visit restaurants and 10% seeking travel and lodging.
How can your accounts use AI search visibility?
As your accounts consider where to allocate their holiday marketing budgets, they should consider how consumers will use AI. Around 13% of consumers will check out AI for a variety of reasons. McKinsey data shows these consumers will use AI to compare products/
Looked at through another lens, AudienceSCAN’s profile of Black Friday shoppers indicates that 34% believe AI can be a wonderful tool to help in their everyday lives. In fact, 33% have turned to an AI tool after seeing an ad for a product or service. This is a much higher rate than all U.S. adults.
How to improve your accounts’ AI visibility
While some shoppers will go directly to AI for their gift searching, others will use traditional search and encounter the AI overview box. Getting to the top spot in a search results list, which is often the AI overview section, requires implementing a strategy. Your accounts must post content that specifically answers the type of questions consumers ask in the online searches.
To stay visible during the holiday shopping season, help your accounts with their AI visibility needs. AdMall subscribers have access to the AI Visibility tool which allows them to view the most likely questions that the target audience is asking about products and services. With this information, you can help your accounts develop content to answer these questions.
In addition, the AI Visibility tool highlights a marketer’s alignment with the target audience questions regarding the brand. These types of questions might be as follows:
- “Does ‘the retailer’ have educational toys?”
- “Is ‘the retailer’ locally owned?”
Creating content that answers these questions will increase the likelihood of appearing in the AI overview during a traditional online search.
Final thoughts
Holiday marketing campaigns are starting earlier this year. This shift is in response to changing consumer behavior. Don’t let your accounts miss out on key opportunities. Remind them to start planning and placing their ad campaigns now.
Image by Sveta K on Pexels.
