BY Kathy Crosett
Depending on who you believe, the upcoming holiday season could be fantastic or dismal. More importantly, your accounts must connect with their target audience in ways that win a spot on the holiday shopping list. The average holiday spending this year is an important detail to track, along with which media formats shoppers are engaging with.
What Are the Projected Holiday Shopping Budgets?
Top analysts believe that U.S. consumers will be on one of two paths for holiday shopping. Those paths will be dictated by household income. On average, reports the JLL 2025 U.S. Holiday Shopping Survey, spending on gifts will amount to $1,133. This amount is 10% lower than last year.
The details provide big clues about who your accounts should target. Higher income households, those with $150,000, will spend nearly $2,000 on the holidays. For people with household incomes below $50,000, $700 will be their limit. That amount is also far lower than last year.
Who are the Biggest Holiday Shoppers?
Your accounts have plenty of opportunity to get on the holiday shopping list of their target customers. Let’s review the significant shopping days in the holiday season and the profiles of who will be buying.
Black Friday Shoppers
Thanksgiving is late this year, happening on November 27. The holiday marks the start of the traditional shopping season. In between eating their favorite foods and watching football, consumers will be working on their holiday shopping lists.
Around 24% of U.S. adults called themselves Black Friday shoppers, reports AudienceSCAN. Because many consumers have the day off, part of their long weekend includes shopping. Streaming TV advertising is a great way to reach consumers on the long Thanksgiving weekend. Black Friday shoppers are 26% more likely than other consumers to have responded to streaming TV ads in the past 30 days.
Marketers selling the latest new tech products, like smartphones, should target Black Friday shoppers who are 57% more likely than other consumers to identify as techies. Adobe for Business forecasts that 2025 spending on electronics will reach $57.5B this year.
Small Business Saturday Shoppers
Your local accounts have a chance to shine on Small Business Saturday which falls on November 29 this year. Adobe projects that spending on Small Business Saturday will amount to $5.5B on that day. Around 56% of Small Business Saturday shoppers have taken action in the past 30 days to results they’ve seen on an online search.
And 52% have responded to ads on social networks. These data points make it imperative for your accounts to spread their marketing efforts across multiple channels. Not surprisingly, 68% of Small Business Saturday shoppers prefer to buy from family or independently owned businesses. With all the holiday-related noise in the marketplace, your accounts need to reach these shoppers with unique and personalized messaging.
Super Saturday Shoppers
14.5% of U.S. adults shopped on Super Saturday last year, the last Saturday before Christmas. They’re looking for last-minute deals. It makes sense that 56% of this audience has responded to an ad on a smartphone app or text message. They want to be up to date as they are running through the store aisles looking for gifts.
Nearly 25% of these consumers have kids age 6 to 9. And 60% own a dog. As Christmas draws near, marketers can promote their best markdowns to these shoppers who want to get something special for their loved ones on their holiday shopping list.
Consumers will be seeking the best deals on toys. Price sensitivity might be an issue. A MasterCard analysis of tariff-related price increases indicates the price hikes on toys may be as much as 20%.
Conclusion
The traditional holiday season, counted as November and December, generates up to 19% of total annual sales for most retailers. Your accounts must get on the holiday shopping list of consumers during this period. You can help them optimize results by sharing key data points from AudienceSCAN from AdMall.
Image by Valent Lau on Pexels.
