Global Christmas Shopping Habits and Statistics 2026: Spending, Gifts and Trends

Shoppers spent $1.29 trillion globally and $294 billion in the United States online during the 2025 holiday season, Salesforce reported. The other headline global Christmas shopping statistics are national: Adobe’s 2025 holiday season data counted $257.8 billion spent online from Nov. 1 to Dec. 31, up 6.8% year-over-year at U.S. retail sites, while NRF’s Retail Monitor shows 2025 holiday sales from Nov. 1 through Dec. 31 grew 4.1% across all channels.

For 2026, Deloitte projects holiday retail sales between $1.70 trillion and $1.71 trillion during the November 2026 through January 2027 period, an increase of 4.0% to 4.8%. The data below follows that season market by market, from US and UK budgets to German, Australian and Canadian spending, then the gifts, channels, payment methods and timing behind the totals.

Key Takeaways

• Mastercard SpendingPulse found that e-commerce sales surged +7.4%, while in-store sales grew +2.9% across the first seven weeks of the season.
• Deloitte’s 2025 survey found that surveyed consumers plan to spend an average of $1,595 this season, down 10% year-over-year, even as sales totals set records.
• PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2026 shows holiday gift spending is projected to dip just 2% from last year, even as consumer confidence fell 18.5% YoY.
• Adobe measured that traffic to retail sites from generative AI tools increased by 693.4% compared to the year prior over the 2025 season.
• PwC’s UK survey shows consumers are set to spend £24.6 billion on presents and celebrations over the Christmas period this year, a 3.5% increase.
• In Australia, total gift spending is forecast to rise slightly to $12 billion, with shoppers spending an average of $757 each in Australian dollars.
• Appliances were among the fastest risers online, with refrigerators and freezers (up 360%) and washers and dryers (up 350%) against October 2025 spending levels, per Adobe.

Editor’s Choice

• Global online holiday sales: record-breaking online sales of $1.29 trillion globally across the two holiday months.
• Global Cyber Week sales: overall industry global sales increasing 7% year over year to $336.6 billion.
• Cyber Monday online spend: $14.25 billion in online spend, up 7.1% YoY in the U.S.
• Planned US spend per person: $890.49 per person on average, the second-highest amount in the survey’s 23-year history.
• US gift card spending: total spending on gift cards is expected to reach $29 billion.
• 2026 US holiday e-commerce forecast: e-commerce sales between $316.1 billion and $318.9 billion this season.

Global Christmas Shopping Statistics: Online Sales in 2025

Every figure comes from a primary publisher: retail trade bodies (NRF, BRC, HDE and the Australian Retailers Association), consultancy surveys (Deloitte and PwC), and first-party commerce data from Adobe, Salesforce, Mastercard and Sprout Social. Publication dates run from October 2025 to September 2026. Only figures visible on the publisher’s own page were used. Figures are reviewed on a rolling basis and updated when those publishers release new editions.

• Salesforce attributes 20% of all retail sales and $262 billion in revenue to AI and agents over the season.
• Shoppers finished strong, driving a 12% YOY global increase in sales (9% in the U.S.) in the last two weeks of December.
• The average selling price (ASP) increased 7% YOY both worldwide and in the U.S., according to Salesforce.
• Higher prices carried the totals: order volumes this season moderately increased 3% globally and 1% in the U.S.
• Online traffic grew 13% globally and 12% in the U.S. over the prior season.
• Salesforce put U.S. sales accounting for $79.6 billion (up 5% YOY) at Cyber Week.
• Adobe counted 25 days with more than $4 billion in a single day (a significant jump from 18 days in 2024).
• Black Friday ($11.8 billion, up 9.1% YoY) grew faster than Cyber Monday.
• On Thanksgiving Day, consumers spent $6.4 billion online, up 5.3% YoY.

Source: Salesforce (December 2025 and January 2026), Adobe Digital Insights (January 2026)

Holiday Sales Growth by Tracker, 2025 Season

• Across the trackers, online grew fastest: Mastercard measured US e-commerce up 7.4% and Salesforce global online sales up 7%, against 2.9% for Mastercard’s US in-store sales.
• NRF had forecast that holiday sales would increase between 3.7% and 4.2% from the same period in 2024 to just over $1 trillion, so the result landed near the top of the range.
• NRF’s Retail Monitor shows December sales up 3.54% unadjusted year over year.
• The same card data put total 2025 sales, as calculated by the Retail Monitor, at an increase of 4.93% over 2024.
• Under U.S. Census Bureau figures cited by Deloitte, retail sales between November 2025 and January 2026 (seasonally adjusted and excluding automotive and gasoline) grew 4.1% and totaled $1.63 trillion.
• Deloitte also cites e-commerce sales between November 2025 and January 2026 (seasonally adjusted and excluding gasoline stations, motor vehicles and parts dealers, and food services) grew 7.5%, totaling an estimated $294 billion.
• Mastercard SpendingPulse called it a season of style with some sparkle, as apparel spending climbed +7.8%, with online sales up +8.5% and in-store sales also rising +7.0%.
• Restaurant spending grew +5.2% as dining out became part of the season.
• Jewelry also rose by +1.6% over the same window.

Every tracker that split the two channels put online growth ahead of total or in-store growth, which is the single most consistent finding of the 2025 season. The online share of Christmas spending keeps rising even in years when the overall total grows modestly; the holiday season e-commerce statistics break that shift down further.

Recent Developments

• September 16, 2026: Sprout Social’s Q3 2026 Pulse Survey found more than half of consumers (56%) planning to reduce holiday spending because of broader economic conditions.
• September 16, 2026: The same survey found nearly 7 in 10 consumers (69%) are concerned about tariff-related price increases, and 36% say they plan to start shopping earlier specifically to avoid them.
• September 10, 2026: Deloitte projects DPI to grow between 4.5% and 5.2% during the holiday season, its main input for the 2026 forecast.
• September 8, 2026: PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2026 found consumers expect to spend $708 on gifts this year, with households with children ($875) spending more than households without children ($635).
• July 20, 2026: Salesforce reported that global digital traffic grew 18% in Q2, but order volume barely moved; it’s up just 1%.
• June 2026: PwC cites Bureau of Economic Analysis data showing the US personal saving rate fell from 4.5% in January 2026 to 2.7% in June 2026.

Christmas 2026 Holiday Sales Forecast

• PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2026 headline figures include a 5% drop in average holiday spend across all categories.
• PwC also found eight in ten consumers plan to adopt a budgeting strategy this season, and 79% say deals and discounts influence when they shop.
• Salesforce reports that consumer pessimism is up 16% over last year, and 13% more shoppers report that their financial situation is getting worse.
• Salesforce’s Shopping Index shows mobile now commanding three-quarters of all online traffic, social driving 29% more ecommerce visits in the second quarter of 2026, and cart abandonment sitting at 82%.
• Salesforce predicts 20% of all 2026 holiday ecommerce traffic will originate from AI chat agents.
• Salesforce also expects that retailers will spend an additional $3 billion globally to subsidize free shipping this holiday season, a year-over-year cost increase of 7%.

Source: Deloitte holiday retail forecast (September 2026)

The macro forecast and the consumer surveys disagree on direction. Deloitte models growth from income, while PwC and Salesforce ask shoppers, and shoppers say they are cutting back.

Why it matters: Deloitte forecasts holiday retail sales between $1.70 trillion and $1.71 trillion for the 2026 season, yet PwC’s shoppers report a 5% drop in average holiday spend. A forecast built on income and a survey built on intentions can both hold if prices, not volumes, carry the growth again.

Average Christmas Spending per Person by Country

• In the NRF survey, $627.93 will go to gifts for family and friends. The remaining $262.56 will be used on seasonal items like food or candy, decorations, and greeting cards.
• NRF’s 2025 per-person figure falls only 1.3% short of last year’s record of $901.99.
• Deloitte found shoppers expect to reduce their spending on both retail goods (-14% year-over-year) and experiences (-6% year-over-year).
• Deloitte also recorded the average number of gifts purchased this year staying relatively steady at eight versus nine in 2024.
• 1 in 4 consumers surveyed plan to host a holiday celebration and spend an average of $252.
• PwC Canada’s figure is a 10% decrease from last year’s spending; it represents a 2% increase from 2023 spending intentions.
• Australia’s average gift budget moved the other way, a 7.1% increase from last year.
• German gift buyers plan to spend €34 less than the previous year, according to HDE’s consumer survey.

Source: Deloitte and NRF (October 2025), PwC Canada (October 2025), ARA and Roy Morgan (November 2025), HDE (November 2025), PwC UK (December 2025), PwC US (September 2026)

Per-person budgets fell in most of these surveys even as the season set sales records, which points to price rises doing the lifting. The amounts are not directly comparable: each survey defines its basket differently, and the currencies differ.

US Christmas Shopping Habits

• Nearly all U.S. adults (91%) plan to celebrate winter holidays such as Christmas, Hanukkah or Kwanzaa each year, NRF found.
• Early shopping remains common, with 42% of shoppers planning to begin browsing and buying for the holiday season before November.
• The leading reasons they shop early are to spread out their budget (54%) or to avoid the stress of last-minute shopping (41%).
• The majority (60%) anticipate they will finish shopping in December.
• Nearly two-thirds (63%) plan to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to do most of their holiday shopping, up from 59% last year.
• Tariffs weigh on plans, with 85% anticipating higher prices because of tariffs.
• Deloitte found more than half of surveyed consumers are concerned about the economy: 57% of respondents expect the economy to weaken in 2026, the least optimistic outlook since 1997.
• Online is the top holiday shopping destination, with 55% planning to buy digitally, followed by grocery stores (46%), department stores (44%) and discount stores (42%), per NRF.
• NRF’s survey asked 8,247 adult consumers about their holiday shopping plans. It was conducted Oct. 1-7 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

US shoppers start early and finish late: the browsing begins in October, but most of the buying still waits for Thanksgiving weekend and December. The wider pattern of holiday season consumer behavior follows the same deal calendar.

UK Christmas Spending and December Sales

• PwC UK forecasts £24.6 billion in spending on presents and celebrations over the Christmas period this year, a 3.5% increase from the £23.7 billion spent in 2024.
• 15% of shoppers say they will increase their spending compared with last Christmas, with an almost equal number (14%) saying they will spend less.
• Younger shoppers lead, with 32% of 18 to 24-year-olds saying they will spend more than last year and an estimated £541 per head.
• The 45 to 54-year-olds are also the group forecast to spend the least per head, at £436.
• Women are forecast to spend more than men, with a £471 outlay per head forecast. Men are projected to spend £452 per head.
• BRC-KPMG data shows December’s growth came against a growth of 3.2% in December 2024. This was below the 12-month average growth of 2.3%.
• In-Store Non-Food sales decreased by 0.5% year on year in December.
• Online Non-Food sales decreased by 0.1% year on year in December, against a growth of 11.1% in December 2024.

Source: PwC UK Festive Predictions (December 2025), BRC-KPMG Retail Sales Monitor (January 2026)

The UK forecast and the UK result tell different stories. Surveys pointed to a modest rise, but December sales barely grew once food inflation is set aside.

According to Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive at the British Retail Consortium, “It was a drab Christmas for retailers, as sales growth slowed for the fourth consecutive month. While food sales rose on the back of ongoing food inflation, non-food sales fell flat in the run up to Christmas, with gifting items doing worse than expected.”

Germany and Europe Christmas Shopping Statistics

• The German Retail Federation (Handelsverband Deutschland, HDE) forecast German retail revenue of €126.2 billion for November and December 2025, a nominal 1.5% increase on 2024.
• Online retail was set to grow faster, up a nominal 3.3% to €22.2 billion in HDE’s forecast.
• HDE’s survey of 300 retailers found 83% expect shoppers to pay closer attention to price.
• German shoppers particularly often choose Geschenkgutscheine, Spielwaren, Büchern und Kosmetik (gift vouchers, toys, books and cosmetics) as presents.
• Deloitte’s ConsumerSignals research found that UK shoppers are more willing to spend than their neighbors: around one in three consumers (30%) in the UK are planning to spend more this Christmas compared with last year. This is higher than the rest of Europe, where less than a quarter (23%) plan to spend more. In the UK, younger consumers aged 18-34 are nearly twice as likely to spend more this Christmas compared with older age groups. Almost half (44%) of UK consumers agree they have enough money to create a joyful Christmas for themselves and their family this year.
• Just one in five (18%) UK consumers plan to spend less this Christmas compared with last year, and around half (48%) blame the cost of living.

Source: HDE (November 2025), Deloitte ConsumerSignals (December 2025)

Germany shows the online-over-total pattern in miniature: HDE’s nominal growth for the season equals zero growth after prices, while online still expands.

Australia Christmas and Boxing Day Spending

• The ARA and Roy Morgan survey found 68% of Australian adults, around 15.9 million people, plan to buy gifts this year, fewer than in 2024.
• Total gift spending is forecast at $12 billion, up $200 million (1.7%) in Australian dollars.
• Younger Australians aged 18 to 34 are set to spend $3.5 billion on gifts, matched by those aged 35 to 49, who are the biggest individual spenders, averaging $853 each.
• Australians shop early too, with nearly one-in-three shoppers (29%) saying they are buying gifts earlier than in 2024, while only 8% are leaving it later.
• Overall pre-Christmas retail spending for the six weeks from November 13 to Christmas Eve is forecast to reach $72.4 billion, a 4% increase on 2024.
• ARA chief executive Chris Rodwell noted that only 22% of Australians say they’re making more purchases online than a year ago, less than half the level seen in 2021.
• Australian Boxing Day sales are forecast to rise by 4.3% this year, toward a forecast national spend of around $1.6 billion for the one-day event.
• Household goods lead the Boxing Day forecast at $476 million in Australian dollars, ahead of clothing, footwear and accessories ($216 million) and department stores ($123 million).
• Category growth rates vary: department stores are forecast up 5.1%, while hospitality spend is forecast to increase 6.8%.

Household goods take the largest single share of Boxing Day spending, which is where discounted appliances sit in Australian retail categories. The best-selling home appliances at Christmas follow the same post-Christmas discount pattern in the US.

Canada Holiday Spending by Province

• PwC Canada found that over eight in ten (81%) respondents are considering cutting back to save money over the next six months.
• Younger shoppers cut deepest, with Gen Z consumers planning to spend 35% less this year, and millennials expecting an 11% reduction.
• Family budgets stay protected in PwC Canada’s survey, while they plan to cut back on gifts for friends, pets, and themselves compared to last year.
• Consumers in British Columbia anticipate the highest average holiday spend at $1,821 in Canadian dollars, closely followed by Ontario at $1,788, while Quebec and Alberta both project $1,532, per PwC Canada.
• The survey also recorded a decreased preference for credit card use and an increased preference for debit cards.

In-Store vs Online Christmas Shopping

• PwC’s 2026 survey found 60% expect to purchase gifts in-store, compared with 38% on brand/retailer websites, 9% on social media, and just 4% through AI tools.
• For gift ideas, more than half (52%) of all consumers expect to visit stores in person to decide what to give, ahead of search engines (42%), social media (29%), and AI-powered tools (14%).
• Younger shoppers favor the store experience: 71% of Gen Z say they enjoy browsing in person, and 61% say the décor and atmosphere make the season feel real.
• For 2026, Salesforce found physical stores lead shopping channel preferences at 77%, ahead of online marketplaces (69%), brand websites (36%) and retailer websites (30%).
• Salesforce counted nearly one in five orders this season were made via BOPIS, and that rate climbed to one in three during the final five days before Christmas.
• BOPIS usage peaked on Monday, Dec. 22, when 35% of all online orders were placed for in-store pickup.
• UK shoppers lean online: PwC UK expects more than half (55%) of purchases to be carried out online for home delivery. Together with click and collect (9%), that leaves only a third of shopping taking place in physical stores (36%).
• The combined 64% of Christmas presents bought online is an increase on the last two years, and the highest proportion spent online since the end of the pandemic.

Stores still close most Christmas sales in the US, while UK shoppers now buy nearly two-thirds of presents online. The online shopping trends for Christmas show how that split has moved over several seasons.

Holiday Payment Habits: Mobile, BNPL and Gift Cards

• Buy now, pay later spending was up 9.8% YoY and represented $1.8 billion more than the last season, according to Adobe.
• Smartphones are the device of choice for consumers leveraging this flexible payment method, driving the vast majority (82.2%) of BNPL purchases this season.
• In an Adobe survey, respondents said they were most likely to use BNPL for electronics, apparel, toys, and furniture purchases.
• The mobile share of online sales rose to 56.4%, up from 54.5% in 2024, and reached 61.6% on Thanksgiving Day (vs. 59.3% in 2024).
• NRF found that over half of those aged 65 or over plan to purchase a gift card this holiday season, more than any other age group.
• Those 65 and older expect to spend $58 per card, about $5 more than the average shopper.
• Most shoppers say they will pick up a restaurant, bank-issued, or department store gift card.

Source: Adobe Digital Insights (January 2026), NRF (December 2025)

Phones now carry most holiday checkouts and almost all BNPL purchases, which ties flexible credit closely to mobile shopping.

Most Wanted Christmas Gifts

• PwC’s 2026 survey lists the top five gifts for adult family and friends: gift cards, apparel, beauty products, consumables, and accessories.
• 78% of Gen Z consumers say they’re prioritizing nostalgic, screen-free gifts, according to PwC.
• Among households with children buying for them, 33% say they’re influenced by whether a product has built-in parental controls or screen-time limits, and 31% care whether a product collects kids’ personal data.
• A majority (81%) of Gen Z say they’re prioritizing offline, in-person activities this year, and 63% say a shared meal matters more to them than a physical present.
• Adobe’s list of top-selling items included toys such as LEGO Icons sets, Wicked dolls, Furreal plush toys, LeapFrog Learning toys, and Hot Wheels sets in 2025.
• Adobe’s other hot sellers included mirrorless digital cameras (Sony A7IV), Apple Watch Series 11, fragrance sets, luggage sets, cordless vacuum cleaners, Ray-Ban Meta glasses, air fryers, cookware sets, and stainless steel tumblers.

What is the most purchased item at Christmas?

No single item is tracked worldwide, but gift cards come closest in the US: the top gifts consumers would like to receive include gift cards (50%) in NRF’s survey, and gift cards rank as the second-most popular gift this holiday season. Clothing and gift cards dominate both wish lists and shopping lists, and cordless vacuums and air fryers appear among the appliance hot sellers. Shoppers still hunting for Christmas gift ideas can start with those categories. The Christmas gift trends and popularity statistics track those rankings year by year.

Top Christmas Categories by Online Spend and Growth

• Adobe found that over half (54%) of the season’s US online spending was on electronics, apparel, and furniture.
• Among smaller categories, Adobe recorded cosmetics ($8.4 billion, up 9.3% YoY) and groceries ($23.7 billion, up 10.2% YoY).
• In electronics, discounts peaked at 30.9% off listed price (vs. 30.1% in 2024).
• Appliance deals also deepened, with appliances at 20.2% off listed prices in 2025 (vs. 19.2% in 2024).
• Discounts pushed shoppers upmarket: the share-of-units-sold for the most expensive goods increased by 20% compared to the rest of the year. Within categories, this figure was up 56% in electronics, 55% in sporting goods, and 38% in appliances.
• Against October 2025 levels, online sales of video games rose 415% over the season, ahead of hand tools (395%) and refrigerators and freezers (360%), per Adobe.
• Other strong risers included fragrance (up 295%), holiday decor (up 285%), smartwatches (up 285%), power tools (up 280%), and earrings (up 275%).

Ranked by growth instead of spend, the leaders change: video games, hand tools and big kitchen appliances rose fastest against October levels.

What sells the most at Christmas time?

Electronics sell the most online by value. Adobe recorded electronics ($59.8 billion, up 8.2% YoY), apparel ($49.0 billion, up 7.4% YoY) and furniture ($31.1 billion, up 6.6% YoY) across the US holiday season. By growth, big-ticket home goods stand out: refrigerators, freezers, washers and dryers all rose more than threefold against October levels.

How Shoppers Stretch Christmas Budgets

• Deloitte found 7 in 10 respondents plan to engage in three or more value-seeking behaviors. Women (78%) are significantly more likely than men (58%) to do so.
• Generationally, millennials (95%) are most likely to seek deals.
• Shoppers also plan on shopping during promotional weeks (75%) and adding items to wish lists and waiting for deals (49%), which is where a shared Christmas wish list earns its keep.
• One-quarter (26%) of consumers surveyed plan to use loyalty points (versus 20% in 2024).
• In Deloitte’s 2025 survey, spending among Gen Z shoppers is expected to decline 34% year-over-year and by 13% year-over-year for millennials.
• For 2026, PwC finds millennials cutting gift budgets by 10% YoY and travel budgets by 37% YoY, while for Gen Z gift spending is down 9% YoY and travel is down 29% YoY.
• Salesforce reports that a defining 35% of all holiday shoppers are actively trading down to cheaper alternatives.
• Income splits the market: 49% of low-income consumers and 36% of middle-income consumers report actively buying less right now. Nearly the inverse is true at the top, with 32% of high-income shoppers actually buying more.

Key finding: Deloitte’s survey shows surveyed consumers plan to spend an average of $1,595 this season, down 10% year-over-year, while most consumers surveyed plan to seek out deals (89%). Smaller budgets meant more promotions, more brand switching and more waiting for the right discount.

The cuts fall hardest on younger generations in the surveys that split by age, from Deloitte and PwC in the US (where millennials trim their gift budgets most) to PwC Canada, while older shoppers hold budgets steadier. Capped budgets are also why Christmas gift ideas under $500 draw steady interest each season.

AI in Christmas Shopping

• On Cyber Monday, AI traffic to U.S. retail sites increased by 670%, according to Adobe.
• Adobe found these services were used most in categories including video games, toys, appliances, electronics, and personal care products.
• Salesforce reported AI and agents driving $67 billion in sales during Cyber Week, and AI and agents influenced a staggering 20% of all global orders.
• PwC found that three-quarters of AI users lean on it to research products.
• By generation, 73% of Gen Z, 70% of millennials, 65% of Gen X, and 60% of baby boomers who use AI say they turn to it to explore gift ideas they wouldn’t otherwise have considered (68% overall).
• Prompting skill lags adoption: 21% of users were novices, and 32% showed developing maturity. Only 40% showed proficiency and 8% qualified as advanced.
• Reliance on AI assistants as a shopper’s first stop grew 200% in just one year, from May 2025 to May 2026, Salesforce found, and 74% of shoppers say they trust the product recommendations they receive from AI chat.

Source: Salesforce (July 2026), PwC (September 2026), Deloitte (October 2025), Deloitte UK (December 2025)

The survey populations differ, so the shares are not one series, but every source moved in the same direction between seasons.

By the numbers: Adobe measured traffic to retail sites from generative AI tools increased by 693.4% over the 2025 season, and Salesforce tied $262 billion in revenue to AI and agents. PwC’s 2026 survey found 29% of consumers plan to use AI as part of their holiday shopping experience.

When Shoppers Buy and Return Christmas Purchases

• Global returns rose, as Salesforce’s figure marks a 10% increase in returns from last year.
• Items purchased in-store during the final four days before Christmas face the highest likelihood of being returned in January.
• Adobe found that in the days following Christmas Day (Dec. 26 to Dec. 31), returns were up 4.7%, and 1 out of every 7 returns this season happened during this time period.
• 38.8% of returns happened on a mobile device (vs. desktop), while 56.4% of overall online spend was driven by mobile.
• Deloitte expects the season to peak later as half of holiday shoppers surveyed say they’re spreading out purchases to manage the budget, with traffic likely to peak between late November and early December.
• In the UK, the majority of consumers (47%) will still do their festive spending in early-to-mid December.
• The majority of women (54%) have bought most of their gifts by the start of December, while one in eight (12%) men plan to do most of their shopping the week before Christmas.

Source: Salesforce and Adobe (January 2026), Deloitte (October 2025), PwC UK (December 2025)

Returns now cluster in the week after Christmas, and the global total keeps rising. The Christmas returns and refund statistics cover return rates and policies in detail, and the Christmas retail sales trends set these habits against longer-run sales data.

Conclusion

Online shoppers set a record last season, with Salesforce counting record-breaking online sales of $1.29 trillion globally across the two holiday months. The totals rose while per-person budgets in the US, Canada and Germany fell, so higher prices, deep discounts and a steady shift to online and mobile buying did most of the work.

For this season, Deloitte expects an increase of 4.0% to 4.8% in US holiday retail sales. Shopper surveys point to lower, so the gap between those two readings, along with how fast AI shopping tools take a share of the traffic, is the number to watch as the season opens.