From Early Shopping to AI Assistance: 8 Consumer Insights Advertisers Should Know for the 2025 Holiday Season

As we sled headfirst into the 2025 holiday season, consumers are facing new economic realities and an ever-increasing proliferation of AI tools that are fundamentally reshaping holiday shopping timelines, habits, and purchasing behaviors. For advertisers, the opportunity is clear as winter snow: winning this season requires meeting shoppers at the right moment of intent, across the open web, with relevant native search advertising and experiences.

A successful holiday shopping season for many brands requires deep understanding around when, where, and how consumers plan to shop, and devising a performance marketing strategy that reaches them throughout their entire search journey. 

adMarketplace surveyed over 1,000 US consumers to get a sense of their holiday shopping plans, changes in behavior from previous years, and just how significant of a role AI will play in getting gifts under the tree this year. Here are eight of the biggest consumer insights shaping the 2025 holiday shopping season, and what they mean for advertisers.

1. Holiday shopping is firmly online

68% of shoppers plan to do at least more than half of their holiday shopping online this year, while less than 1% plan on solely sticking to brick and mortar shopping. This confirms that digital- and mobile -first media strategies remain essential.

What this means for advertisers: Native search advertising ensures your brand is visible across browsers, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) apps, and AI search platforms—meeting shoppers in the digital environments where they’re actively searching and buying.

2. Peak shopping moments are happening earlier and earlier

More than four in five consumers (82%) start their holiday shopping beginning in September through Cyber Week. Out of these shoppers, 30% say they’ll start in early fall (prior to Halloween) while 41% say Thanksgiving and Cyber Week will serve as the kickoff for their holiday shopping this year.

What this means for advertisers: Brands can’t wait until Black Friday to compete, or you’ll risk losing out on a significant amount of consumer purchasing. Engaging consumers with holiday-centric ad campaigns as early as September will keep you top-of-mind across the entire holiday shopping season and give you increased opportunities to capture audiences no matter when they start searching and shopping.

When do you typically start shopping for the holidays?

3. Budgets are relatively steady, but caution is high

59% of shoppers expect to spend about the same as last year on holiday shopping, while over a quarter (26%) say they plan to spend less. A majority of consumers (58%) plan to spend between $101-500, with 34% of those planning to spend between $251-500. 

Still, 56% say inflation and economic uncertainty will impact their spending. A mere 7% anticipate no impact to their spending whatsoever given the current perceived state of the economy.

What this means for advertisers: Brands that acknowledge consumer concerns regarding the economy and structure campaigns around deals, discounts, or savings — or unmistakable value despite tighter purse strings — will likely have a better opportunity to win market share.

Native search ads on BNPL apps in particular could effectively help brands position themselves to shoppers looking to spread out payments or hunt for the best deals to remain within their budgets.

How much do you roughly plan to spend on holiday shopping this year?

4. Consumers are frustrated by irrelevant ads and data privacy concerns

Though a vast majority of consumers will be holiday shopping online, it doesn’t mean these experiences are always smooth sailing. A third of consumers (33%) cite privacy concerns, while 28% say inaccurate recommendations are their top frustrations with online shopping.

What this means for advertisers: Ad relevance is key. By shaping and detecting consumer intent signals, adMarketplace delivers native search ads that match a shopper’s expressed intent, meaning more clicks and a greater chance of conversion.

Additionally, our exclusive media placements across browsers like Firefox and Opera are effective brand touchpoints for the privacy-oriented shopper.

What are your biggest frustrations when holiday shopping online?

5. AI shopping assistants are here to stay as consumer sentiment trends positive

30% of consumers have used AI-powered tools for holiday shopping in the past. Advertisers should expect that trend to rapidly expand this year as 57% of consumers say they’re either likely or very likely to use AI-powered tools for holiday shopping this year vs. only 9% who say they’re very unlikely to use them.

Consumer sentiment regarding AI is predominately strong as well: 58% express positive sentiment toward them, while roughly 15% have a negative or very negative sentiment.

What this means for advertisers: AI search is no longer experimental—it’s a mainstream consumer discovery channel. adMarketplace helps brands show up as trusted results within AI-powered search platforms, positioning your products where discovery and purchasing decisions are increasingly happening.

6. Shoppers are turning to AI for savings and discovery

Nearly 28% of consumers plan to use AI for research and cost comparison, while another 27% plan to leverage it for discounts and deals. Product discovery is also a growing use case for AI search, with 15% of consumers planning to consult AI for that purpose this holiday season. 

What this means for advertisers: Competing in AI search environments ensures your brand is top-of-mind when shoppers are actively weighing options. adMarketplace positions brands as top responses in AI search environments, influencing decision-making at valuable moments of intent.

How do you plan to use AI-powered tools during the holiday shopping season?

7. Electronics are the most popular category for AI usage

Consumers plan to use AI search to shop across a wide array of product categories this season. Nearly 58% of consumers cite electronics as the product they’re most likely to use AI shopping assistance for, followed by fashion/clothing (41%) and home goods (37%). 

What this means for advertisers: By leveraging intent-driven media across exclusive placements, advertisers can capture high-value shoppers before they finalize a purchase—driving incremental conversions outside of legacy search engines.

What types of products are you most likely to use AI shopping assistants for this season?

8. Growing number of consumers believe AI can improve their holiday shopping experience

AI’s perceived utility and value far outweighs any shortcomings or reservations. 42.5% of consumers believe AI will improve their holiday shopping experience this year. Only 13% believe it won’t improve their experience.

The AI-powered feature consumers think can most improve their shopping experience is a product comparison tool (33.5%), followed by real-time deal alerts (27%), AI chatbot assistance (13%), and personalized gift recommendations (13%).

What this means for advertisers: Consumers want better shopping experiences and they’re turning to the channels that provide it to them. By aligning media spend with AI search touchpoints, advertisers can influence purchase decisions in real-time and win market share.

What AI-powered feature would most improve your holiday shopping experience?

‘Tis the Season to Go Native with Search

As our research shows, 2025 holiday shoppers are digital, cautious, and increasingly AI-powered. Advertisers that diversify beyond legacy search engines and align with consumer intent will be best positioned to win. adMarketplace’s exclusive native search ads across browsers, BNPL apps, editorial, and AI search make brands discoverable when and where it matters most.

This season, success isn’t just about showing up—it’s about showing up at the right moment of intent with relevance and novelty. Brands that do so will assuredly have a happy (and profitable) holiday.

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