Nearly 30% of consumers plan to do most holiday shopping in December

Your smuggest friends may claim they’ve finished their holiday shopping when the sun sets on Black Friday, but if that’s not you, you’re not alone.

This holiday season, 29% of US shoppers say they plan to do most of their holiday shopping in early- to mid-December, up from 19% in 2025, according to a new survey by Ipsos for Bank of America.

The study also found a decrease in the number of consumers who plan to do most of their shopping on Black Friday, down from 25% last year to 17% this year; for Gen Z, the drop was more precipitous: from 41% last year to 21% this year.

The study was based on an online survey of 2,062 adults in September.

In a holiday shopping survey from the National Retail Federation and Insights & Analytics of 8,094 US adults surveyed in October, 64% of respondents said they were likely to wait until Thanksgiving weekend to complete most of their holiday shopping, up from 51% five years ago.

As will come as no surprise to anyone who’s filled their car’s gas tank or bought a pound of ground chuck lately, the most common determinant of where consumers will be holiday shopping is deals and discounts, cited by 56% of respondents, even more than the quality (51%) or selection (46%) of products.

Rhon Bell, senior director of customer relationship management strategy at Cordial, a customer engagement and marketing platform, said price sensitivity is a factor in why some consumers are shopping later this season.

“I think it is part of ‘discount chicken,’” Bell told Retail Brew. “Will the price move even lower than my accepted baseline for where I’m willing to make that purchase?”