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The bigger picture: A strong holiday season is crucial for payment providers鈥� overall growth given its share of the retail pie. Holiday retail sales are expected to make up 18.3% of full-year retail sales this year, per our forecasts. Growth across Block鈥檚 products should therefore help boost its revenues and profit for the year. Block鈥檚 gross profit increased 19% YoY in Q3 2024.

Amazon and Walmart are well-positioned for success this holiday season, but Target鈥檚 Q4 looks rockier. Walmart鈥檚 quarter is 鈥渙ff to a pretty good start,鈥� per CFO John David Rainey. Shoppers snapped up items like TVs, headphones, and even tires ahead of Black Friday sales.

Go further: Check out our US Holiday Shopping 2024 report.

Nearly a quarter (24%) of parents of Gen Alpha children planned to buy beauty or health and wellness products for them during the 2024 holiday season, according to a November 2024 CivicScience poll. Beauty loyalty programs are becoming more creative. Brands and retailers strive for improved engagement and personalization with new formats and campaigns extending into gaming platforms like Roblox.

It鈥檚 leaning heavily on shopping features to grow, but it issued lower-than-expected Q4 guidance for revenues, indicating it doesn鈥檛 expect a gangbusters holiday shopping season. Pinterest鈥檚 key selling point is shoppable social media, which is just one feature among many on larger, competing platforms.

The latest AI-focused update comes to iPhones in time for the holiday shopping season, Apple鈥檚 most profitable time of year. Banking on AI: Apple Intelligence is limited to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models and recent iPads and Macs, so this is a big update for a small subset of users. Are the AI features enough to push holiday adoption numbers? Let鈥檚 break them down.

The current holiday season is a crucial period for creating those relationships. Amazon drew significant attention from marketers over the Cyber Five weekend for its shoppable marketing features, but Walmart鈥檚 recently completed Vizio acquisition sets the stage for a battle between the two retailers鈥� CTV businesses.

Part of this is due to the holiday season and marketers spending the remainder of their annual budgets before the year ends. Another factor driving prices up is political advertisers spending heavily in October and early November before Election Day. However, political ad spending has a muted impact on CTV. Most political ad dollars are still spent on linear TV.

Macy鈥檚 will close about 15 locations after the holiday season after already shuttering 50 stores this year. Its turnaround strategy includes shuttering 150 stores and focusing more heavily on luxury and beauty.

What it means for the holiday season: Amazon鈥檚 investments in speed bode well for its performance this holiday season, as the shorter period between Thanksgiving and Christmas puts pressure on consumers to get their festive shopping done faster. Nearly 3 in 10 shoppers (29%) expect holiday gifts to be delivered in two to three days, per a survey by Radial鈥攁 53% increase YoY.

Our take: Shoppers鈥� desire to hunt for bargains should put off-price retailers in a strong position to win share this holiday season. This article is part of 蘑菇AV鈥檚 client-only subscription Briefings鈥攄aily newsletters authored by industry analysts who are experts in marketing, advertising, media, and tech trends.

Consumer spending for the 2025 back-to-school shopping season will slow for the second year in a row as growth aligns with full-year retail. Ecommerce and K-12-focused purchases will drive overall spending.

Although no single player rivals Mercado Libre鈥檚 hold on Latin America鈥檚 ecommerce market, nearly 70% of online sales are still fair game for the long tail of retailers.

Mother鈥檚 Day campaigns are shifting toward personal storytelling, creator partnerships, and emotionally resonant content to deepen consumer connection. For marketers, it鈥檚 a reminder that authenticity and brand values can drive both engagement and sales.

US consumers will spend $3.2 billion on flowers this Mother鈥檚 Day: While NRF鈥檚 forecast is flat YoY, florists face tighter margins as tariffs drive up costs.

Department stores are also expected to get a boost from in-person shopping this holiday season鈥攁lthough they face tough competition from big-box stores, off-price retailers, and ecommerce marketplaces as consumers prioritize value.

However, the growing presence of holiday-related items on store shelves and holiday-related marketing messages carries a cost: Sixty-seven percent of consumers expect to have marketing fatigue by November 1鈥攚ell before the vast majority of holiday sales take place.