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The theatrical atmosphere, particularly during holiday seasons, maintains its unique appeal despite streaming's convenience and cost advantages. But with streaming TV ad revenues forecasted to grow 19.3% in 2025 according to a new GroupM report, the pressure on theaters to innovate will intensify.

A lot happens in a week, so every Friday we're going to analyze all the new data and provide you with some of the key takeaways. Welcome to the Friday 5.

China鈥檚 deflationary spiral is expected to continue this year: A sharper-than-expected drop in prices in February underscores Chinese consumers鈥� extreme reluctance to spend.

But usage of the payment option remained quite limited compared with the share of buyers who use BNPL at any point during the year

Key stat: 40% of US holiday shoppers are using generative AI to find the best deals for specific items (the No. 1 use for the technology this holiday season), according to Boston Consulting Group. Salesforce estimated AI would drive $61 billion in holiday sales over Cyber Five this year, 19% of total global Cyber Five sales.

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.

Its impressive growth gives Shopify a volume and cross-sell boost

Retailers announced over 45,000 job cuts in January and February: Most resulted from bankruptcies, but the uncertain environment could drive more companies to cut costs.

Inflation accelerated in January: Rising prices of eggs, chocolate, and other goods keep costs in the spotlight, potentially squeezing discretionary spending and pressuring retailers.

Amazon鈥檚 BNPL partners鈥擜ffirm and Citi鈥攍ikely benefited from growing consumer demand for the tool

Most (94%) of consumers say product availability is a critical factor when shopping for holiday gifts, per a recent Cin7 survey. 7 in 10 (70%) say they have abandoned an entire purchase when even one of the items they intended to buy was out of stock. Our take: With significant uncertainty looming this holiday season, retailers should hope for the best but be prepared for the worst.

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.

The bigger picture: Holiday shopping could worsen this trend. More than one-fourth (27%) of US consumers plan to take on debt to get through the holiday season, per a Bankrate survey. This may lead to a buildup of credit card balances that can be hard to pay down given record-high credit card interest rates.

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.

Tips to help retailers reach Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and beyond this holiday season. Walmart+ vs. Amazon Prime: Which has the holiday advantage? Exclusive鈥擥en Zs increase holiday spending despite broader pullback in discretionary categories. 4 analyst retail predictions about Cyber Five, retail media, and Walmart for the 2023 holiday season.

Go further: Read our Holiday Shopping 2023 report.

Tips to help retailers reach Gen Alpha, Gen Z, and beyond this holiday season. 4 analyst retail predictions about Cyber Five, retail media, and Walmart for the 2023 holiday season. US holiday ecommerce retail sales growth will return to double digits this year after slowing in 2022. Cost concerns are top of mind for this year鈥檚 holiday shoppers.

Start thinking about the 2024 holiday season. More like this:. Holiday season check-in: How Q4 is going and what that means for the rest of the year. The power of affiliate marketing: Why gift guides are everywhere this year. Walmart Marketplace sellers soar over the retailer鈥檚 holiday sales events. Younger consumers rely on TikTok for holiday inspiration, not purchases.

This strategy should help brands meet customer expectations during the competitive holiday season. Organic email marketing strategies are critical for budget efficiency. Focusing on quality content in email campaigns can extend marketing impact over a longer holiday season, notes principal analyst Andrew Lipsman in our Holiday Shopping 2023 report.

It gets to the point where it's like talking about the holiday shopping timeframe, where there's not as much new stuff to talk about. So I'll be curious to see whether the competitive landscape is able to shake things up.

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.

Amazon Prime Day is a bellwether for the 2023 holiday season. More Chart of the Day:. 7/7 - Gen Z鈥檚 mind over matter. 7/6 - Beauty on a budget. 7/5 - Making ad-justments. 7/3 - Summer inflation. 6/30 - CTV gains on mobile. Methodology: Estimates are based on the analysis of survey and web traffic data from other research firms, historical consumer adoption trends, and demographic adoption trends.

The biggest Prime Day on record gave loyal consumers even more of a reason to love Amazon. Millennials shopped more conservatively during the sale this year, yet continued spending at other retailers. Meanwhile, retail competitors rode the wave of heightened buying intent. Here are five key stats on Prime Day that you didn鈥檛 know.

That鈥檚 why we expect US holiday sales to grow by 4.5% this year.