In Salsify’s 2026 Consumer Research report, 51% of consumers in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom who responded to a poll said they would spend the same on the year-end holidays this year, while 18% said they would spend less and 23% said they would spend more.
Millennials made a big jump this year, according to Salsify, a product experience management firm. Some 33% said they plan to spend more this year, compared with 25% of Millennials in the survey’s 2025 version planning a year-over-year increase in holiday spending. Then, 28% of Gen Zers, 19% of Gen Xers and 10% of Baby Boomers intend to spend more this holiday season. Some 17% of Boomers, by comparison, said last year they intended to do more during the holidays.
According to Salsify, 21% of consumers plan to spend on furniture and home goods as gifts in the upcoming holidays, up 3 points from the 2025 season. The leading plan-to-shop product categories were fashion and apparel, at 55%, and electronics and personal care and beauty, tied at 46%.
In the U.S., 25% of consumers plan to spend more on the 2026 holidays. The same is true for 26% of shoppers in the U.K. and 18% of those in Canada. The U.S. figure is up from 17% in 2025.
In the research, 19% of shoppers responding to the survey fell into the early-bird category, consumers who begin holiday shopping from January to April, with that percentage down four points from 2025, Salsify maintained. Mid-season shoppers, those who start preparing for the holidays in the May to August timeframe, represent 17% of the total, down two points year over year. Shoppers who start their holiday spending sometime between September and December account for 58% of the total, unchanged from 2025.
In the meantime, 43% of consumers with Gen Alpha children aged up to 15 years report their kids influence household purchases.
When it comes to major promotional events, 73% of consumers said they plan to shop Black Friday 2026, about the same as those who intended to do so a year earlier, Salsify indicated. Four in 10 Black Friday shoppers plan to conduct their retail engagement online only, 12% in physical stores only and 25% online and in stores. In the U.S., 48% of consumers said they would shop online on Black Friday, while 39% of U.K. consumers and 34% of Canadian consumers said they would shop online. Four in 10 Gen Zers plan to shop Black Friday deals online, as do 46% of Millennials, 40% of Gen Xers and 32% of Baby Boomers.
As it follows, 61% of consumers plan to shop Cyber Monday this year, again consistent with 2025. This breaks down to 66% of Gen Zers, 71% of Millennials, 60% of Gen Xers and 44% of Boomers. Three-quarters of U.S. consumers plan to shop Cyber Monday, as do half of U.K. and 58% of Canadian consumers.
