Survey: Early December could overtake Black Friday for peak holiday shopping
Black Friday typically heralds the start of the holiday shopping season, but things could be a bit different this year, reveals a new holiday shopping survey,
Twenty-nine percent of Americans say they plan to do most of their shopping in early to mid-December, up from 19% in 2025, while those planning to concentrate most of their shopping around Black Friday fell from 25% to 17%, according to Bank of America's Holiday Spending Survey. Thirty-eight percent of consumers said they have shopped or will shop earlier in 2026, down from 52% in 2025.
In other findings, credit cards are the preferred holiday payment method (over debit cards, cash or buy now, pay later) for 49% of consumers, up from 32% in 2025. The preference is particularly pronounced among higher-income Americans, 67% of whom favor credit cards, compared with 24% of lower-income consumers.
The shift toward credit cards is also strongest among older consumers, while younger shoppers continue to rely more heavily on debit cards for holiday purchases, with 33% of millennials and 38% of Gen Z citing it as their preferred method.
Consumers pull back on AI, social shopping
•Nearly three-quarters of consumers (72%) do not plan to use AI tools for holiday shopping, up from 49% in 2025.
•14% of consumers plan to buy gifts directly through social media, down from 35% in 2025 — with the sharpest drops among younger generations.
•62% say viral content has no effect on their shopping decisions.
Budgets
•Nearly half of consumers (48%) expect to spend about the same this holiday season as last year — up from 39% in 2025, with 39% also saying they will spend less on holiday gifts this year — down from 42% in 2025.
•Only 12% plan to spend more, down from 19% last year. Nearly two-thirds (63%) base holiday spending strictly on their own budget rather than what friends or family spend, rising to 78% of baby boomers.
[READ MORE: NRF: Affordability top of mind for holiday shoppers]
Scammers
•37% of consumers say they have encountered at least one holiday shopping scam tactic in recent years. The most common scams they see include phishing emails posing as retailers (18%), fake shipping or delivery notifications (16%) and too good to be true deals on gifts or services (16%)
"Consumers are being more deliberate this year, from setting their own timelines to staying focused on their budgets," said Mary Hines Droesch, head of consumer and small business products and analytics at Bank of America. "At the same time, our Bank of America spending data shows the season is off to a healthy start."
Bank of America's survey was conducted online from Sept. 10-12, by Ipsos using the probability-based KnowledgePanel. It is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 2,062 adults age 18 or older.
