20+ Holiday Spending Statistics for 2025

The holiday season is a joyful period, an opportunity to reunite with friends and family, to enjoy the company of loved ones as you count your blessings.

You’ll count extra blessings if you make your living in retail sales. For retail, similarly to Valentine's Day, the holidays are the prime business season. Forget the spirit of Christmas - the spirit of spending is where the money is.

That’s why it’s important for retailers to understand the psychology behind the decisions people make during this period.

This page is a comprehensive compendium, a guide to the most important holiday spending statistics, all in one place. We focused mainly on winter holidays, but you will see that we’ve briefly touched on other American holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween as well.

Key Holiday Spending Statistics for 2025 - Editor's Choice

• 50% of consumers started shopping for holidays in October 2024.
• American households will spend an average of $1,778 on holiday spending in 2024.
• US consumers are projected to spend $241 billion in online stores during the 2024-2025 holiday season.
• 17% of consumers utilize ChatGPT for discovering and researching products.
• 70% of consumers report they will engage in some sort of charitable activity.

US holiday retail sales for the 2024-2025 season are projected to total around $1.59 trillion.

(Deloitte)

The projections by Deloitte for the November 2024- January 2025 holiday season show that retail sales are expected to rise between 2.3% and 3.3% compared to last year, when the sales totaled $1.54 trillion.

American households will spend an average of $1,778 on holiday spending during the 2024 Christmas season.

(Deloitte, PWC)

The latest data has shown that Americans will spend 8% more on this year's holiday season.

US consumers are expected to spend an average of more than $1,000 on holiday gifts ni the 2024-2025 season.

(Statista)

This is the first time in history that the average spending on gifts has reached a thousand dollars.

Some 50% of Americans start shopping for holidays in October.

(Statista)

Each year the holiday seasons are a source of stress for many. According to recent data, “festive stress” makes 31% of Americans describe the holiday seasons as “frantic.”

A lot of the stress comes from starting Christmas shopping too late - 10% start looking for presents for their loved in December, but in general, the trend is shifting much more to the other side of the spectrum, with 5% more consumers starting their shopping in November compared to the year before.

Americans are projected to spend $241 billion in online stores during the holiday season of 2024.

(Adobe)

The year-over-year spending on online holiday shopping is expected to increase by 8.4% compared to 2023, with the biggest single shopping day being Cyber Monday, with projected sales worth $13.3 billion.

17% of consumers utilized ChatGPT for discovering and researching products in 2023.

(PMG) 

The artificial intelligence boom is quickly being recognized in the retail market, with more and more people using AI assistance to research products. The same survey from PMG also found that 10% of all consumers use the help of AI to build their holiday shopping lists.

80% of consumers planned to shop for holidays during the Black Friday-Cyber Monday weekend in 2024.

(Deloitte)

The number is about the same as the previous holiday season, but the spending is increasing drastically.

In 2024, December 2 was the biggest sales day in both retail and online spaces.

(PMG)

Cyber Monday has begun to dominate the holiday sales space, with consumers spending $15.8 million every minute during peak hours (8-10PM) in 2024. 

The top-selling Christmas gifts in 2024 are clothing and accessories, with 54% of people planning to give them to their loved ones.

(eMarketer)

Gift cards are a close second, purchased by 44% of consumers. While it can be considered a lazy gift, a gift card can be a safe bet for people you don’t know all that well. Toys for the little ones account for 36% of presents.

53% consumers are expected to do shopping on their mobile devices in the 2024 holiday season.

(Adobe)

Groceries are leading the way here, with 68.2% share of mobile online sales during this holiday season.

Holiday shoppers are very receptive to promotional offers - 82% of them are influenced by holiday discounts and other promotions.

(PMG)

The promotional offers that prove most effective in stimulating holiday spending are straight price discounts, with the "Up to 50% Off" discount being the most popular among consumers. 

Christmas is a time of giving to others: 71% of consumers report that they plan to engage in some sort of charitable activity.

(Enthuse)

The latest data from Enthuse shows that 48% people are more likely to give at Christmas compared to any other day of the year. Younger generations are also more inclined to give, especially millenials under 40. Some 61% of those surveyed also stated that they plan on donating items instead of money.

Around 83% of consumers plan to buy a gift for themselves in 2024.

(Deloitte)

While it is important to give something back to those who are less fortunate, there’s nothing wrong with treating ourselves to a gift or two after a year of hard work.

In a 2012 survey, 37% of respondents said they would be buying themselves a present. By 2024, that number has more than doubled.

People from low-income households prefer shopping in physical stores during the holiday season compared to people with middle and high annual incomes.

(Deloitte)

When asked whether they prefer online or physical stores, 42% of people from low-income homes said they prefer brick-and-mortar stores, while a little over 30% of high and medium-income consumers said the same.

It’s easy to predict that people with lower incomes are more likely to put higher emphasis on quality and price when doing their holiday shopping.

55% of consumers discovered a holiday gift ideas on TikTok in 2024.

(MGH )

TikTok is dominating the social media platform space when it comes to product discovery rates. This year, the majority of consumers, or 45%, were looking for food and beverage gifts on the platform.

National Halloween spending reached $11.6 billion in 2024.

(National Retail Federation)

The latest data from the National Retail Federation indicates that this year's spending on Halloween was slightly lower than the record $12.2 billion from 2023, with the average American spending $104 on this holiday. Most of the consumers will spend money on candy, decorations and costumes, as per usual.

Americans eat more than 150 million hotdogs on Independence Day.

(WalletHub)

Independence day is one of the most important and beloved holidays for Americans. Barbecues, fireworks, hot dogs, beer - all seasoned with pride for the red, white, and blue in the sweetest part of summer.

According to a study conducted before the big day, Americans were forecast to spend $8.4 billion on food and drink on the 4th of July, statistics show, with $1.6 billion spent on beer and wine alone.

Americans spent more than $25.8 billion on Valentine’s Day in 2024.

(National Retail Federation)

Only 53% of consumers planned to celebrate the holiday, with the average spending per person participating being $185.1, and the majority of gift spending going to candy products.

Americans who celebrate Easter spent $177.06 on average for this holiday in 2024.

(National Retail Federation)

The collective spending on Easter in the United States has reached $22.7 billion this year, down slightly from the record year before.

31% of shoppers in the US spent less than $50 in shopping for New Year's Eve 2024.

(Numerator)

In contrast, some 35% spent more than $100 this year. 

Only 8% of consumers planned to purchase gifts for New Year's Eve 2024.

(Numerator)

The majority of spending for the eve of welcoming 2025 was on food, with 73% of consumers purchasing snacks and other food items for this night, and alcohol with 53%.