The state of holiday shopping and the consumer

Consumers in 2026 are poised to continue the behavior patterns encountered by retailers all last year: hypervigilant about spending — but willing to spend nevertheless. It’s familiar by now, but not necessarily easy to fathom, especially since even some higher-income consumers are hesitant to open their wallets.

Retailers finished off 2025 surprisingly strong, despite signs of spending weakness and low consumer sentiment. December retail sales rose more than 4% year over year in the segments covered by Retail Dive, wrapping up a holiday period with similar growth. The increases were not just driven by inflation, as volumes in December rose a respectable 1.4%, per GlobalData research.

But the past isn’t necessarily prologue. The headlines about U.S. consumers continue to be downbeat this year, with analysts warning that a cooling labor market and softening wages could undermine spending. Consumer sentiment in January sank to its lowest point in more than 10 years, according to the Conference Board.

“For 2026 I see the consumer being functional but fragile,” said Gregg Katz, Esri’s global business industry solutions lead for real estate. 

Understanding the ‘K-shaped economy’

Consumers are also fractured, in some surprising ways.

Much has been made of the K-shaped economy, where lower-income households struggle with higher prices and a slowing job market while higher-income consumers shrug those challenges off. But that is an overgeneralization, according to recent research from Katie Thomas, who leads the Kearney Consumer Institute.

There are indeed cohorts of wealthy consumers who are thriving no matter the economy or their personal choices, and low-income consumers who struggle to pay for the essentials and are devastated by increases in rent and grocery prices. But geography, expectations and/or lifestyle choices are leading some wealthier households to feel financially stretched, while certain lower-income households that live within their means feel more secure, she found. 

“K economy analytics tend to blend these divergent consumer behaviors together and then spread them like the data equivalent of peanut butter across a series of demographic cohorts, creating an ‘average’ consumer who does not, in fact, actually exist,” Thomas said in emailed comments. “This helps explain why at a time when consumer sentiment is low, spending can appear healthy.”

A more holistic budget

This is why so many consumers across income levels are clipping coupons and trading down to cheaper alternatives, Katz said. Low-price leader Walmart has boosted its market share largely thanks to wealthier households.

Nearly 40% of U.S. consumers say they’re shopping for goods on sale, using coupons or discount codes or cooking at home, according to research from Numerator. A third say they’re spending less overall.

Some are even delaying major milestones like marriage or home buying, Katz said. This is part of an emerging pattern where U.S. consumers are taking a more holistic view of their budgets, according to Meghann Martindale, director of market intelligence for retail at Avison Young.

“So it's not just the goods that I'm buying,” she said. “I'm lumping that in with my spending, because I have to orchestrate my budget a lot tighter. What are the experiences, and what are the subscriptions, and what is the travel, and what is the family’s experiences and Disney World trips and all that.”

Headlines aren’t helping

There is evidence that where there is upheaval in the U.S., retail sales suffer, and 2025 inked its share of disquieting headlines.

Traffic and sales at shopping centers along the northern U.S. border run by Simon Property Group are down because “Canadians are really pissed off” and there’s been “a little bit of sales disruption in certain markets where there were a lot of ICE [border control] activity,” CEO David Simon told analysts. 

Similarly, last year fires in the Los Angeles area and then border patrol activity later in the year hurt traffic and sales in Southern California, according to research from Avison Young. Such events, much like weather events, add to a sense of uncertainty and instability in areas where they’re happening, Martindale said.

“You can't discount the impact that that has on people psychologically — where they feel safe, where they want to shop,” she said. “We always talk about macroeconomic headwinds, rightfully so — the job market, inflation, what's going to happen with the tariffs and rate cuts this year and all of that other stuff. But we have so many more microeconomies now, and microevents — things that are impacting swaths of people around the country.”

Consumers are not only beginning their holiday shopping early this year, but they’re relying on AI to make their purchasing decisions. 

Almost three-quarters (71%) of shoppers plan to start their holiday shopping journey before Black Friday, a survey of 600 U.S. consumers conducted by marketing firm Attentive found. Almost half (46%) are shopping prior to November. 

Most consumers (84%) anticipate that Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales will start before Black Friday, mostly arriving in November, according to the report. 

Two-thirds (67%) of shoppers have used AI tools like Gemini, Perplexity and ChatGPT to manage their purchases in the last three months. For Gen Z consumers, that share rises to 80%, the survey found.

“Consumers are discovering products, comparing options, and deciding which brands they trust long before the holiday rush,” Jema Birkmeyer, vice president of strategic sales at Attentive, said in a statement. “The retailers that win this holiday season will be the ones using AI to understand and deliver on individual customer preferences, serve timely, personalized experiences across every channel, and strengthen relationships well before promotions begin.”

While 58% of shoppers are asking AI tools about a particular product, 51% are using them to compare products, brands and features. Nearly half (45%) are using AI to receive product recommendations and another 43% to find deals, coupons and the best price, according to Attentive. 

In addition to markdowns, shoppers want other incentives before buying their holiday items. Beyond discounts, 68% of survey respondents cited free shipping as the top factor that will encourage them to make a purchase, followed by a gift with purchase (42%), a price match guarantee (39%) and additional loyalty points and perks (35%), the report found. 

As tariffs constrained consumers’ budgets, off-price stores and retailers offering value fared well during the 2025 holiday season. During Black Friday, retailers offered 28% online discounts on average in the U.S., flat between 2024 and 2025, according to a Salesforce analysis.

The death of stores had already been a much-discussed idea by the time the pandemic hit, cratering foot traffic across the industry and leading many retailers to file for bankruptcy and shutter large portions of their fleet. E-commerce secured an even bigger role in customers’ lives as a result and retailers invested heavily in their online capabilities to meet new needs.

But years later, stores are not dead. In fact, foot traffic has largely returned to 2019 levels, according to PwC’s U.S. Retail Leader Kelly Pedersen. There are also fewer vacancies than in previous years and younger generations are embracing the in-store shopping experience, even if they aren’t buying there.

“It is a different type of traffic and a different type of purpose,” Pedersen said, noting that conversion rates are down despite traffic growth. “That's just really indicative of people going to stores for different reasons than to just purchase, right? They're going into them to return. There's a solid, bigger shift toward browsing.”

The level of turnover at malls and shopping streets can also be evidence that a new generation is making its preferences known, according to Michael Brown, a partner and Americas retail leader at Kearney. He sees it as a good thing because it means new shopper needs are surfacing. It’s also, in part, a factor of younger companies like DTC brands searching out shorter leases or pop-up style agreements, Pedersen noted.

All this to say, physical retail is still healthy, even in a world with higher levels of online purchasing. In fact, an Experian report found in-store shopping for the holidays held relatively steady from 2022 to 2023, with around two-thirds of sales done in stores between October and December. Nearly half of the shoppers it surveyed planned to head to stores this year.

And especially at the holidays, there’s something about physical shopping that AI recommendation services and personalized websites just can’t provide.

“When it comes to the word ‘shopping,’ it really takes place in the physical world because that's where you really go, you look, you feel, you touch, you engage and you decide eventually what you're going to buy,” Brown said. “You may buy it later in the store or you may just buy it online — so I think there is really a difference between shopping and actually buying. And I think we see shopping still [has] so high levels of people going to the stores to have those experiences.”

What online changed (or didn’t)

Over the past decade, holiday shopping preferences across stores and e-commerce have effectively swapped places. The 59% of shoppers who planned to buy holiday gifts in stores in 2015 has shrunk to a projected 45% this year, while those who expected to shop online grew from 41% in 2015 to 55% today, according to PwC. 

It’s a noticeable tilt toward e-commerce, but not nearly as high as the 61% that looked online in 2020 during the exceptional circumstances of the pandemic. And in fact, the projected percentage of in-store shoppers in PwC’s survey this year increased for the first time since 2021. Black Friday, too, saw a rare spike in popularity, with a 3% increase in respondents planning to shop on the banner holiday, which tends to be an in-store event. That’s the first time that metric has grown since 2018. It still only amounts to 22% of shoppers, though, down sharply from the 59% who planned to shop on Black Friday a decade ago.

Interest from shoppers spans different buying environments as well. While there is a trend toward high-street shopping during the season, Pedersen said a lot of traditional malls are seeing higher traffic again as well, courtesy of the large swaths of the country that moved out to the suburbs during COVID.

But e-commerce retailers and social media platforms are also finding innovative ways to reach customers, including through the industry’s favorite buzzword of late: AI. Etsy, for example, recently introduced an AI gift recommendation service, while Amazon launched AI shopping guides and a virtual holiday shop to entice customers.

Pinterest debuted a personalized gift feed on its platform, alongside a series of gift guides curated by celebrities and publishers.

Efforts like these can work, “if the algorithms are right and you can really be hit with something that you've always looked for — you want it, maybe you had a pattern of trying to find those things,” Brown said. “I think the challenge that there always is with online is the screen in front of you is only like 10 by 12, and you can only see so much. But when you go out and you look at the physical retail environment, it all opens up, right? You get peripheral view. You get long-distance view … online, it's hard to do that.”

That said, online isn’t without its benefits. It’s great for mission shopping, according to Brown, referring to when a customer already knows what they want. And there are different times during the season when e-commerce channels have more sway with shoppers. Social media, DTC and emerging marketplaces (think Temu and Shein) are more successful at the start of the season, according to a report from Boston Consulting Group, when shoppers have more time to find the perfect gift and aren’t as stressed about price and delivery times.

Retailers can make their websites more enticing as well, with festive banners or by offering the same promotions that they do in stores, like a free gift with purchase. But Pedersen admitted it’s difficult for retailers to mimic the joy of shopping in person.

“Other than us at some point having true VR headsets where we're walking through a store and experiencing that way, it's pretty hard,” Pedersen said.

And during the holidays in particular, shoppers are looking for that.

The joy of shopping

What makes the holidays different than any other time of year? At its most basic level, it comes down to gifting. Customers prowling through a shopping street or mall during those critical fall months are looking not for themselves (at least not primarily), but for others. That means discovery shopping is critical, and that’s where stores thrive.

“What's successful this season is really having unique and differentiated products and an experience where consumers think they're really winning or they're getting that special deal,” Brown said, noting that off-price players have done this particularly well. “It's a little bit of that pursuit and uniqueness and surprise of what I can find in your store. Because if I know exactly what I'm looking for, then it's easy for me to shop online.”

Customers might make a lot of purchases online, but when it comes to discovering what gifts to give, shoppers of all generations turn strongly to physical stores. In a report by PwC, every generation except for baby boomers said visiting stores in person was their top way to discover gifts. For boomers, it was second only to talking to friends and family. Both of those methods — the flesh-and-blood variety — landed significantly higher than the third all-around highest, which was online marketplaces.

“Sometimes you just see how busy the store is, and you say, ‘Well, now I’ve got to go see it,’ right? There's that crowd attraction,” Brown said. “Even as much as we'd all like to stay away from more lines at the register when you're there, that means something's going on there. And again, you can't really see that and experience that online.”

There’s a psychological reason as well: Shopping during the holidays can be a lot of fun. Winter milestones like Christmas, and the act of indulgent spending that often goes along with them, can serve as a way to cheer ourselves up during the darkest times of the year. Stores decorate their windows, blast seasonal tunes and waft pine or peppermint fragrances into the air. And much like the scents of pumpkin spice can tap into nostalgia and remind shoppers of fond memories, the right sensory stimulation can make holiday shoppers view a store more fondly.

Even spending money on others makes people happier than spending on themselves, Happiness Research Institute CEO Meik Wiking told Retail Dive.

“People just generally like to go to the stores during this time of year, it puts them in the mood. They go get some hot chocolate or something from one of the food stands. There's just something about it,” Pedersen said.

Some retailers are answering that call. Macy’s, for example, hosted a holiday market at its Herald Square flagship, alongside its usual holiday window displays and Santaland experience. Target offered in-person “Wonderland” events as well, with shoppable brand experiences. Others, like Anthropologie, are taking a pop-up approach to create holiday-specific shopping environments.

The opportunity to do more than just shop at the holidays — to go out to eat, for example — is key to a thriving shopping center. Outside of the usual Santa visits and sale offers, retailers could try more creative ways of bringing people in as well, like exclusive brand launches or a loyal customer night, according to Brown and Pedersen.

“These things should really be called consumer engagement centers and it needs to be a mix of consumer activities,” Brown said, much like a downtown shopping area meets many different needs. “It should be about shopping, entertainment, food, social gathering points for the community.”

Some of these trends are already happening in malls across the U.S., according to Brown. And based on the interests of younger generations, in-store shopping could continue to grow. Of all the generations PwC studied, Gen Z leaned the heaviest toward shopping in stores to discover new gifts, at 60%. They do have expectations around digital components, like self-checkout technology and brand apps, but they’re interested in going to stores. And their spending power is rising.

“Gen Zs and Gen Alphas are big in-store visitors — they go to stores a lot,” Pedersen said. “I think this trend of more in-store shopping based on those generations is going to continue for the next few years because it’s just proven that the Gen Zs and Gen Alphas like to be in store more than the millennials. So I think we see a lot more of this.”

Retailers are likely well-stocked for the coming holidays as this year’s peak shipping season is coming to an end, National Retail Federation Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said in a statement. 

The Global Port Tracker report released by NRF and Hackett Associates found a 13.2% year-over-year increase in 20-foot containers or their equivalent at major U.S. ports in June. That’s lower than the industry group’s previous projection of nearly 19% growth in June.

Additionally, July imports are now expected to be down 7.6% year over year, though the Global Port Tracker previously predicted July imports would “hit a new all-time record,” per a press release last month.

The industry group projects 20-foot equivalent units at major U.S. ports in August will decrease 4.2% year over year.

“We had an early peak season this year as retailers brought in merchandise ahead of tariff changes in late July and responded to other uncertainties in the supply chain like the ongoing disruption brought by the conflict in Iran,” Gold noted. “One round of tariffs has been replaced with another, but retailers will be well stocked for the coming holiday season. Retailers know how to adapt to shifting situations and are well prepared to meet consumers’ demand for affordability and choice.”

Tariff policies in the U.S. over the past year have altered some of the buying timelines for retailers. A Deloitte study last year found that respondents said they placed over half of holiday orders by the end of May, which was about two months earlier compared to Deloitte’s 2024 survey.

Economic uncertainty and higher prices will be top of mind for parents as they enter the 2026 school year, according to Deloitte’s annual back-to-school survey, which tallied responses from more than 1,200 parents. The report estimated the overall back-to-school market at $30.4 billion.

Back-to-school spending is expected to stay flat this year as parents of K-12 students look for value and approach the season with a mixture of caution and intention, according to a new 2026 survey from Deloitte. Parents are expected to spend $557 per child, down $13 year over year, or down 6% when adjusted for inflation.

In-store shoppers are expected to spend less ($521) and online shoppers are expected to spend more ($614). The most popular destination will be mass merchants, which account for 80% of all planned spending, followed by online stores, warehouse membership clubs and department stores, with “value for the money” being the biggest factor everywhere.

Meanwhile, 57% of consumers said they expected the economy to get worse in the coming months, marking the highest percentage since 2020. Parents are also planning to push their purchases closer to the beginning of the school year, with Deloitte predicting that spending would peak in late July and early August, marking a return to pre-pandemic trends.

“While many parents are willing to do all they can to help set their children up for success, financial concerns are leading them to sharpen their budgets,” Natalie Martini, vice chair and U.S. retail and consumer products sector leader at Deloitte, said in a statement. “Cautious spending behavior exists across income groups, but value-seekers demonstrate that it’s not always about the cost — some consumers are willing to spend if they find value in the purchase. At the same time, there’s often a sense of nostalgia about back-to-school that can impact how and when parents spend. Retailers who lean into these dynamics may be more likely to see success throughout the season.”

While respondents said they planned to spend 22% more on clothing and accessories — an average of $323 per child — that was also the leading category parents said they would cut due to budgetary constraints. On the other hand, tech spending is expected to drop 16% to an average of $417 per child, which Deloitte said might result in parents declining to upgrade devices.

Spending trends differ by demographic. Lower-income and middle-income parents expect to spend 10% and 12% more, respectively, due to higher prices. Upper-middle-income parents and higher-income parents plan to spend 9% and 20% less, respectively, because of financial concerns.

In order to afford back-to-school expenses, 50% of respondents said they’d reduce spending elsewhere, such as on dining and entertainment. Nonetheless, 59% said their children were frequently able to convince them to spend more, although that number is down slightly from the 62% who said that in 2025. Another 45% said their child specifically requested a must-have item for back-to-school, with 57% saying children influenced them to spend more on that item.

Affordability is also important, with 71% of respondents saying they’d switch brands if the brand they wanted was too expensive, and 60% saying they planned to shop at more affordable retailers. Another 51% said they expected to shop for private label products instead of name brands, and one quarter said they planned to use cashback websites. Notably, parents who use “a broader set of digital tools in their shopping journey” consistently plan to spend over $100 more, on average, than those who do not, per the survey. Parents who use generative AI are expected to have the highest spend per child spend, at $737.

“We see parents approach back-to-school shopping with intent,” Brian McCarthy, principal and retail strategy leader at Deloitte, said in a statement. “They tend to be more thoughtful about their spending and value-seeking strategies to help maximize their wallets. Additionally, those who actively use multiple digital tools to research products tend to be more engaged shoppers overall. GenAI users, for example, may spend more time comparing products and filling their carts with more purchases, which can create a further benefit for retailers to lean into the technology.”

Alexa is proving valuable for Amazon, and more customers are taking advantage of Prime’s speedy delivery options as the company continues to build an ecosystem based on convenience.

Amazon customer engagement with Alexa for Shopping, its agentic AI shopping assistant, is skyrocketing, with active users nearly doubling in the second quarter year over year, executives said. 

More than 350 million shoppers have used Alexa for Shopping, which replaced the Rufus shopping assistant in May, over the past 12 months, according to CEO Andy Jassy. Interactions in the second quarter were up five times year over year.

U.S. customers who use Alexa for Shopping spend 40% more per order on average compared to shoppers who don’t use the AI assistant, according to Jassy. Additionally, shoppers who try Alexa+ join Amazon Prime at nearly 25% higher rates.

“We find that everywhere Alexa goes, it drives momentum for the business,” Jassy said.

Alexa is a valuable asset for Amazon, especially as more customers use agentic shopping assistants and comfort grows. The tools are particularly popular among younger consumers, with 62% of Gen Z and millennials saying they prefer to shop using AI tools, according to an April survey from The Harris Poll and Quad.

Agentic commerce is expected to continue growing in the coming years, and the market as a whole could account for $1 trillion in revenue by 2030, according to a study by ICSC and McKinsey & Company.

AI shopping is one part of the equation for Amazon’s retail strategy; Amazon Prime is another. Membership in the subscription program grew double digits year over year, according to CFO Brian Olsavsky.

Prime’s fast delivery options are resonating with customers. The number of items delivered same day or overnight rose 40% year over year in the first six months of 2026, according to Jassy.

Every year, the Grinch with his Grinch feet ice-cold in the snow, has the epiphany that Christmas is about more than just gifts. It’s about togetherness, joy and the other intangibles that accompany the season.

A host of characters, including wide-eyed Cindy-Lou Who, are always there to show him the true spirit of Christmas — and this year is no different. A marketing effort from Walmart this year shows the child protagonist once again moved by an urge to help the people of her town. To help them score deals, that is.

Wholesome and consumerist at the same time, Walmart’s big holiday marketing play is a fitting metaphor for the holiday season as a whole. Shoppers still want to have a merry Christmas, but they’re struggling to find the funds to do so. 

“There's a real joy deficit for consumers,” Katie Thomas, who leads the Kearney Consumer Institute, told Retail Dive. 

It’s not helping that brands are “basically doing anxiety-enforcing messaging,” she said. “You're stressed out, everything's expensive and you're getting that told back to you. You're in the comments on TikTok and everyone's like, ‘Oh, I can't even afford my groceries’ … We're all kind of in that echo chamber of reinforcing that anxiety.”

Mired in high prices and armed with buy now, pay later, consumers are making it work. Now, it’s up to retailers to strike the right balance between shoppers’ hearts and wallets.

The consumer will ‘melt slowly’

While the holidays are traditionally a time of more emotional marketing, including tactile efforts like catalogs, it’s important to place campaigns within the financial context of the consumer. Relentless inflation and the ever-changing state of tariffs have put a strain on shoppers’ wallets that’s impacting how they think about gifting.

More than 60% of shoppers anticipate holiday expenses will put financial strain on them and 58% expect higher prices on gifts this year, a Bank of America study found.  As a result, the vast majority, 87%, of consumers plan to shop at discount retailers this season, while just over half are considering gifting dupe products.

Higher-income shoppers will drive purchasing during the season, while middle- and lower-income consumers will be more cautious, Christina Boni, senior vice president of corporate finance at Moody’s Ratings, said in emailed comments. Similar to Bank of America, Boni predicts a bump to discounters and off-price retailers as shoppers seek deals.

“Many consumers may also resort to increasing their credit balances to support their holiday spending as inflation outpaces real wage growth,” Boni said. 

Thomas also suggested resale could be an option for gifting this year. Gen Z is leading that trend, with many of them using resale as a starting point for certain products. Overall, there’s been a 9% increase in shoppers’ willingness to gift resale products, according to Thomas, bringing that metric up to 64% this year.

Anjee Solanki, national director of retail services at Colliers, indicates it’s less about shoppers not spending on the holidays and more about them spending in different ways. For example, consumers might opt to bring a group activity like ornament painting to holiday events versus individual gifts.

While core family members will still likely receive presents, there may be smarter gifting trends, including buying affordable luxuries like face masks or less expenditure on wrapping accoutrements.

“I think gift giving will shrink and people will look at gift giving in a way that is going to be slightly different,” Solanki said.

“Intentional” is a word that comes up a lot when it comes to how shoppers are spending this year. Intentional about who they’re gifting to, intentional about how much they’re buying for loved ones and intentional about when they spend. Retailers like Urban Outfitters have observed shoppers holding out for deeper discounts as the season progresses, and the popularity of deal days like Black Friday — including among some of the youngest holiday shoppers — shows just how much price is top of mind.

According to Thomas, there are tactical ways to market to a cautious consumer like this, and many brands are already employing them. One of the most obvious is to stretch out the holiday season, giving shoppers more opportunities to spread out their spending and ease the financial burden on any given month. That’s been a strategy for multiple years now, led by the October sales events from retail giants including Walmart, Target and Amazon.

Retailers can also adopt an empathetic tone when talking to consumers, according to Thomas, and avoid playing games on pricing. After years of rising prices and shrinkflation, consumers are especially sensitive to price increases — and to retailers artificially discounting products. One shopper Thomas spoke to said she buys a replacement of the same sweater every year and the sale price this year is running her the same as full-price last year.

“The challenge with both this and shrinkflation is: You're going to see the consumer melt slowly,” Thomas said. Shoppers may swallow their disappointment this year and go ahead with their purchases, but it will harm consumer trust in the long term, she noted. “It is more sensitive this year, but I don't think you'll see it reflected in numbers either.”

Bring in the joy

After months of being “inundated” with deals and discount terminology, there’s a real place for retailers to connect with shoppers in a more emotional way as the season winds down. Key to Solanki is that those efforts are “thoughtful and sincere,” a message retailers can pass on to retail staff to execute in stores as well. 

Gap won kudos this year for a variety of upbeat ad campaigns featuring Katseye and Parker Posey, but took the tone down for a holiday ad starring Sienna Spiro, who sang an a cappella version of “The Climb.” Home Depot, meanwhile, showed the journey of one Christmas tree to a young boy’s home, and Etsy leaned into feelings of connection and understanding.

Consumers have grown tired of discount messaging, Thomas said. “If you don't do it right, you're accused of being misleading or tone deaf. So then they're coming back to the emotional because it's the holidays — this is an easy time to do emotional.”

Getting emotional doesn’t have to be serious, either. Target, which stirred up many feelings last year with its “hot Santa” effort, has brought the charismatic Kris K back to its marketing lineup this year, a move the retailer said was driven by shoppers’ desire for more joy this season. An upbeat Starbucks ad shows marker-drawn characters playfully running across coffee cups, while Maybelline actually produced a microdrama Christmas content series.

Tapping into the senses is another way to bring some joy into the season, Solanki noted. As proven by the longevity of pumpkin spice everything, certain scents and taste profiles can be particularly evocative for shoppers. Retailers can also create joy through seasonal merchandising like gift sets and product bundles, according to Thomas, or by leaning into limited-edition flavors like peppermint. 

Brand imagery, whether in digital content or through physical efforts like catalogs, can also be used to evoke an emotional response. Solanki, who lives in California, described one ad where the steam of a hot beverage was visible.

“It was joyful because it reminded me I can't wait for Christmas because I'm going to be in Europe and it's going to be nice and cool,” Solanki said.

Solanki predicts in-store engagement will also be popular throughout the holiday season as a way to bring more levity to the season. Target, for one, announced in-store toy demos at the start of the season, while QVC held a two-day Holiday House pop-up in New York in November.

Bringing joy into the shopping experience doesn’t have to come at the expense of sales, either. 

Solanki cited one Spirit Halloween store she went to this fall that had a haunted house inside, which was not only entertaining for customers but also gave them ideas for costumes or accessories to purchase.

“The joy in these families — I don't care if you're an adult or a child, everyone was engaged in this haunted house,” Solanki said.