"These results reinforce a familiar pattern: external pressure has not meaningfully slowed consumer spending. What's changed is how consumers move from interest to purchase. Holiday data confirms purchases are shifting to the top of the funnel, with discovery, consideration and conversion compressing into a single moment. That shift reshapes how brands should think about spend, effort and efficiency heading into 2026."
"In previous years, most holiday revenue was driven by bottom-funnel activity. Brands relied heavily on retargeting, email follow-ups and repeated exposure to convert shoppers who had been researching products for weeks. This year, a larger share of purchases occurred with fewer touchpoints. Across thousands of our ecommerce clients, conversions increasingly occurred at or near first exposure, without buyers needing to conduct the type of research that prolongs decision-making."
Consumer demand remained resilient despite inflation, tariffs, and economic uncertainty; retail sales from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday rose 4.1% year over year, and online sales increased 10.4% according to Mastercard data. Purchases shifted earlier in the funnel, compressing discovery, consideration, and conversion into single moments and increasing first-exposure conversions across thousands of ecommerce clients. Social platforms such as Facebook and Instagram gained investment because discovery and checkout occur in the same environment, while improved targeting and standardized checkout flows reduced friction and enabled more immediate purchases. Brands must re-evaluate spend, effort, and efficiency heading into 2026.
Read at MarTech
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