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2022 Holiday Shopping Trends: 5 Predictions

What marketers need to know for the 2022 holiday season, based on holiday spending statistics from thousands of our retailer partners and our global consumer survey.

Updated on July 31, 2025

Our 5 predictions for holiday shopping trends in 2022

To help marketers make the most of the season–no matter what shape it takes–we analyzed exclusive data from thousands of our retailer partners (which includes millions of consumer transactions) and findings from our global monthly Consumer Sentiment Index survey. Here’s what you need to know about holiday shopping 2022:

1: Cyber Month will continue to steal Black Friday’s Thunder

Black Friday still gets a lot of attention, but except for 2020 (peak Covid), the Black Friday super-spike has softened considerably since 2015. Instead, over the years, sales have been rising across the entire month of November, showing that shoppers no longer expect to grab all the best deals in one day, earning it the “Cyber Month” moniker.

In 2022, lingering supply chain challenges and labor shortage issues are likely to drive shoppers to get an even earlier start. In fact, 77% of Americans told us that they often purchase holiday gifts during Amazon Prime Day and the competing events offered by other retailers in July.

The holiday spending statistics below show that in the US, the sales increase throughout November 2021 grew 10 points over 2020, while Black Friday sales were down 31 points.

2: Acquisition opportunities will be strongest in the beginning of the season

Criteo data shows that in the US and much of Europe and Brazil, the share of new buyers (consumers identified as new clients) begins to rise in early November and peaks on Black Friday. That makes this period a crucial time to acquire new customers.

Later in December, the focus should be on returning customers and client loyalty, as the share of new clients is at the lowest.

3: Highly variable shopping journeys will require agile marketing

Last year in the US and UK, some consumers moved from discovery to purchase in less than an hour, while others took almost two months.

Our sales data showed that last fall, for the one quarter of US consumers who had the shortest path to purchase, the average time between a first page view and a purchase was just 30 minutes. For the one quarter who had the longest path to purchase, the average time between a first page view and a purchase was 48 days.

This reinforces what we already know—consumer journeys are all unique. But with the right data and intelligence, you can know when and how to reach each shopper based on where they are and how fast they are moving in that journey.

4: Stores and online will BOTH be strong this season

According to our global consumer survey, physical stores are more popular than they were a year ago, not only as a place to buy stuff but also as a source of inspiration for purchases. Online ads are more popular than they were last year for discovery, as well. In addition, our sales data shows that in-store shoppers purchase almost twice as often when they also visit the retailer’s website.

This peak shopping season, new challenges, including higher gas prices, may push consumers to make fewer but larger in-person trips. Possible supply limitations will also encourage people to go in store if they know the product they want is available there.

5: Shoppers will start checking off their gift lists now

Our ongoing global consumer survey found that half of respondents started thinking of holiday gifts in July 2021, and 30% had bought gifts in August 2021. Our data also showed that a larger percentage of Millennials and Gen Zers began buying gifts earlier than Gen X and Boomers.

Ready to turn this data into action?

We’ve put together a Holiday and Festive Season Playbook on a Page to help marketers make the most of the busiest season (and their budget) from start to finish—and beyond.