Overview
The holiday season remains the ultimate brand battleground, but the consumer landscape has shifted significantly. Fueled by macroeconomic pressures, today's value-seeking consumers no longer rush into stores. Instead, they take more time to compare options, research products, and map out highly deliberate shopping journeys.
To drive year-end results marketers need to meet consumers precisely where they research and predict where they will go next. With the average individual spending $890 on gifts and seasonal items, a hyper-focused omnichannel strategy is key.1
The When: Seasonal Milestones
With 51% of shopping completed by early December, holiday timelines are expanding. GroundTruth's first-party data highlights the critical surges and lulls that dictate seasonal traffic1:
- November 15 (The Ultimate Traffic Peak): The busiest brick-and-mortar day of the season, where early volume floods Department and Big Box stores. Optimize and launch your campaigns before this critical weekend.
- November 18 (Pre-Black Friday Slowdown): Traffic temporarily drops as consumers wait for Cyber Week. Deploy early value offers while competitor media spend quiets down.
- November 28 (Black Friday Kickoff): A massive dual-channel event pulling in 80.3M in-store shoppers1 and driving $11.8B in online revenue.2
- December 20 (Super Saturday): The late-season fallback, drawing an estimated 159M brick-and-mortar consumers to stores to finish the remaining 49% of their holiday shopping.1
The Where: Retail Leaders & Insights
Reach consumers where holiday checklists and gatherings come together:
- Top Shopping Channels: Online retailers lead destination preferences at 55%, followed closely by Grocery Stores (46%), Department Stores (44%), and Discount Stores (42%).1
- Physical Foot Traffic Hubs: Restaurants top the chart with 1B+ visits driven by local convenience. Department Stores pull 811M+ visits (heavily dominated by Target, Macy's, and Kohl's), while Big Box retailers capture 126M+ visits from value seekers bulk-buying for the holidays.
- The Gifting Checklist: Budgets remain focused on traditional categories, led by Gift Cards (50%), Clothing & Accessories (46%), and Books & Other Media (27%).1
The Who: High-Affinity Profiles
During the peak holiday cycle, these five consumer personas drive the highest physical foot traffic across all major verticals3:
- Wholesale Club Visitors: Bulk-buyers looking to maximize value for large household celebrations.
- Fit Moms: Highly active parents balancing health, wellness, and holiday gifting timelines.
- Pharmacy Visitors: On-the-go shoppers completing quick-stop convenience and gift runs.
- Working Moms: Time-strapped multi-taskers relying heavily on hybrid retail research and clear value props.
- Casual Restaurant Visitors: Social diners driving the season's massive 1B+ foot traffic surge around local food hubs.3
Strategic Tactics & Channel Approach
Recommended Solutions
GroundTruth’s omnichannel approach ensures your message reaches high-action households across every screen, driving shoppers directly from digital inspiration to your physical locations. Explore the specific solutions below to benefit your 2026 Holiday Season strategy:
| Strategy | Why It Matters & How to Target |
|---|---|
| Predictive Audiences | Move beyond static historical data with AI-driven models that analyze 15k+ daily signals and refresh every 24 hours. Intercept net-new customers with forward-looking windows at a providen 90% accuracy rate, delivering a 27% increase in store visits. |
| On-Premise & Retail Blocks | Trigger contextual offers precisely when shoppers are within the retail block or immediate shopping area of a specified store or competitor location. |
| Competitive Conquesting | Intercept value-seekers and undecided buyers in real time when they are actively viewing products inside competitor footprints. |
| Omnichannel Strategy | Build a full-funnel strategy across the entire journey: utilize DOOH and Audio for upper-funnel awareness, high-impact CTV for mid-funnel storytelling, and Mobile for lower-funnel, location-based action and retargeting. |
Success in Action
Premium men's grooming brand Duke Cannon partnered with GroundTruth for an omnichannel Mobile and CTV holiday campaign to drive seasonal foot traffic and measurable revenue at Walmart. By layering purchase-based target profiles with Retail Block and Proximity targeting, the brand guided holiday shoppers straight to retail shelves, driving 43.9k total visits and generating a 12% incremental sales lift at Walmart stores.
Interested in learning more?
Download our full 2026 Holiday Season Strategy Guide here for in-depth data, audience profiles, and actionable activation parameters.
For more support, reach out to your GroundTruth representative or selfservehelp@groundtruth.com.
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