50 Holiday Shopping Stats 2025: Spending, Sales & Trends

This roundup of Holidays shopping statistics reveals the most important trends in holiday spending for 2025. From new highs in online sales ($241.4 billion) to mobile devices now driving more than half of transactions, these numbers show how holiday shopping is changing.

Americans spend an average of $1,012 on holiday gifts in 2024, up from $975 in 2023.
Holiday retail sales in the US reached a record $994.1 billion in 2024, growing 4% over 2023.
Online holiday sales hit a record $241.4 billion in 2024, up 8.7% from 2023.
88% of Americans celebrate Christmas, according to multiple consumer surveys.
96% of Americans buy gifts for their families during the holiday season.
Holiday sales typically rise 4%
71% of US holiday budgets are allocated specifically to gift purchases.
The typical U.S. family spends about 1% of its annual take-home pay on gifts.
Upper-income Americans, parents with children under 18, and Republicans all intend to spend more than $1,200 on gifts.
. Canadian consumers lead global Christmas spending at $2,100 annually per international retail studies.

Christmas and Holidays Online Shopping

Mobile shopping hit 54.5% of online holiday transactions in 2024, up from 51.1% in 2023.
15 days saw consumers spend more than $4 billion online in a single day during the 2024 holidays (up from 11 days in 2023).
Christmas Day drives 65% of online sales via mobile devices, up from 63% in 2023.
Black Friday online sales reached $10.8 billion, up over 10% from the previous year.
Cyber Monday generated $13.3 billion in online spending, remaining the year's biggest shopping day.
Online and other non-store sales grew 8.6% during November-December 2024.

Christmas and Holidays Shopping Demographics & Behavior

Average Holiday Spending By Group

The 45-54 age group spends the most on Christmas, averaging $1,162 annually.
18-24-year-olds spend the least on holidays, averaging $650.
Shoppers aged 25-34 are the most active, contributing 35% of total holiday spending.
Baby Boomers lead in holiday spending, averaging $1,300 per person.
Families with children are forecasted to spend $2,000+ on gifts and holiday activities.
Men spend approximately 10% more than women on holiday purchases.
Parents with young children allocate up to $500 on toys alone during holidays.
82% of Americans celebrate Christmas, and more than 40% buy gifts for at least six people.
Urban households allocate 20% more to Christmas shopping compared to rural households.

Christmas and Holidays Shopping Timing & Seasonal Patterns

48% of Americans begin Christmas shopping before the end of October.
65% of Americans start their Christmas shopping before the end of November.
43% plan to have finished shopping before Black Friday.
Only 10% of consumers were completely done shopping by early December.
Peak holiday shopping period occurs December 15-24.
NRF estimates retailers hired 438,000 seasonal workers during November-December 2024.
37% of unfinished December shoppers were still deciding what to buy.
Curbside pickup was used for 17.5% of online orders during the 2024 holidays, peaking at 37.8% on December 23.

Christmas and Holidays Gift Categories & Popular Items

Gift cards are the most popular Christmas gift, favored by 48% of men and 64% of women.
Electronics generated $55.3 billion in online sales (up 8.8% YoY), representing the largest category.
Apparel reached $45.6 billion in online holiday sales, growing 9.9% year-over-year.
Furniture and home goods category totaled $29.2 billion in online sales, up 6.8%.
Grocery category showed strongest growth at 12.9%, reaching $21.5 billion in online holiday sales.
Cosmetics grew 12.2% to $7.7 billion in online holiday spending.
Toys generated $8.2 billion in online sales, up 7.8% from the previous year.
Sporting goods reached $7.8 billion in online sales, growing 7.4% year-over-year.
Electronics discounts peaked at 30.1% off listed prices during holiday sales.
For every 1% decrease in price, consumer demand increased by 1.029%.

Christmas Gift Basket & Holiday Fruit Basket

Searches for Christmas gift baskets steadily increase from October to December and hit their highest on Christmas Eve, with the home fruit basket market reaching $1.165 billion in 2025.
The global gift baskets market was worth $10-16.8 billion in 2024 and is expected to reach $16.96 billion by 2033, driven by holiday demand and annual growth rates of 6–8.4%.
Corporate holiday gifting brings $33.8 million each year for major gift basket companies, with businesses using themed baskets to thank clients and recognize employees.
Gourmet food and drink baskets are the fastest-growing Christmas gift segment, rising at 6% annually, with North America holding 40% of global market share during holiday periods.
Fruit baskets are expected to grow 4% per year through 2033 and see huge demand spikes—up to 280%—during Christmas compared to the rest of the year.
Customization and personalization drive 52% of gift basket purchases, with consumers seeking locally-sourced artisanal products and same-day delivery options during holidays.
Online Christmas basket companies, especially premium brands, can earn up to $187,000 in revenue per employee, with festive packaging boosting how much customers value their gifts.

Christmas Gift Basket & Holiday Fruit Basket Search Trend Patterns

We looked at Google Trends for gift basket and fruit basket searches. Both basket types peak in December, but they get there in different ways. The Google Trends search interest index measures how popular a specific search is on a scale from 0 to 100, where 100 is the peak popularity for that term for the chosen time and location.

Gift basket search interest rises from 16.4 in August to 54.7 in December, marking a 233% increase over the season.
Fruit basket searches stay steady from August (36.7) through October (34.4), then surges 60% to 55.2 in December.
Gift baskets show earlier momentum, growing 8.5% from August to September versus fruit baskets’ −2.5% over the same period.
Gift baskets accelerate 51% from September (17.8) to November (31.8), compared to fruit baskets’ 9% growth from September (35.8) to November (39.0).
Both categories peak in December—gift baskets at 54.7 and fruit baskets at 55.2—with highly correlated seasonality.
December spike requires to anticipate ~280% seasonal volume increase for fruit baskets and ~234% for gift baskets compared to off-season baselines.