Holiday shopping is starting earlier in the year

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AI is becoming central to how people shop, and the holiday shopping season is no longer confined to Black Friday and Cyber Monday but is spreading across a longer, more dynamic calendar.

Those are two of the findings from Klaviyo’s “2025 Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) Forecast” (registration required), a global study of 7,000 consumers.

While Black Friday and Cyber Monday remain the biggest moment of the year for brands, they’re no longer the only ones that matter. The report says that brands that want to win need to look beyond peak season and use AI to personalize every touchpoint in the customer journey.

Other findings from the report include:

• More than half of consumers plan to use AI to compare prices, search for products, and get personalized recommendations for Black Friday and Cyber Monday this year.
• Christmas, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday remain the three most popular shopping holidays, but Mother’s Day and Prime Day now rank fourth and fifth.
• Consumers want brands to offer deals or discounts on the products they have already browsed multiple times.
• Forty percent of consumers plan to shop during the Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend, but 20% of consumers make their first holiday purchase between June and August. Gen Z leads this early shopping trend, with 30% starting before traditional sales and 36% saying they don’t time their shopping around any specific event.

As for AI usage, the report found:

• 54% of consumers plan to use AI this holiday season for comparing prices, searching for products, summarizing reviews, and receiving tailored recommendations.
• 62% would rather use an AI tool that knows their purchase history than explain their needs to a sales associate.
• Millennial shoppers are the most enthusiastic about AI remembering their preferences, with 66% in favor – more than any other generation.

Previous chart: One-third of consumers turn to AI when shopping

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