YPulse’s Holiday Shopping Plans report came out earlier than ever this year—not only because brands need to plan for this vital season far in advance, but because we’re keeping up with the trends ourselves. Holiday creep is infamously bringing seasonal décor into stores earlier and earlier each year—but many young people are embracing it. In fact, YPulse’s data shows 43% of 13-39-year-olds say they love winter holiday advertising and in-store displays coming out earlier and earlier each year. But Gen Z young adults are even more likely to embrace the early rollout with 53% saying they love it, compared to 26% of 13-17-year-olds and 43% of 25-39-year-olds.
While the leaves haven’t turned in even the Northeast yet, Gen Z is ready for the holidays to hit stores—so we are too. And with 89% of 18-24-year-olds telling YPulse they plan to do shopping for the holidays this year, brands should be ready . Here are three (of our many) stats on how young adults plan to shop and gift this holiday season:
While this group is the most likely to love seeing holiday ads and displays earlier and earlier in the year, the majority of them are not necessarily early shoppers. Most Gen Z young adults tell us they will start their holiday shopping in October (15%), November (41%), or (gasp!) December (18%). This aligns with the 84% of 18-24-year-olds who reported starting their shopping post-September for the 2023 season.
It is true that the number of young adults who say they’re going to start shopping in early November increased +5pts, from 16% in 2023 to 21% this year. But we also saw the number who say they’ll be shopping in December increase. So, they’re definitely not all rushing to the stores for holiday gifts in the fall. Clearly, November is the most popular month to start shopping, and Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still big deals for this gen. In fact, 18-24-year-olds are the most likely to report they plan to shop on Black Friday by a good margin (73% compared to 59% of 13-17and 66% of 25-39.)
Social media is one of the top ways that Gen Z young adults are getting gift ideas for the holiday season. In fact, it’s just -1pt under the top source they’re getting inspiration from, with 49% saying they get gift ideas from friends. Their feeds are in close competition with IRL word-of-mouth from the people they trust. (A shift we chronicled in YPulse’s Influencers Anonymous trend.)
So, what social platforms exactly will they be looking to for gifting inspo? TikTok (75%) is their top-named source for gift ideas, followed closely by Instagram (74%). But we will note that this group is more likely than teens or Millennial adults to say they’ll be getting gift ideas from Pinterest (52% versus 46% of 13-17 and 31% of 25-39). And overall, Gen Z young adults are more likely to be getting gift ideas online than in person—45% say they will get ideas from online shop browsing, versus 34% who say they will get ideas browsing in-stores.
Mom is the number one person on their gifting list, with 66% saying they will be buying mom a gift this year. But Gen Z young adults are not just holiday shopping for their immediate family anymore—they’re in their twenties and they have new circles to buy gifts for! And wit that, Secret Santas are a tradition that they’re continuing. In fact, they’re +10pts more likely than Millennial adults (42%) to say they will have one this year—perhaps because Secret Santas are a way to exchange gifts that’s a little more budget-friendly.
Our data indicates their Secret Santas are more likely to be with friends or family than co-workers (sorry office holiday party). Only 10% of 18-24-year-old holiday shoppers say they plan to buy gifts for co-workers or bosses this year—which means that even though they’re making gifting fun with Secret Santas, they’ll still want these gifts to be meaningful or personal in some way. In general, the top things this group plans to give for gifts are clothes, accessories, money/gift cards, games/toys, and beauty/personal items—but 72% of 18-24-year-olds agree, “I would like suggestions from brands on holiday gift ideas.”
