How can AI help Americans with their holiday shopping this year?

Can AI make you a better gift-giver?

According to a new poll of 2,000 U.S. adults, one in three find AI to be a helpful assistant when they shop. And over half (57%) already use AI tools to assist with their general shopping needs.

Thirty-four percent of respondents said they’re consulting AI tools for gift advice for the holiday season, 74% of whom believe it will help make them better gift-givers this year.

In fact, 32% would trust AI tools to give them better gifting advice than their friends and family and 34% have already used the tools for gift advice. According to them, AI is good at finding the lowest price on specific products (38%), getting links for specific products (37%) and brainstorming gift ideas (35%).

Commissioned by UserTesting (https://www.usertesting.com) and conducted by Talker Research, the study found AI is just one of many things shaping how people are preparing for 2025’s biggest holiday shopping days.

This year, 62% plan to shop on Black Friday — 16% using Black Friday sales exclusively for their holiday shopping needs. This was an increase from a similar study also commissioned by UserTesting in 2022, which found 55% shopped Black Friday three years ago.

Meanwhile, 56% plan to shop on Cyber Monday and only 10% will shop it exclusively. Contrasting Black Friday, this was a drop from 2022, where 66% of respondents were participating in Cyber Monday sales.

Millennials were found to be most likely to take part in Cyber Monday than any other generation (61%), while Gen Z — often assumed to be the most online generation — actually was most likely to shop Black Friday sales instead (77%).

For both Black Friday and Cyber Monday, most shoppers plan on spending roughly the same this year as last (43% and 47%, respectively). But 39% of Black Friday shoppers and 30% of Cyber Monday shoppers plan on spending more.

More dollars may be spent on Black Friday this year than last ($449, compared to $423), but it doesn’t appear to come without buying power concerns.

Most shoppers expressed their concerns about the economy this holiday season were either related to inflation (43%) or tariffs (31%).

Other, less fiscally-associated concerns are dealing with crowds of people (35%), if items will even be in stock (27%), shipping times (26%) and scams (22%).

“Holiday shopping can feel like an ever-increasingly daunting task every year, and shoppers are looking for any way to make it easier on themselves,” said Bobby Meixner, Vice President of Solution Marketing at UserTesting. “Shoppers want that edge where they can be both better gift-givers and remain on budget. I think that’s why they are starting to see AI tools as a way to achieve both goals. It’s becoming one more useful resource shoppers can turn to this season.”

The study found nearly a quarter (23%) believe inflation or tariffs will have a major impact on their holiday shopping this year. This has given cause for the majority of holiday shoppers (59%) to spread out their holiday shopping across a longer period of time due to economic uncertainties.

By spreading out their spending, people said they hope to stay within budget (56%) and avoid crowds of people (34%).

Fifty-nine percent already have money set aside for their holiday shopping, and nearly as many (58%) are planning to start their holiday shopping at least a month ahead of Black Friday.

An additional 14% said they’ve already begun: planning their holiday shopping more than four months in advance.

Some are even open to the idea of holiday shopping year-round: a third of respondents believe all deals throughout the year are more or less the same.

What really matters most to shoppers this holiday season is that shipping costs are lower (41%), they have the convenience option of picking up items in the store (20%) and having overnight shipping available (10%).

“The concerns people have around holiday shopping this year are nearly universal,” continued Meixner. “Inflation and tariffs are going to have an unavoidable impact on spending this year, and we’re seeing consumers react accordingly by thoroughly planning out their shopping. For retailers and brands, this means keeping a pulse on how shoppers are forecasting their finances this holiday season.”