started holiday 2026 planning in April and the shopper trend data already looks different from last year
Run ecommerce strategy for a few mid size retail brands and we pushed planning earlier this year after getting burned in Q4 2025
pulled shopper behavior data for the category and the research and comparison patterns are shifting. people are starting earlier, comparing more across platforms before deciding, and the traffic sources driving that early research are not the same ones converting at checkout
competitor benchmarking shows two brands in our space already adjusting their content and paid strategy around this. we were still running the same playbook from last year
the brands that wait until September to look at holiday data are going to be reacting instead of planning
anyone else doing early holiday planning this year and what data are you using to track how shopper behavior is shifting before the season hits.