Giftster Data Reveals Consumers Start Shopping Months Before They Buy

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 4, 2026--

Giftster, the trusted home for meaningful family gifting, today released its inaugural Holiday Shopping Index, revealing that consumers are beginning the shopping season months before they make their first purchase. Based on millions of real wish list interactions rather than consumer surveys, the Index provides a first-of-its-kind look at how consumers actually prepare for the holiday season and how that behavior is reshaping the retail calendar.

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Giftster’s Holiday Shopping Index points to a broader shift in consumer behavior. As shoppers become more intentional with their holiday budgets, they're planning earlier to make every purchase count. Instead of waiting until Black Friday to decide what to buy, consumers are building wish lists, comparing options and narrowing their choices weeks in advance, then waiting for the right time and price to purchase.

The data shows that this planning unfolds in three distinct stages. Consumers organize gift ideas in October, refine gift selections throughout November and make the majority of purchases in December. Together these behaviors suggest that holiday shopping has evolved from a season centered on purchases to a months-long planning journey.

"Retailers have spent decades measuring when consumers buy," said Ron Reimann, founder and CEO of Giftster. "We're seeing something different. The most important buying decisions happen months before the gift is given, while families are building wish lists, comparing ideas and sharing them with one another. Purchasing is simply the final step."

The Three Stages of Today's Shopping Season

Stage One: Consumers Organize Earlier

Giftster's analysis shows planning activity accelerates well before peak purchasing begins, challenging the traditional belief that the shopping season starts with Black Friday. Compared with September 2025, October activity increased dramatically across the platform:

Rather than marking the beginning of holiday shopping, October has become the month consumers organize ideas, build wish lists and begin coordinating gift giving with family and friends.

Stage Two: Consumers Refine Gift Decisions

Giftster's data shows that by the time Black Friday arrives, many consumers have already spent weeks building wish lists, comparing products and narrowing gift selections. In November 2025:

Rather than marking the beginning of holiday shopping, Black Friday increasingly represents the point when weeks of planning turn into purchases. November activity shows consumers actively refining wish lists, sharing gift ideas with family and making the final decisions that shape their holiday purchases.

Stage Three: Consumers Purchase

While planning and gift decisions occur throughout October and November, December remains the peak purchasing month. Giftster recorded more than 1.7 million purchases from wish lists during December, approximately 39% more than November and more than eleven times October purchase activity.

The findings reinforce a broader shift in consumer behavior: by the time December arrives, many shoppers have already decided what to buy. The final weeks of the shopping season are increasingly focused on completing purchases rather than influencing gift decisions. Based on these trends, Giftster expects the gap between planning and purchasing to continue widening as consumers begin organizing gift ideas earlier and retailers adapt to a longer shopping season.

Earlier Planning Is Reshaping the Shopping Season

The findings suggest the greatest opportunity to influence purchasing decisions now occurs before Black Friday, while consumers are researching products, building wish lists and sharing gift ideas with family and friends. Rather than focusing primarily on promotional periods, retailers and brands have an opportunity to engage consumers earlier, when gift decisions are still taking shape.

As consumers increasingly separate planning from purchasing, the brands that succeed will be those that help shoppers discover products, organize gift ideas and make confident decisions well before they are ready to buy. Building awareness and consideration earlier in the season may become just as important as competing during peak promotional periods.

The Giftster Holiday Shopping Index will be released quarterly to provide retailers, brands and families with ongoing insights into how consumer gifting behaviors continue to evolve. Learn more about the Giftster Holiday Shopping Index at Giftster.com.

About Giftster

Giftster is the trusted home for meaningful family gifting, empowering families to gift with less guesswork, less waste, and more joy. As the first digital family wish list, Giftster has been trusted by more than three million members for more than two decades to organize wish lists, coordinate gift-giving, and celebrate magical moments together. From birthdays and holidays to weddings, baby showers, and Secret Santa exchanges, Giftster makes it easy to create and share wish lists, reserve gifts, prevent duplicates, and give meaningful gifts across every retailer. Learn more at www.giftster.com.

Giftster analyzed millions of real wish list interactions to launch its inaugural Holiday Shopping Index.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Millions of Shiite Muslims observed the annual Arbaeen pilgrimage Tuesday in the Iraqi holy city of Karbala, under the shadow of ongoing regional tensions and fears of another round of escalation in the U.S.-Iran war.

Arbaeen is held 40 days after Ashoura, which commemorates the killing of Imam Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Muhammad, and members of his family, at the Battle of Karbala in 680 A.D.

The operations command overseeing the Arbaeen pilgrimage at the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces said on Monday that more than 4.88 million pilgrims had entered Iraq since the first day of the Islamic month of Muharram, which includes Ashoura and the period leading up to Arbaeen, with arrivals from various countries ongoing for what is considered one of the world’s largest annual religious gatherings.

Millions more pilgrims typically come from different regions of Iraq to Karbala for the occasion.

Among the highest- profile foreign visitors was Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who arrived in the Iraqi city of Najaf Monday and continued on to Karbala to take part in the pilgrimage.

Araghchi's presence was a reminder of the delicate balancing act Iraq — which has close ties to both Washington and Tehran — has carried out since the beginning of the war. Iraq has found itself in the crosshairs of both sides and has sought to avoid getting pulled further into the conflict.

As usual, Iranian pilgrims arrived in large numbers, but some observers said the number of pilgrims from other countries had shrunk.

Aqeel al-Rubaie, 45, a pilgrim from Baghdad who was on his way to Karbala, said Iranian flags were particularly visible along the Najaf-Karbala road, while there were fewer flags than usual from European, Arab and other Islamic countries.

He attributed this to “the war and the events unfolding across the region, which have affected the number of Arab and foreign pilgrims."

Another pilgrim from Baghdad, Hassan al-Sarai, 35, said, “I hardly saw any flags other than Iranian ones, which were clearly visible along the road as well as inside and around the city of Karbala."

Volunteer processions providing food, water, medical care and other services lined the roads leading to Karbala from across Iraq.

The pilgrimage is taking place this year as Iraq faces difficult economic conditions following the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has disrupted Iraqi oil exports. More than 90% of Iraqi state revenues come from oil exports, making the country’s economy highly vulnerable to any interruption in crude shipments.

It also comes as Baghdad is wrestling with a difficult task it has set for itself: disarming the country's network of militias, many of them Iran-backed.

One of the most powerful Iran-backed militias, Kataib Hezbollah, said in a statement marking the occasion of Arbaeen that it rejects calls to disarm and remains committed to retaining what it described as the “weapons of the resistance."

Meanwhile in Iran, many observant Shiites unable to make the pilgrimage to Karbala held their own observances, which sometimes took on a political tone.

In the capital, Tehran, black-clad mourners rallied along a nearly 20-kilometer (12-mile) route to a Shiite holy shrine in the south of the city from a starting point in the central part of the city.

The mourners chanted slogans seeking retaliation for the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in strikes by the U.S. and Israel, while some demonstrators trampled on U.S. and Israeli flags.

State media said similar rallies were held in other Iranian cities and towns.

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Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran contributed.

Shiite Muslim worshippers march toward the Imam Hussein Shrine ahead of Arbaeen, the annual Shiite commemoration marking 40 days after Ashoura, in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

An Irani Shiite Muslim weeps as he prays inside the holy shrine of Imam Abbas ahead of the Arbaeen festival in Karbala, Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, center, is surrounded by security personnel as he walks during the Arbaeen commemoration in Najaf, Iraq, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Anmar Khalil)

Shiite worshippers gather between the holy shrines of Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas, ahead of Arbaeen, the annual Shiite commemoration marking 40 days after Ashoura, at the Imam Hussein Shrine in Karbala, Iraq, Monday, Aug. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Aerial photo shows Shiite pilgrims gathering between the holy shrine of Imam Hussein and the holy shrine of Imam Abbas ahead of Arbaeen, the annual Shiite commemoration marking 40 days after Ashura, in Karbala, Iraq, Sunday, Aug. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)