What Holiday Shoppers Want at Checkout, From Black Friday to the New Year

On Black Friday, the joy of checking out is the thrill of a deal. On Christmas Eve, it’s the satisfaction of finding the perfect gift just in time. It’s the same shopper at the same checkout a few weeks apart, and they want very different things from the moment.

Most holiday plans treat the season as one long peak. Budgets rise, promotions launch, and every checkout gets the same treatment from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. With Adobe forecasting $15.1 billion in U.S. online spending on Cyber Monday alone, it’s easy to see why. 

What those plans miss is that the shopper behind those transactions keeps changing, and so does what feels relevant across the Transaction Moment™. That’s what The Joy of Checking Out speaks to. Relevant experiences for shoppers, more value for your business. Whether you’re running checkout for your own customers or reaching new customers on someone else’s site, keeping up with those changes is how you get more from every transaction this season. The first change starts with the deal.

The deal hunter spends more than you think

It’s easy to assume the Black Friday shopper only wants the lowest price. Deloitte’s 2026 Holiday Retail Survey points to something more useful. Nearly 4 in 10 shoppers are value seekers who stack promotions and redeem rewards, and they plan to spend 12% more than other shoppers.

For these shoppers, saving and spending go hand in hand. They want every dollar to feel well spent. At checkout, a payment incentive, a rewards invitation, or a partner offer with a clear benefit becomes part of the win. If you’re an advertiser, a free trial or an introductory discount meets this shopper on their own terms. Whatever you show here should add to the feeling of a smart purchase.

As the deals wind down, the shopping gets more personal.

The gift finder is shopping for two

By early December, shoppers stop asking how much they can save and start asking whether the person will love it. Half of shoppers plan to gift an experience this year, up 11 points since 2024, and 79% of them plan to pair it with something physical.

So the cart tells only half the story. Someone buying a scarf may also be planning the dinner, the concert, or the weekend away that goes with it. Someone giving concert tickets may want something to unwrap alongside them, like a band T-shirt or a vinyl record. Relevance that looks past the cart helps you meet the bigger need. If you’re an ecommerce business, that’s a chance to introduce brands from the Rokt Network that complete the gift. If you’re an advertiser in dining, entertainment, travel, or subscriptions, it’s a chance to reach a buyer who’s still deciding what to give.

Then the calendar starts to close in.

The last-minute shopper has no time to spare

In the final days before Christmas, the joy is in getting it right. Shoppers want to know the gift will arrive on time or can be given right away, and they have little patience for anything else. Gift cards fit that moment, and they’re what people most want to receive. The NRF found 47% of shoppers have gift cards on their wish list.

On the busiest days of the season, restraint protects your revenue.  A checkout that moves quickly keeps the conversions you worked all year to earn, and showing fewer, better experiences, sometimes nothing at all, keeps the shopper focused on finishing their purchase. As Juliana Blazuk, Head of Media Sales at Block, put it, “Within the Afterpay app, we refuse to compromise on customer experience—every partnership must enhance, not distract from, the moment our customers are making purchasing decisions.”

Then, almost overnight, the season shifts.

After Christmas, the recipient becomes the shopper

Once the gifts are opened, the shopper and the person receiving the gift are often the same. Gift cards get spent, trips get booked, and people finally buy something for themselves. Deloitte found self-gifting is on the rise this season, especially among younger shoppers, and Gen Z and millennials are expected to make up half of holiday spending for the first time.

A shopper spending a gift card is spending on their own terms, which makes the days between Christmas and the new year a valuable window. If you’re an ecommerce business, you can shift the experience toward what this shopper wants for themselves. If you’re an advertiser, you can reach new customers who are still in a buying mood after the rush has passed.

Holiday volume, holiday value

Across all four moments, the people checking out are often the same shoppers. What changes is what they need from the moment. The Rokt Brain can evaluate more than 340 data points in real time, so you can recognize which moment you’re in, show what adds value, and hold back what doesn’t. Getting that right each time is how you improve conversion, increase order value, and unlock incremental revenue, turning holiday volume into holiday value.‍

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