The news: Consumers are turning toward social media and AI tools to guide their holiday shopping journeys, pulling influence away from traditional search and retail sites.

• 57% of US consumers plan to use social media for holiday shopping research—up from 53% in 2023—and 42% plan to make their purchases directly on social platforms, per First Insight’s 2025 Holiday Shopping Report.
• 39% plan to use AI to help with holiday shopping, and 68% of those said they were willing to buy directly within AI tools.

Although more shoppers are focused on social channels, consumers’ use of AI as a holiday shopping tool is an important trend to watch. AI isn’t just assisting decisions, it’s becoming a transactional layer in the ecommerce ecosystem. Brands need to optimize product data, content, and site structure for AI environments.

Social-first behavior: Platforms like Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram are leading resources for online product research and discovery as they evolve from inspiration hubs into concrete paths to purchase.

The top choices for US consumers for discovery and checkout:

• 59% prefer Facebook for both research and purchasing.
• 54% feel the same about TikTok.
• Third place diverges for those behaviors—52% prefer YouTube for discovery, and 47% prefer Instagram for checkout.

Looking ahead: Shopping may become increasingly situational, driven by personalized feeds and influencer recommendations rather than active searching. This could make it more difficult for brands to depend on traditional paths to purchase but opens opportunities for platform marketing and social commerce.

What’s next for brands: Discovery is happening before consumers know what they want—inside social feeds and AI chats. To capture social shoppers, brands should:

• Diversify spend away from saturated platforms like Instagram and experiment with others, like Reddit and Pinterest, that host high-intent shoppers.
• Invest in content partnerships that are visible in platform algorithms and increase user trust.

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