Holiday 2026 will test brands in a different way. Consumers are expected to spend, but they’ll do so more deliberately, taking longer to research, compare, and justify purchases. While the holiday season continues to expand, conversion remains concentrated around a handful of critical moments, including Cyber Five, shipping deadlines, returns, and gift card redemption.

For CRM leaders, success won’t come from sending more messages. It will come from creating connected experiences that build confidence before consumers are ready to buy and remove friction when they are.

1. Build journeys around consideration, not campaign calendars.

Holiday shopping now starts weeks before traditional promotional periods. Consumers are researching earlier, comparing options longer, and waiting for the right combination of value and confidence before making a purchase.

In 2025, 42 percent of consumers planned to begin holiday shopping before November, highlighting the growing importance of pre-peak engagement. Brands should use October and early November to deliver gift guidance, product comparisons, inventory visibility, loyalty reminders, and personalized recommendations rather than waiting for Cyber Week to begin.

Example: A retailer could use CRM to help shoppers build wish lists, compare products, and save favorites weeks before Cyber Five, then trigger personalized offers when promotional pricing goes live.

2. Make AI-commerce readiness a CRM requirement.

Artificial intelligence assistants and shopping agents are increasingly influencing what consumers discover, compare, and ultimately purchase. As AI becomes a larger part of the shopping journey, brands must ensure their products are understandable to both people and machines.

The opportunity is already visible. AI-referred shoppers have demonstrated higher conversion rates than traditional traffic, while AI-driven shopping experiences generated billions in holiday e-commerce revenue during peak periods.

Example: Brands that strengthen product descriptions, reviews, pricing transparency, inventory data, and policy information will be better positioned to appear in AI-generated recommendations and shopping results.

3. Connect social influence to owned relationships.

Social platforms have evolved from awareness channels into full-funnel commerce environments where shoppers discover products, validate choices, and increasingly complete purchases. Creator content, social storefronts, and affiliate ecosystems are driving measurable holiday sales.

CRM’s role is to connect those influence signals to broader customer journeys across email, SMS, loyalty, apps, and paid media.

Example: If a shopper arrives through a creator’s gift guide, follow-up communications should reflect that context and continue the story rather than treating the customer like a generic site visitor.

4. Reframe loyalty as a gifting tool.

Holiday shopping often breaks traditional loyalty patterns because consumers are purchasing for someone else. Loyalty programs must evolve from rewarding transactions to helping customers make better gifting decisions.

Gift cards, points redemption, wish lists, and personalized recommendations can help shoppers maximize value while reducing purchase uncertainty.

Example: Rather than simply offering discounts, brands can use loyalty data to recommend gifts based on past purchases, redemption history, or recipient preferences, while distinguishing gifting behavior from a shopper’s own interests.

The Bottom Line

The brands that win the 2026 holiday shopping season will be those that treat CRM as a connected system, not a messaging channel. Building confidence earlier, preparing for AI-assisted shopping, linking social influence to owned experiences, and making loyalty more useful during gifting moments will help brands compete in a longer season where every purchase must be earned.

Caitlin Dunne is senior strategist, ConnectedCRM, Publicis Groupe, one of the largest communications groups in the world and a leader in marketing, communication, and digital business transformation.