Nearly three in ten US shoppers say they would trust an artificial intelligence agent more than themselves to make holiday purchases — but only 8 percent would actually let one buy unsupervised. That trust gap is the defining consumer finding of Accenture’s 20th Annual Holiday Shopping Survey, released this month.
The survey of 4,048 US consumers, conducted between mid-August and September 1, found average planned holiday spending of $737 per person in 2026, up nearly 12 percent on last year. Accenture is quick to qualify the increase: more than half of those planning to spend the same or more say it is because prices are higher, not because they feel more generous. The firm estimates prices remained roughly 15 percent above where they would have been without the inflation shocks that began in 2020.
AI’s role is expanding fastest at the top of the shopping journey. Thirty-nine percent of consumers plan to use AI tools to hunt for deals, 31 percent to compare options and 30 percent to decide where to buy, and Accenture estimates generative AI will influence 45 percent of holiday spending this year. Yet the credit card stays in human hands: 73 percent are open to working with an AI shopping agent, while the share willing to grant it independent purchasing authority remains in single figures.
The behaviour underneath is strategic rather than exuberant. Shoppers are starting earlier than ever — nine in ten expect to begin before Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and nearly one in five started before August, almost double the 2025 share — while 66 percent still plan to shop the big promotional events. Clothing and accessories lead the planned categories at 52 percent, followed by food and beverage treats and gift cards, both at 49 percent. Nearly half plan to buy gifts from mass merchants and warehouse clubs, a classic value-seeking signal.
Read alongside PwC’s Holiday Outlook — which found gift budgets down just 2 percent despite an 18.5 percent fall in consumer confidence — a consistent portrait emerges. Consumers are not confident, but they are committed: protecting the visible rituals of the holiday while deploying every available tool, from warehouse clubs to AI assistants, to make the money stretch.
For retailers and brands, the implication is that AI shopping assistants are becoming part of the storefront whether merchants invite them or not. Product data, pricing and reviews increasingly need to be written for machine intermediaries as well as people. On Friday, October 9, 2026, the holiday shopper has a new gatekeeper — and it answers before the store does.
Related reading: PwC: Holiday Shoppers Feel Squeezed but Keep Spending on Gifts
