Generational Differences Mean Retailers Must Adapt Their Approach This Holiday Season

In the same way that retailers wouldn't only stock size 8.5 sneakers — even though that's the average adult American woman's shoe size — they can't take a one-size-fits-all approach to key sales events either.

Similarly, they can't try to fit their entire audience into one pigeonhole, nor can they afford to rely on out-of-date shopper personas or limited, historical sales datasets that don't give them the full picture of what's going on now.

For retailers that want to make the most of the fast-approaching holiday season, they need to build a pipeline that gives them access to high-quality, accurate data and insights about who their customers are, how and where they spend, and what they're likely to buy.

Digging Into the Data

Firstly, let's take a look at some trends that retailers need to be aware of ahead of the golden quarter, focusing on generational differences. A recent study of Amazon.com's U.S. sales data shows encouraging signs for the 2025 holiday season, with a resurgence in spending intensity over the past three years. The final quarter of 2024 showed stronger sales performance than both Q4 2023 and Q4 2022, and strong momentum continued into Q1 of 2025.

Digging deeper into the data, we can see that Gen Z has been the driving force behind this increased spending intensity in the past three years, with the highest among this generation coming in the golden quarter. Baby boomers have also significantly contributed to this growth.

However, while the youngest and oldest generations were spending more, we saw a contrasting picture among the middle generations. Spending intensity among Gen X consumers saw a considerable drop-off between Q3 and Q4 of 2024, while millennials were less active shoppers in Q4 2024 compared to Q4 2023. What's clear here is that different generations have distinct economic pressures, and this affects their spending habits around the holiday season. Retailers must adapt their approach accordingly.

Category Performance

It's not just generational differences that retailers should be considering. Some categories in particular are benefiting from the increased spending intensity, with the electronics sector resurgent in recent years.

The data shows that spending on electronics has risen sharply from Q3 to Q4 over the past three years. This rise continued into Q1 2025 too, and if the pattern repeats this year then retailers have a chance to take advantage well beyond holiday season.

Electronics isn't the only category that's seen a seasonal bump in recent years. Beauty and personal care products also saw consistent Q4 growth. And while some retailers might believe that spending in the golden quarter usually revolves around gifting and big-ticket items, they should note that outlay on household consumables also rises between Q3 and Q4. Essential purchases still need to be made, so discounts and promotions in these categories during the holiday season will likely resonate with consumers.

Connecting the Datapoints

Even more crucial than recognizing generational differences or seasonal peaks and troughs across categories is the need for retailers to secure access to quality data that gives them a complete picture of modern day consumer journeys.

Without being able to understand how consumers in different generations make their purchasing decisions, and how they're exposed to brands and products across all of the devices and platforms they use, retailers are flying blind.

With Gen Z leading the way when it comes to driving spending intensity in the holiday season, it's critical that retailers know how people in this generation are doing their research. Platforms like ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence tools are commonly being used to access product information, but in a different way from platforms such as Google or YouTube. Therefore, brands and retailers that can get a full view of how these journeys map out have a significant competitive advantage. In fact, a recent study by Measure Protocol found that 7.1 percent of ChatGPT sessions included a strong commercial intent signal, indicating a massive new opportunity for conversion.

It's also important that retailers can see into the walled gardens of social media platforms to understand the role they play in commerce, whether for brand awareness, product discovery or as purchasing destinations in their own right.

Quality, Connected Data is the Key to Year-Round Success

Being able to examine consumer behavior patterns across key categories should be at the top of every retailer's wish list this holiday season. Consumer journeys are dynamic and cover a wide variety of touchpoints, so retailers need to connect their own sales data with other trusted sources that can help them build an overall perspective.

By doing this, retailers can develop distinct approaches for each key audience and make informed decisions on when to promote certain products and offer discounts. They'll also put themselves in a good position to create marketing campaigns that have multi-generational appeal — and run them at the right time. And above all else, they'll be able to drive performance not just during the golden quarter, but for the rest of the year as well.

Christie Hartbarger is chief revenue officer at Measure Protocol, a company designed to help consumers take ownership of their data and address data quality issues for buyers.