Unwrapping Christmas: trends, innovations and opportunities to watch

With summer, the August Bank Holiday, and the back-to-school season in the rearview mirror, many people’s minds are now turning to Christmas. While retailers’ and suppliers’ plans were signed off months ago, our research programme into what happens in-store, online, and from away from operators is just about to begin.

Globally, our analysts will track the key Christmas retail trends, how retailers, away from home operators, and suppliers activate the event, seeking to benefit from consumers’ desire to enjoy the festivities together.

Insights combining all our insight services 

Our coverage will combine all parts of our research programme: Retail Analysis, ShopperVista, and Away From Home, to provide you with global inspiration and ongoing insights to help you uncover opportunities and learn from standout activations and promotions that can help inform your post-event reviews for 2026, and planning and execution into 2027. See our reports about Christmas 2025 for retailers and suppliers, and Away From Home operators and suppliers. 

Through ShopperVista, we will review our events research from earlier in the year, which looked at how shoppers thought they would spend over the holiday period and other Christmas shopping trends. Meanwhile, closer to the big day, given changes that have happened since, we will update this with insight into how consumers are thinking about their retail and out of home spending plans today. 

Seth, with others, will produce content for Retail Analysis and Cameron on Away From Home, with both identifying best-in-class activations globally. They will highlight standout examples and successes across all retail channels and away from home sectors.

Will consumers spend their money for Christmas 2026? 

With the UK’s economic backdrop the way it is, and potential bumps in the road still to come in the form of the Budget and Ofgem’s Energy Price Cap for 1 January 2027, the first question the industry will be asking is: will consumers be willing to spend? After that, considerations will turn to where they will spend, and their Christmas spending trends. Ultimately, how early or late will that spending come? 

Our analysts will track how retailers and away from home operators promote their benefits, how and where promotions are used, the role of private label in retail and how activations drive spikes in engagement and spending. 

Driven by our global research programme, we will bring you insight from around the world, with images added to our newly enhanced photo gallery, highlighting how retailers, operators, and suppliers are promoting their products and categories. 

Together, our research over the golden quarter will be able to be used to review how activations have appeared in-store, inspire your thinking on future events, and inform your thinking about what could work in 2027.