Are you ready for Canada’s first AI-powered holiday season?
The last five years have been unpredictable for Canadian retailers. From a global pandemic and the shift to e-commerce to buckling supply chains and persistent inflation, uncertainty has become the new normal.
Despite these headwinds, Canadian consumers have proven to be remarkably resilient, with sales continuing to rise during the holiday season. Last year's Black Friday alone saw a record-breaking 7% increase over the previous year.1
So, what’s changed? After five years, a new kind of Canadian shopper has emerged. They are more resilient, more researched, and they demand more from every single dollar they spend. This has given rise to a new value equation, with consumers validating their purchases based on three key pillars: the right price, deep product confidence, and seamless purchase convenience.
This becomes even more pronounced during the holiday season, when consumers are shopping for others - which is a less familiar, more intricate purchase journey. This naturally leads to more research, especially among Gen Z, with 64% reporting the use of 10 or more resources for their holiday shopping.2
This extended research window creates more moments for retailers to connect with shoppers, but it also creates a challenge: delivering the right message at the right moment to influence a decision. This is where new technology, like AI, can play a role.
Canada’s first AI-powered holiday season
AI is rapidly becoming an essential tool in our daily lives, and this is proving equally true for shopping. Our latest holiday retail research reveals almost half (43%) of Canadian holiday shoppers plan to use AI tools to help them decide and research their holiday purchases, making this Canada’s first AI-powered holiday season.3
The emerging 'AI Shopper' is a distinct, high-value group made up of digitally native Gen Z and millennial consumers – precisely the demographic that drives growth and sets future trends.
Our research shows that AI is being used as a practical 'Shopping Companion' throughout the entire shopping process, from the initial spark of inspiration to well after the purchase. Canadians are using it to find new products or ideas, narrow down options, compare features, prices, and deals, and help with post-purchase needs like setup or installation.
AI is also being used to solve two of the biggest holiday challenges: managing budgets and reducing stress. And while AI is proving helpful across many areas, there are specific, big ticket categories where Canadians are trusting AI's recommendations even more than average.
AI is also part of the consumer shift toward visual search, with tools like Google Lens and our apparel try-on tool, turning the world into a searchable, shoppable surface. There are over 25 billion Google Lens queries per month, and one in four of those visual search queries has commercial intent. Snapping a photo of a product or circling it on a phone is now a direct doorway to commerce.
The Essentials to Win Canada’s AI Holiday Season
To prepare for Canada’s first AI-powered holiday season, Canadian retailers should focus on 5 key actions:
- Set clear business goals before the season kicks off, and measure against them. Are you looking to increase revenue, market share, profitability, or sell-through? Let AI-powered marketing help you be agile, capture demand effectively, and reach your goals.
- Engage early and stay present. Holiday shopping starts earlier than ever. Make sure you're visible when shoppers begin their search, win those crucial peak moments, and then maintain momentum all the way through Boxing Day.
- Make the online-to-in-store journey seamless. Shoppers expect convenience. Help reduce friction by connecting online discovery with a smooth in-store experience. Provide real-time availability, store and product details, delivery timelines, and return options — across both online and in-store channels. This reinforces convenience and removes friction from the final purchase step.
- Improve your product content for AI discovery. AI-powered searches are on the rise. Make your digital storefront stand out with rich product details and compelling visual content that AI can easily understand and recommend.
- Connect with shoppers through sight, sound, and motion on YouTube. Create impactful videos and make them easily discoverable. Also, work together with creators and influencers to build product confidence and inspire purchases.
By following these steps, Canadian retailers can make the first AI-powered holiday season a winning one, by deepening customer confidence and driving growth. At Google, we are ready to provide you with the tools, insights and support you need to make this your most successful holiday season yet.
- Mastercard Spending Pulse
- Ipsos commissioned by Google, Holiday Shopping Study, online survey, Gen Z Canadian Consumers 18+ Who Conducted Holiday Shopping Activities in the Past Two Days. n=682. Oct 10, 2024 - Jan 8, 2025.
- Angus Reid Group commissioned by Google, AI In Purchase Journey, Sep’25, n=1017, Canada
- AI is a Shopping Companion: Angus Reid Group commissioned by Google, AI In Purchase Journey, n = 750, Canada, August 2025.
- AI reducing stress: Angus Reid Group commissioned by Google, AI In Purchase Journey, Sep’25, n=1017
- AI managing gifts on a budget: Google commissioned Ipsos Consumer Continuous, CA, n=1000 online consumers 18+. Sept 1-5, 2025.
- Recommendation categories: Google commissioned Ipsos Consumer Continuous, CA, n=899 online consumers 18+ who shop for the category. Sept 1-5, 2025.
