Shopify's Holiday Report: UK and Australian Shoppers Are Value-Maxxing With AI

UK shoppers plan to spend an average of £165 over the Black Friday weekend, down from £181 in 2025, according to Shopify's 2026 Holiday Retail Report, released in the first week of October. Australians are heading the other way, planning to spend AUD 346 on average, up from AUD 324 a year earlier, as eCommerceNews Australia reported on 7 October.

The spending figures diverge, but the shoppers behind them behave much the same. In both countries, people say they are researching harder, waiting for the right product rather than the easiest one, and using AI to help them decide. For small sellers, that's a challenge and an opening at the same time. Here's what the report found and seven practical steps to take before the peak.

What the report found in the UK

Shopify's UK figures, published by Retail Times, describe a cautious but still-spending market:

• 53% of UK shoppers say recent economic conditions have hurt their shopping plans, and 34% postponed a purchase in the past year because of living costs.
• 86% say they feel more in control after researching a purchase.
• 28% deliberately leave products in their basket to see if the price drops. Of those who leave items, 32% come back when the price falls and 29% buy after a discount code or offer arrives.
• 54% define good value as higher-than-expected quality for the price, and 38% as a product lasting longer than expected.
• 64% are likely to use AI for at least one holiday shopping task, most often to find deals (29%) or discover products (23%). 52% are comfortable letting AI recommend a product, but only 28% trust it to complete a purchase.

UK businesses are still hopeful: 82% expect higher holiday sales, despite rising costs (45%) and more competition (38%).

What the report found in Australia

The Australian numbers are similar in shape:

• 54% say economic conditions have hurt their holiday plans, and 85% would rather wait and buy the right product than pick the easiest option.
• 62% expect to use AI for at least one holiday shopping task. 51% would let AI recommend a product, 41% would let it build their cart, and 29% would trust it to buy for them.
• 57% say good value means higher quality than expected for the price, and 24% use their cart as a watchlist while they wait for a price drop.
• 54% say they're choosing independent or niche brands more often than last year, and 15% have already discovered a brand through AI that they hadn't heard of before.

James Johnson, Shopify's head of enterprise for Australia and New Zealand, summed it up: "This BFCM isn't just about offering the deepest discount; it's about making your products easy to discover, clear to understand, and worth choosing."

The independent-brand angle, with a caveat

The most interesting finding for small sellers is about AI users. In the UK, 76% of the shoppers who use AI most often said they were much more likely to choose independent or niche brands, compared with 45% of non-AI users. In Australia, 80% of shoppers who almost always use AI said they were choosing independent brands more often, against 40% of those who don't use AI.

That doesn't prove AI sends shoppers to small brands. eCommerceNews notes the research doesn't show AI caused the shift, only a link between regular AI use and openness to lesser-known brands. Heavy AI users may simply be more adventurous shoppers to begin with.

It's also worth remembering where the numbers come from. This is Shopify's own survey; it sells software to the merchants it's advising, and the coverage we read doesn't give sample sizes for each country. Treat the figures as a useful read on shopper mood, not a forecast for your shop. Our US holiday shopping outlook covers the American side of the season.

Seven steps for sellers before Black Friday

1. Write product pages that answer questions, not just keywords. Shopify's newsroom gives the example of Cottonique, a hypoallergenic clothing brand, whose co-founder said customers with eczema don't type "hypoallergenic bra" but describe their problem in their own words. AI assistants work from descriptions like that, so say plainly who the product is for and what problem it solves.
2. Make "value" provable. With most shoppers in both countries defining value as better quality than expected, vague claims won't do. Give materials, dimensions, care instructions, warranty terms and how long the product typically lasts, where you can back it up.
3. Put prices, delivery times and returns where people and AI can find them. 29% of UK shoppers said clear prices and discounts would make them more likely to use AI tools, 27% said product comparisons, and 22% said clear delivery times and shipping costs.
4. Plan for the watchlist basket. A quarter or more of shoppers are parking items and waiting. Decide your Black Friday pricing early, and make sure any "was" price or discount you show is genuine and accurate.
5. Tell your independent story. Among UK businesses, 47% are emphasising unique or hard-to-find products, and 38% are highlighting where and how products are made. If you're a small maker, say so on the page, not just in your About section.
6. Look past the first sale. UK businesses rated returning-customer discounts (40%), loyalty programmes (38%) and better delivery, tracking and returns (36%) as their most effective ways to build long-term relationships.
7. Check your marketplace listings, not just your own site. If you also sell on Amazon or another marketplace, titles, bullet points, images and backend search terms do the same job there that product pages do on your site. Our Amazon listing checklist walks through the basics.

What this means for the season

Neither country's shoppers have stopped buying. They're just making sellers work harder for each sale. The report's message, stripped of the AI buzz, is old-fashioned: clear information, honest value and a reason to come back. The difference this year is that some of the "reader" checking your product page may be an AI assistant, and it can only repeat what you've actually written.

Disclosure: some links are affiliate links; ShopperCove may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

If your Amazon listings still run on phone photos and thin copy, Listimo is one tool built for that job. Its offer page says it turns a single product photo into listing images, a title, bullet points, a description, search terms, A+ content and a product video. It writes listings for 12 Amazon marketplaces in the local language, with measured search-term data for seven of them, including amazon.co.uk; Australia isn't on that measured list. The page also offers a free listing check if you paste an ASIN, and says it doesn't guarantee Amazon will accept the generated content. ShopperCove did not test Listimo for this article. Listimo link: Open link (affiliate link)

Tools that help

• Listimo, AI Amazon listing builder for images, copy, A+ content and video. Its offer page lists a seller pack of 1,800 credits for $229, about 10 complete listings, with refunds under ClickBank's 60-day return policy. Listimo link: Open link

How this was made: facts were gathered on 8 Oct 2026 (IST) from Shopify's newsroom post on its 2026 Global Holiday Retail Report, Retail Times' and Retail Technology Innovation Hub's UK coverage and eCommerceNews Australia's report, then written up with AI help and checked line by line against those sources. Figures are Shopify survey results as reported, not ShopperCove research. ShopperCove did not test Listimo for this article.

Sources

• 01shopify.com/news/agentic-holiday-2026
• 02retailtimes.co.uk/holiday-shoppers-are-making-brands-earn-every-purchase-with-ai-helping-them-find-whats-worth-buying/
• 03retailtechinnovationhub.com/home/2026/10/5/shopify-ai-savvy-uk-shoppers-set-to-spend-165-this-christmas-but-will-make-brands-earn-it
• 04ecommercenews.com.au/story/australians-to-spend-more-this-bfcm-as-ai-shopping-grows
• 05listimo.ai/en/offer-usd.html

Related

• 01shoppercove.com/blog/prime-big-deal-days-2026-what-sellers-do-next
• 02shoppercove.com/blog/personal-agent-protocol-ai-agents-small-businesses-october-2026
• 03shoppercove.com/blog/listimo-amazon-listing-ai-vs-site-seo-2026