By Ellie-Rose Davies, Content Executive at IMRG In this blog we will explore how the total online market performed over Christmas and Boxing Day, looking at trends across product categories and customer purchasing behaviour. IMRG spoke with industry experts to provide you with key lessons for the festive period of 2026. Contents of the blog include:

• IMRG December data and insights
• Industry perspectives on peak trading
• Pricing and promotional strategies
• Fulfilment performance during peak
• Changing shopper behaviour and earlier planning

IMRG December data and insights

The first half of online trading in 2025 was pretty good, but the second half didnt perform to the same extent. After a long period of misery, eCommerce felt like it was back, but then growth fell away again.

Source: IMRG's Online Retail Index

Looking at December, the week commencing 7^th saw the worst performance, at -6.7% YoY. Interestingly, this is the week where Black Friday/Cyber week had been and gone. The only online product categories that did well this week was Gifts, Baby & Toddler, Skincare, Sports & Outdoors, Large Appliances and Home Improvements. Lots of the other product categories were -10% YoY and worse. The week leading into Christmas and Boxing Day (w/c 21^st December) saw slight growth, at +1.5% YoY. This was led by Gifts retailers who saw astronomical growth of +62.6% YoY. Jewellery and Health & Beauty also saw strong performances. The year-on-year figure for December as a whole was -7.2%.

Industry perspectives on peak trading

While our Index highlights how trading performed across December, industry experts point to a more complex picture of consumer behaviour and trading dynamics across the Golden Quarter. Alfie Staples, Customer Insights & Strategy Lead at Awin shares that As expected, purchasing had been tentative across the golden quarter, a triple header of the cost-of-living crisis, pre-Christmas budget and Cyber absorbing a disproportionate share of marketing investment. This caution appeared to extend beyond peak promotional moments. Whilst Boxing Day always comes out swinging, post-Christmas it failed to connect with the consumer despite 1/3 of them utilising a voucher, up 10% from 2023 with overall sales volumes being down day-on-day relative to the last few years. Reflecting on the broader context, Alfie continues, Whilst its hard to pinpoint the exact reasons why is clear is that the golden quarter is a marketing landscape in flux, not defined by a single few separate moments, but ones that are intertwined. From a fulfilment and volume perspective, Rory OConnor, Founder & CEO at Scurri, observed a different set of dynamics emerging from their market data. He notes that the last Monday before Christmas day had the highest volume, up 29% YoY. Christmas Eve was down 7.5% YoY in volume while Boxing Day was up 25% YoY. At a category level, Scurri also identified strong performance in several areas, noting how the full week of Christmas cosmetics were up 24.5%, Fashion up 20.3%, Food & Drink up 15.8%, and Toys up 21.7%.

Pricing and promotional strategies

Expert analysis suggests that Christmas trading followed a different dynamic to Black Friday, with customer intent moving slightly away from deal-hunting towards gift certainty. Dan Bond, VP Marketing, RevLifter notes how Christmas shopping runs on a different psychology than Black Friday. During Black Friday, customers are on the hunt for deals. At Christmas, they're focused on finding the right gift, which is why December consistently shows lower discount activity, despite being the second-highest revenue month. Dan shares how Boxing Day has become an extension of peak season for many shoppers. Still, the smartest retailers view it as an opportunity to clear specific inventory rather than applying blanket price cuts across the board. The retailers who performed best this season understood that customer intent shifts throughout December and adjusted their approach accordingly, says Dan. Similarly, Hemang Nathwani, CEO and Co-Founder at Price Trakker explores how Christmas and Boxing Day trading in 2025 continued the shift we saw during Black Friday toward longer promotional periods and more measured discounting. Retailers that performed well tended to focus on clear messaging, predictable offers, and reliable fulfilment rather than aggressive last-minute price cuts. Boxing Day itself felt less like a single spike and more like a continuation of December trading, with shoppers responding positively to availability and delivery certainty. Hemang continues, Compared to Black Friday, promotions were generally more controlled, and many retailers that avoided frequent price changes benefited from stronger customer confidence and fewer margin losses.