73% of Cyber Five Shoppers Did Most Holiday Buying Outside the Five Days, Acoustic Research Finds

New proprietary research reveals a gap between retailers’ calendar-driven plans and shoppers’ buying journeys, highlighting an opportunity to turn peak-season engagement into relevance throughout December.

CONWAY, Ark., Oct. 22, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nearly three-quarters of surveyed Cyber Five holiday shoppers did most of their holiday buying outside Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, yet 69% of surveyed retail marketers build their holiday plans around promotional dates and offers. The findings, released today in Acoustic’s 2026 Cyber 5 Gap Report, point to an opportunity for retailers to extend the value of their busiest shopping period by responding to customer behavior throughout the season.

The report combines Acoustic’s proprietary research among 1,048 U.S. online shoppers and 295 in-house retail marketers in September and October 2026, with observed email performance data from Acoustic’s platform. It examines how shoppers’ reported experiences compare with marketers’ approaches to purchase timing, relevance, and message frequency.

The research shows why Cyber Five remains critical while challenging the assumption that a five-day promotional plan captures the full opportunity. Although 68% of surveyed holiday shoppers waited for a Cyber Five deal on at least one item, most completed the majority of their holiday buying elsewhere in the season.

“Retailers put months of work into five days, but customers are making buying decisions across the entire season,” said Jon Ziglar, Chief Executive Officer at Acoustic. “That creates a bigger opportunity than the weekend’s sales total can show. The brands that understand what customers still want after Cyber Monday have a chance to keep earning their business without making every sale depend on a deeper discount.”

Holiday Messaging Reveals a Relevance Gap

The report identifies three additional findings that help explain where holiday plans can better reflect customer needs:

• Marketers and shoppers experience relevance differently. While 46% of marketers said most of their own Cyber Five messages were relevant, only 22% of shoppers who received holiday messages said most of the messages they received were relevant. The difference highlights the importance of evaluating relevance through the customer’s current interests and circumstances.
• Message volume can cost brands future access to customers. Among shoppers who received holiday messages, 54% unsubscribed, opted out, or took another action to cut off at least one brand. Of those shoppers, 53% cited too many messages as the main reason. Holiday performance therefore needs to account for the customer relationships lost alongside the orders gained.
• Changing conditions require a responsive plan. Nearly three-quarters of retailers changed a promotion during Cyber Five. Among shoppers who encountered a sellout, 28% bought the item from another retailer, underscoring the value of timely, relevant alternatives.
  
  

First-Party Behavior Can Inform the Next Interaction

The report also includes Acoustic’s observed platform data, which sets a benchmark for marketers to test this holiday season. Across its sender base from August through September 2026, behavior-triggered emails recorded a 5.50% click-through rate, compared with 1.42% for scheduled emails, a 3.9-times difference.

For marketers preparing for the holidays, the report recommends confirming that their technology can capture customer and product activity as it happens and make it available to guide audiences and follow-up journeys. Preparing those responses before Thanksgiving allows engagement during Cyber Five to inform December messaging, while purchases and changing interests help determine which messages should stop.

“A message can be personalized and still have very little to do with what someone needs today,” said Alexi Hatch, Chief Marketing Officer at Acoustic. “Relevance comes from understanding the audience, the product, and the context well enough to make a useful decision about what happens next. If someone leaves Cyber Five without buying, the interest they showed can still help you serve them in December. Our vision is a world where nobody feels like a stranger to a brand they have already chosen. That starts with listening and being able to act on what you learn.”

The 2026 Cyber 5 Gap Report includes eight findings and a practical playbook for before, during, and after Cyber Five. Download the full report at: www.acoustic.com/resources/reports/cyber-five-gap-report.

Research Methodology

Centiment fielded the shopper survey on Sept. 28 and 30, 2026, among 1,048 U.S. adults who made an online purchase during Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday 2025. Holiday-shopping findings reflect 981 respondents who shopped for the holidays; messaging-experience findings reflect 908 who received promotional email or texts. Shopper results are unweighted and rely on recalled experiences.

The marketer survey was fielded Sept. 28 through Oct. 5, 2026, among 295 in-house marketers at U.S. retailers. The two surveys represent separate populations; comparisons describe differences in reported perspectives rather than matched brand and customer experiences.

Platform performance figures reflect aggregate email activity across Acoustic senders in multiple industries from September 2025 through September 2026. The comparison cited in this release covers August 1 through September 30, 2026, when brands did most of their triggered sending. Messages are classified by whether a behavioral signal or a scheduled send initiated them. Results are observational, triggered volume is concentrated among a minority of senders, and findings may not generalize to all retailers. Full methodology is available in the report.

About Acoustic

Acoustic is an AI-powered marketing platform helping B2C brands create more relevant, personalized customer experiences. Acoustic Connect brings together real-time behavioral intelligence, unified customer profiles, product insights, and multichannel campaign orchestration to help marketers understand customer intent and turn insights into action. With Acoustic AI, marketers can identify opportunities, make smarter decisions, and deliver the right message at the right moment across email, SMS, WhatsApp, and push notifications. Learn more at acoustic.com.

Media Contact

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