What you can borrow from the big Christmas ads

While most people watch the big retail Christmas ads for entertainment, the campaigns themselves tell us a lot about how to approach this quarter.

You don’t need a John Lewis production budget to run a profitable Christmas campaign. To help spark some ideas, we’ve broken down a few of the latest ads from major retailers to look at the research and strategy driving them. They offer a useful strategic brief for your own next five weeks.

Before we break down what the major players are betting on, a quick update on our end-of-year celebration.

Winter Experience: last call for attending

10th December 2026 | 5:30 PM | London

It is hard to believe, but we are officially less than a month away from our final, festive send-off of the year!

We are almost full for The Winter Experience, and we cannot wait to celebrate an incredible year of growth with you.

We have a magical evening planned:

• We've booked out the ice rink at Somerset House just for our community,
• followed by drinks and canapés on board a moored boat on the Thames.
  

It is going to be a magical night of celebration alongside brands like Lyre's, Samuel Windsor, Wype and more.

We only have a handful of tickets remaining before we close the guest list. If you want to celebrate with the best operators in eCommerce, register your interest now.

What the major retail Christmas ads are betting on (and what you can borrow)

Here is what the major retail players are betting on this Q4, and how you can borrow their tactics without their massive budgets:

1. Shoppers are stuck, help them choose

John Lewis built its 20th Christmas ad around one finding from its own research: 52% of grandparents give cash because they aren’t sure what younger relatives want. The campaign is built around removing that hesitation.

Interestingly, many brands are moving in the opposite direction. Recent data shows marketers’ use of gift guides has fallen by 19% this year, even though they remain one of the best-performing holiday tactics over time.

If you sell anything giftable, a curated gift guide (sorted by recipient or price tier) takes the guesswork out of the purchase. It helps a nervous buyer confidently check out, and it costs you far less than offering another sitewide discount.

2. Sell the gift they’ll still be using in February

Boots’ campaign, “For Gifts They’ll Really Love”, follows beauty gifts past Christmas morning and into everyday routines. It is a practical angle for a year when consumers are cutting back: the gift justifies its price by being genuinely useful long after the holidays.

Boots also demonstrates how to offer value without a sitewide cut. Their £25 beauty crackers bundle six products worth over £70, giving the shopper a deal without devaluing any single item.

Consider bundling your everyday bestsellers for the season. If it is a consumable product, the person unwrapping it in December becomes a target for selling a refill in February.

3. If price is your message, say it plainly

Asda took a different route, swapping the emotional tearjerker for a rave with the slogan “All of Christmas at Asda Price. BOOM!” The logic is simple: customers don’t want to do less at Christmas, they want to spend less doing it. Asda isn’t shy about it either.

If value is your primary angle this season, a clear offer with a named price will get you further than a clever, abstract campaign that only hints at affordability.

The Takeaway

Liking an ad isn’t the same as acting on it. When researchers tested the John Lewis film, 68% of viewers loved it, but only 12% actually remembered the gifting message, while 48% just remembered the dog. The emotion travelled further than the strategy.

This week, work out problems your customers have right now, whether that’s not knowing what to buy, having less to spend, or wanting a gift that lasts.

And finally, come trade notes on what worked at The Winter Experience on 10th December, because after surviving Q4, you've definitely earned the right to wobble around an ice rink with fellow founders!

In Other News…

Shopify now shows compare-at prices to AI shopping agents: Shopify has updated its Catalogue feature to share "compare-at" prices directly with AI shopping agents. Previously, these agents only pulled the current price, meaning a discounted item looked exactly like a full-price product in AI search results.

What this means for you: Check your Catalogue mapping settings in the Shopify admin to ensure compare-at prices are toggled on.

43% of UK shoppers skip offers over scam fears ahead of Black Friday: A new study shows that almost half of UK shoppers have abandoned an email offer this year simply because they were unsure if it was genuine. With 90% of consumers receiving suspicious emails, trust is becoming a major barrier to conversion.

What this means for you: Your Black Friday offers are competing with an inbox full of scams, and cautious buyers will delete them. It is worth reviewing your email infrastructure to implement verified sender logos (BIMI).