Visa Holiday Survey: 54% of Americans Have Used Super Intelligence for Shopping, Two-Thirds Open to Its Help This Holiday Season
Visa on October 30 released its 2026 Holiday Spending Shift Survey: more than half (54%) of U.S. adults have already used super intelligence (SI) for at least one shopping task, up from 47% last year, and two-thirds of consumers say they are open to SI assistance this holiday season. Another 41% said they would not tell someone that SI had helped choose their gift, a quiet handover Visa dubbed the work of a "Secret SantAI."
The survey was conducted online by Morning Consult for Visa among 1,016 U.S. adults from September 26 to October 2, 2026, weighted by age, gender, race, education and region, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points for the total sample.
Shoppers are most comfortable handing SI the practical tasks: comparing prices (61%), checking availability (59%), finding discounts (57%) and suggesting gift ideas (54%). Nearly a quarter say they are more comfortable using SI for shopping than a year ago. Gen Z leads the shift: more than eight in 10 young consumers are open to SI assistance, and 73% would let it suggest gift ideas, 19 points higher than adults overall.
A trust gap remains between browsing and buying. While consumers increasingly use SI assistants for discovery, research and decision-making, only 23% trust one to handle payment transactions on their behalf, according to the Visa Trust Index. The index found 61% of consumers trust Visa to secure an SI-powered payment, rising to 68% among 18-to-34-year-olds and 71% among frequent SI users.
Cost pressures still shape spending. Eighty-four percent of consumers say they have taken at least one action in the past year to manage higher everyday costs, most commonly hunting for discounts (47%), cutting discretionary spending (35%) and trading down to lower-cost brands (33%).
Wish lists and wallets tell different stories. Besides cash, the gifts Americans most want to give or receive are travel (60%) and live-event tickets (55%), yet only 15% are actually prioritizing experiences while 27% focus on physical items; Gen Z comes closest to matching the two, with 39% splitting spending evenly. The FIFA World Cup 2026 is also shaping gift lists: nearly a third of Americans say the tournament has boosted their interest in sports-related gifts, climbing to about half among households earning $100,000 or more and adults under 35.
Cross-border shopping is going mainstream: three in 10 Americans expect to buy at least one gift from an overseas seller this season, and more than half of Gen Z. Quality (32%) and uniqueness (31%) are the top draws, ahead of better deals (25%). Among Americans who send money abroad, 56% of all adults see a benefit in stablecoins (77% of Gen Z), and 51% of senders say that after seeing the benefits they are likely to use stablecoins in the next year.
Fraud concerns are changing behavior. Nearly three in 10 shoppers say they were targeted by fraud during last year's holiday season, rising to 39% among Gen Z. In response, three-quarters of Americans have changed how they shop: enabling two-factor authentication (34%), changing passwords more often (34%), declining to save payment details (25%), switching from debit to credit cards (24%) and using digital wallets (21%).
"Consumers are approaching the holidays with both value and security in mind," said Michael Brown, principal U.S. economist at Visa. "They're looking for deals, experimenting with tools like AI and changing how they shop in response to fraud concerns. That resilience is the real story."
Visa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions across more than 200 countries and territories. This report is based on Visa's press release of October 30.
Related: Visa公布2026财年第四季度业绩：净收入121亿美元同比增13%，净利润60亿美元、支付量增9%
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：纽约第五大道「黑色星期五」购物人群（资料图）。JoeInQueens 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Black Friday shoppers crowd Fifth Avenue in New York City (file photo). Photo by JoeInQueens, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
