LISTEN: The holiday shopping season has begun. Analysts tracking consumer spending say total spending this holiday season will top one trillion dollars for the first time. GPB’s Peter Biello reports.

Big red double doors at the entrance of a store welcoming holiday shoppers. (Adobe Stock Image)

Big red double doors at the entrance of a store welcoming holiday shoppers.

Credit: Adobe Stock Image

The holiday shopping season has begun. Analysts tracking consumer spending say total spending this holiday season will top $1 trillion for the first time.

That trillion-dollar mark is possible partly because products are more expensive because of tariffs and inflation — and partly because the shopping season itself is getting longer. 

Analysts now begin tracking about a week before Thanksgiving. 

 Despite tariff headwinds, consumer spending overall is expected to rise 4% or 5% compared to last year.

 Denish Shah is department chair and professor of marketing at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

 “What's going to change significantly is AI being used as an assistant in not only the search and discovery process, but also for inspiration, price matching, and finding exactly the right product at the right price at the correct time,” he said.

 Shah says marketers also will make unprecedented use of AI to attract customers.

Tags: Georgia  holiday shopping  holidays  economy  Christmas shopping