The Cyber Five gap report

Most marketers plan around five days. Many shoppers keep buying well after.

69% of marketers plan the holidays calendar-first. But 73% of Cyber Five shoppers did most of their holiday buying outside those five days, and 28% did most of it in December.

The five days still matter. By marketers’ own estimates they bring in about half of holiday revenue, and what shoppers do during them (the products they view, the carts they leave, the items they buy or can’t get) shows what each one wanted. Across the brands we measured this year, messages triggered by shopper behavior drew 3.9× the click-through of scheduled sends. And the behavior that triggers them is also a record of what each shopper wanted, while December’s buying is still ahead.

Trigger on behavior during Cyber Five, and the signals that start each message also tell you what to send that shopper in December.

We surveyed 295 in-house retail marketers and 1,048 Cyber Five shoppers, and measured real sends, to find where holiday plans and shopper behavior split.

Here’s what’s inside:

• The behavioral signals Cyber Five leaves behind: six things shoppers do during the five days (view an item, leave a cart, buy from you for the first time, hit a sellout, stall at checkout, respond to your messages) and the December follow-up each one calls for.
• When to act on those signals: three December windows, from the week after Cyber Monday to the delivery cutoff and beyond, and what each one asks of that record.
• The gaps and how to close them: how retail marketers planned and sent last Cyber Five next to how shoppers experienced it, on timing, relevance, message volume, and sellouts, plus what the send data shows when shopper behavior, not the calendar, starts the message.
• The 2026 holiday marketing playbook: what to do before Thanksgiving, during Cyber Five, and through December, when 28% of Cyber Five shoppers did most of their holiday buying.

Methodology: Survey of 1,048 US adults who shopped online during Cyber Five 2025 and 295 in-house marketers at US retailers, plus measured send data across brands using Acoustic.

About Acoustic: Acoustic is a customer engagement platform that keeps shopper behavior, product data, campaign context, and messaging tools in one system, so marketers can see what deserves attention and send the emails, SMS, push, and WhatsApp messages their customers actually want.