Intuit QuickBooks' Holiday Shopping Survey series has tracked consumer intent toward small businesses for several years running. The 2026 edition, summarized on QuickBooks' Small Business Data hub, projects $278 billion in total U.S. holiday spending, up from $263 billion in the 2025 edition — and a record $118 billion of that total is expected to reach small businesses, up from $109 billion in 2025. Both editions use the same definition of "small business": companies with 1-99 employees, plus self-employed businesses. The headline number matters less than the direction: for a second straight year, small businesses are capturing a growing, not shrinking, share of holiday spending.
The Bigger Shift: Shoppers Are Buying Through Messages, Not Just Feeds
A second, separate data point changes how that $118 billion actually gets spent. According to coverage by Vision Monday and Small Business Trends of Meta's Ipsos-commissioned 2026 holiday shopper survey, 59% of shoppers who use Meta's apps have messaged a business directly during the holiday season — through Messenger, Instagram Direct, or WhatsApp — and 85% have made an in-store purchase after first seeing the product on social media. For a majority of shoppers, the sales conversation now starts in a chat thread, not a search box or a storefront.
Where Bilingual Businesses Already Have a Head Start
This is, structurally, the exact behavior Chinese-speaking customers in Flushing, Sunset Park, and across NYC have used for years: a WeChat conversation with a trusted local business is often the only "search" a customer does before buying. Businesses that already answer those messages quickly are not catching up to a new trend — they are ahead of one. The gap usually sits on the English-speaking side: the same business that answers WeChat messages within minutes may leave Instagram DMs and Messenger inquiries sitting for a day or more, or may not have WhatsApp Business set up at all.
Five Actions Before the Season Peaks
- Treat messaging as a sales channel, not an inbox. Set the same response-time standard for WhatsApp Business, Instagram Direct, and Messenger that you already hold yourself to on WeChat — same-day at minimum, same-hour where possible during peak weeks.
- Write bilingual quick replies and away messages now. A customer messaging in English after hours should get the same immediate, useful auto-response a WeChat message gets off-hours: your hours, your address, and a time to expect a human follow-up.
- Put your catalog inside the chat apps you already use. WhatsApp Business and Instagram both support product catalogs and quick-reply buttons; a customer who has to leave the conversation to find a price or a menu may not come back to finish it.
- Make your holiday hours and NAP (name, address, phone) match everywhere at once. Google Business Profile, Instagram bio, WhatsApp Business profile, and your website footer should all read identically — inconsistent hours during the year's highest-traffic weeks cost more than a slow reply does.
- Track which language starts more conversations. If WeChat consistently outperforms Instagram or WhatsApp for your business, that is a signal to put more holiday budget behind the channel your customers already use, not the one with the biggest ad platform.
Sources
- Intuit QuickBooks Small Business Data hub — 2026 Holiday Shopping Survey figures ($278B total spending, $118B to small businesses)
- Intuit QuickBooks 2025 Holiday Shopping Survey — prior-year comparison figures ($263B total, $109B to small businesses)
- Vision Monday: Meta offers small business owners a playbook for the holidays
- Small Business Trends: Meta launches Holiday Insights Hub for small businesses