Insights that drive performance.

As Q2 begins, growth becomes the primary focus for most brands. Budgets increase, expectations rise, and teams shift from testing to scaling.

But here’s the reality: most brands don’t struggle to grow because they lack opportunity. They struggle because they try to scale before their foundation is ready.

Scaling doesn’t solve problems. It exposes them.

The Misconception About Growth

There’s a common assumption that growth is simply a function of spend. Increase the budget, increase the results.

In practice, this rarely holds true. When campaigns are not fully optimized, increasing spend often leads to diminishing returns, higher CPAs, and inconsistent performance.

True growth comes from scaling what already works — not hoping more spend will fix what doesn’t.

Creative Is the Real Bottleneck

One of the biggest shifts in performance marketing today is the role of creative.

As targeting capabilities become more standardized across platforms, creative has emerged as the primary lever for differentiation and scale. The brands seeing the strongest growth are not relying on a single winning asset. They are constantly testing, iterating, and refreshing creative.

Without a steady pipeline of new concepts, messaging angles, and formats, performance plateaus quickly. Creative fatigue sets in, and efficiency drops.

Scaling requires volume, and volume requires variation.

Measurement Gaps Become Expensive

At smaller budgets, gaps in measurement can go unnoticed. Performance may appear stable even if attribution is not fully accurate.

At scale, those gaps become costly. If you don’t clearly understand which channels, campaigns, or touchpoints are driving results, you risk allocating budget based on incomplete or misleading data.

Reliable measurement is the foundation of confident scaling. Without it, growth becomes guesswork.

Channel Mix Determines Stability

Many brands rely heavily on a single primary channel for growth. While this can work in the short term, it creates risk when scaling.

Performance fluctuations, platform changes, or increased competition can quickly impact results.

A diversified channel mix provides stability and unlocks incremental growth opportunities. It allows brands to reach audiences in different ways and reduces dependency on any single platform.

Scaling is not just about increasing spend within a channel. It’s about expanding intelligently across channels.

Scaling Amplifies Everything

Perhaps the most important concept to understand is that scaling amplifies both strengths and weaknesses.

If your creative is strong, scaling will accelerate results.
If your measurement is clear, scaling will improve efficiency.
If your channel mix is balanced, scaling will drive sustainable growth.

But if any of those elements are weak, scaling will magnify the problem.

This is why preparation matters more than budget.

What Brands Should Do Before Scaling

Before increasing spend in Q2, brands should take time to refine their foundation.

Start by expanding creative testing. Build a pipeline of new concepts and variations that can support higher spend levels.

Next, validate measurement. Ensure you have clear visibility into performance across channels and understand what is truly driving conversions.

Then, assess channel mix. Identify opportunities to diversify and reduce reliance on a single platform.

Finally, stress-test campaigns. Increase budgets incrementally to understand how performance holds up under pressure.

Scaling should be intentional, not reactive.

The Bottom Line

Growth doesn’t come from spending more. It comes from scaling what works.

The brands that take time to refine their strategy now will enter Q2 with stronger performance, clearer insights, and more confidence in their decisions.

Those that skip this step often spend the quarter chasing efficiency instead of building it.

Need Help Scaling the Right Way?

If you’re unsure whether your campaigns are ready to scale — or where your biggest opportunities for growth lie — we can help.

At National Positions, we identify what drives real performance and build strategies designed to scale efficiently and profitably.

As Q1 comes to a close, many brands are preparing to increase budgets and push for growth in Q2.

But scaling isn’t just about spending more; it’s about spending smarter. And without the right foundation, increased budgets can quickly amplify inefficiencies instead of driving real growth.

The final weeks of Q1 are one of the most important strategic checkpoints of the year. This is where brands either set themselves up for efficient scale, or enter Q2 chasing performance.

A New Opportunity to Scale Smarter

For brands looking to expand into new channels, timing matters.

Through a partnership between AdBeacon and Snapchat, brands that are new to or returning to Snapchat can receive a 1:1 match on media spend up to $150K.

Opportunities like this are valuable because they allow brands to test and scale new channels with reduced risk. Instead of allocating full budget upfront, brands can validate performance while maximizing reach and efficiency.

But even with incentives, the core challenge remains the same: scaling only works when the fundamentals are right.

The Biggest Mistake Brands Make When Scaling

One of the most common mistakes is increasing spend before confirming what actually works.

When campaigns are not fully validated, more budget doesn’t improve performance — it simply magnifies inefficiencies. Small gaps in targeting, creative, or measurement become much larger problems at scale.

Before increasing spend, brands need clear answers to a few critical questions:

• Which campaigns are driving profitable conversions
• Which channels maintain efficiency as spend increases
• Where diminishing returns begin
• How performance ties back to margin, not just revenue

Without this clarity, scaling becomes guesswork.

Not All Channels Scale the Same Way

A channel that performs well at a lower budget may not perform the same way at a higher one.

As spend increases, audience saturation, creative fatigue, and rising costs can reduce efficiency. This is why testing and stress-validation are critical before committing larger budgets.

This is also where new channels can play a role. Platforms like Snapchat offer incremental reach and different audience behavior, making them valuable additions when integrated thoughtfully into a broader strategy.

The key is not replacing existing channels, but expanding intelligently.

Creative Is the Real Growth Lever

As targeting capabilities become more standardized, creative has become one of the most important drivers of performance.

Strong creative does more than attract attention. It communicates value quickly, differentiates your brand, and improves conversion rates across the funnel.

Before scaling budgets, brands should:

• Test multiple creative variations
• Refine messaging based on performance data
• Align creative with specific audience segments
• Refresh assets to avoid fatigue

Scaling without refreshing creative is one of the fastest ways to lose efficiency.

Measurement Matters More at Scale

At smaller budgets, performance can feel predictable. At larger budgets, gaps in measurement become much more visible.

If attribution models are unclear or incomplete, it becomes difficult to understand what is truly driving results. This leads to misallocated spend and missed opportunities.

Brands should ensure they have clear visibility into:

• Cross-channel performance
• Contribution of each touchpoint
• True return on ad spend
• Customer lifetime value

Scaling without reliable measurement is one of the biggest risks heading into Q2.

What Brands Should Do Right Now

To prepare for efficient growth, brands should focus on a few key actions:

First, validate performance before increasing spend. Identify what is truly driving profitable results.

Second, test scalability. Increase budgets incrementally to understand how channels perform under pressure.

Third, refresh creative. Ensure messaging and assets are strong enough to support higher spend.

Fourth, review measurement systems. Make sure attribution is clear and actionable.

Finally, explore new opportunities carefully. Incentives like the Snapchat media match can be powerful, but only when integrated into a broader, data-driven strategy.

The Bottom Line

Growth doesn’t come from spending more. It comes from scaling what works.

The brands that take time to refine their strategy now will enter Q2 with stronger performance, clearer data, and more confidence in where to invest.

Those that skip this step often spend the next quarter correcting inefficiencies instead of building momentum.

For years, marketers operated under a fairly predictable assumption: most customer journeys began with a search engine or a social platform.

That assumption is changing quickly.

Today, discovery happens across a growing ecosystem of platforms and interfaces. Consumers are finding brands through AI assistants, social feeds, marketplaces, visual search tools, and traditional search engines simultaneously. Instead of one starting point, there are now many.

This shift is creating both opportunity and complexity for brands trying to remain visible.

The Rise of AI as a Research Layer

One of the most notable changes is the growing role of AI in early-stage research. Instead of immediately visiting websites, many consumers are asking conversational AI tools for recommendations, comparisons, and product explanations.

AI is becoming an intermediary between curiosity and action. Consumers use it to narrow choices, learn about categories, and gather context before making purchasing decisions.

For brands, this means discovery may happen before a user ever lands on a traditional search results page. If your content is not structured clearly and accessible to these tools, you may miss that initial moment of consideration.

Social Platforms Are Functioning Like Search Engines

Another major shift is how users interact with social platforms. Increasingly, people search directly within platforms like TikTok and Instagram when researching products, trends, and experiences.

Instead of typing a query into a search engine, users may watch videos, scroll through recommendations, or explore influencer content to learn about a brand.

This behavior turns social media into a discovery engine, not just a communication channel.

Brands that treat social platforms only as advertising environments miss the growing role they play in organic research and product exploration.

Marketplaces Are Expanding Their Discovery Role

Marketplaces such as Amazon are also evolving into research hubs. Many shoppers now begin product exploration within marketplaces to compare features, pricing, and reviews before making a purchase.

In some cases, these platforms are replacing traditional search engines as the first stop for product discovery.

For brands selling through marketplaces, product detail pages, reviews, and structured listings play a significant role in visibility.

Structured Content Is Becoming Essential

As discovery becomes more fragmented, the way information is structured online matters more than ever.

Clear product descriptions, organized metadata, FAQs, and well-structured content make it easier for search engines, AI tools, and platform algorithms to understand and surface your brand.

When information is inconsistent, incomplete, or poorly organized, discovery becomes less reliable.

Brands that prioritize clarity and structure improve their chances of appearing accurately across multiple discovery environments.

Attribution Is Growing More Complex

When discovery happens across several platforms, measuring what actually drives conversions becomes more challenging.

A consumer might see a product recommendation in a video, ask an AI assistant for more information, read reviews on a marketplace, and finally convert through a paid ad or direct visit.

Traditional last-click attribution rarely captures the influence of these earlier touchpoints.

Marketers increasingly need broader measurement approaches that recognize how different platforms contribute to the overall journey.

The Strategic Takeaway

Discovery is no longer centralized. Instead, it is distributed across a network of platforms where consumers research, compare, and decide.

Brands that rely on a single discovery channel risk missing large portions of their potential audience. The most successful marketers focus on building visibility wherever customers begin their research.

That means optimizing not just for one platform, but for an ecosystem.

How Brands Can Respond

To stay competitive in this evolving environment, brands should begin by auditing where and how they appear across discovery platforms.

Strengthening structured content, improving product information, and maintaining consistency across channels can significantly improve visibility.

Testing across multiple discovery environments — including social, marketplaces, and conversational interfaces — also helps brands better understand how modern customer journeys unfold.

The goal is not simply to rank in one place, but to be discoverable everywhere customers search.

Need Help Navigating the New Discovery Landscape?

If you’re unsure how your brand appears across today’s fragmented discovery ecosystem, we can help.

At National Positions, we help brands adapt their search, content, and performance strategies to ensure they remain visible across evolving platforms.

As the end of Q1 approaches, many brands start looking ahead to Q2 planning, budget shifts, and spring campaigns. But before accelerating into the next quarter, there’s a critical opportunity right now: recalibration.

The urgency of January resets and February seasonal spikes has cooled. What remains is clearer performance data, normalized acquisition costs, and emerging consumer intent trends. This is one of the cleanest strategic windows of the year.

Brands that refine now scale smarter in Q2. Brands that skip this step often spend the next quarter correcting avoidable inefficiencies.

Acquisition Costs Are Stabilizing

After early-year volatility, CPMs and CPCs are settling into more predictable baselines. Seasonal noise has faded, and platform auctions are less distorted than they were during peak holiday or promotional periods.

This is the time to evaluate your true blended CPA and MER. Are your acquisition channels performing sustainably? Are you relying too heavily on one platform? Are margins protected at scale?

Clarity now allows for more disciplined budget allocation when competition increases in Q2.

Spring Intent Is Already Emerging

Consumer behavior doesn’t pause between quarters, it pivots.

Search and engagement patterns are beginning to shift toward spring-driven categories such as travel, outdoor activities, home refresh, wellness, and seasonal upgrades. Brands that anticipate this demand outperform those who react after competition intensifies.

Creative messaging, landing page copy, and offer positioning should evolve now to align with emerging intent rather than clinging to winter or post-holiday themes.

Retention Is Quietly Outperforming Acquisition

While many brands focus heavily on scaling new-user acquisition, early March often reveals something important: retention is frequently more efficient.

High-LTV segments acquired in Q4 and early Q1 are still active. Post-purchase flows, loyalty offers, subscription nudges, and personalized cross-sells can generate strong ROI without incremental acquisition pressure.

Before increasing prospecting budgets in Q2, brands should ensure they are maximizing value from their existing customer base.

Creative Testing Windows Are Open

With fewer major seasonal spikes distorting results, this period provides a clean environment to test new creative angles, messaging frameworks, and offer structures.

Testing now allows you to enter Q2 with validated insights rather than assumptions. Whether it’s new hooks, new visuals, new formats, or new audience targeting strategies, this is one of the most stable data windows you’ll have all year.

Rebalance Before You Scale

The most common Q2 mistake is scaling too quickly without recalibration.

Before increasing budgets, brands should:

• Reassess blended CPA and contribution margin

• Identify the highest-performing audience segments

• Refresh creative aligned to spring intent

• Audit retention and lifecycle flows

• Validate landing page performance under non-seasonal conditions

Optimization before acceleration protects profitability.

The Strategic Takeaway

The end of Q1 is not a slowdown. It is a calibration moment.

Brands that use this window to clean up inefficiencies, strengthen retention, and align messaging with emerging consumer intent will scale more predictably in Q2. Those that rush forward without refinement often chase performance instead of compounding it.

Growth is not just about momentum. It is about direction.

Need Help Turning Q1 Data Into Q2 Strategy?

If you’re unsure whether your current performance sets you up for profitable Q2 growth, we can help.

At National Positions, we transform quarterly performance data into clear, actionable growth plans designed to scale efficiently and sustainably.

Seasonal moments create revenue surges. But what separates high-performing brands from the rest isn’t what happens during the spike, it’s what happens immediately after.

Now that Valentine’s Day has passed, this is the most important strategic window of Q1. Traffic patterns normalize, urgency declines, and performance data becomes clearer. For marketers, this week is less about pushing promotions and more about extracting insight.

The brands that use this moment to recalibrate build real momentum into Q2. The ones that don’t often find themselves chasing performance later.

Step One: Clean the Signal

Seasonal spikes distort metrics. CPA looks stronger or weaker than usual. Conversion rates fluctuate. Attribution paths tighten.

Once urgency-driven traffic cools, you can reassess your true baseline. This is the time to evaluate:

• True blended CPA

• MER trends

• Channel influence beyond last-click

• High-margin product performance

• Customer acquisition cost versus projected LTV

Clearer signals now mean smarter budget allocation moving forward.

Step Two: Identify High-Value Segments

Compressed buying windows often reveal your most decisive customers.

Who converted quickly?
Which audiences responded to urgency?
Which products drove both revenue and margin?

Instead of continuing broad prospecting, use this week to isolate high-value cohorts and double down on segments with repeat potential.

The most profitable growth usually comes from narrowing focus, not widening it.

Step Three: Strengthen Retention Early

Customers acquired during seasonal spikes are highly responsive within their first 30 days. This is a critical period.

Instead of immediately chasing new acquisition, prioritize:

• Post-purchase cross-sell flows

• Replenishment reminders

• Loyalty invitations

• Personalized recommendations

• Review and referral prompts

Retention strategies implemented now often outperform incremental paid acquisition during this period.

Step Four: Prepare for the Next Intent Window

Consumer behavior never pauses — it pivots.

As Valentine’s demand fades, we begin to see early signals tied to:

• Spring refresh and seasonal launches

• Travel planning

• Tax return spending

• Wellness and self-improvement

Brands that shift messaging early capture this transition instead of reacting to it late.

Creative updates, refreshed PDP messaging, and early spring testing now will pay off when competition increases later in Q1.

Step Five: Refresh Before Fatigue Sets In

Creative fatigue often appears faster than expected after seasonal bursts. Audiences have been exposed to variations over a compressed timeline.

Use this week to:

• Introduce new creative angles

• Test messaging tied to upcoming seasonal shifts

• Reset ad sequencing

• Adjust landing page messaging

Proactive refreshes protect performance and extend campaign life cycles.

The Bigger Takeaway

Seasonal spikes are valuable, but they are temporary. Sustainable growth is built in the weeks that follow.

This is the moment to move from reaction to strategy — from urgency to optimization. Brands that treat post-spike weeks as data-driven recalibration periods create consistency, stability, and scalable performance.

Need Help Turning Seasonal Data Into Long-Term Growth?

If you’re unsure how to translate recent campaign performance into a sustainable strategy for Q2 and beyond, we can help.

At National Positions, we turn short-term spikes into long-term growth systems, aligning performance data, retention strategy, and creative execution for scalable results.

Valentine’s Day may be a single holiday, but for marketers it’s a powerful behavioral case study.

Unlike Q4, which unfolds over weeks of browsing and comparison, Valentine’s Day operates on a compressed timeline. Shoppers wait longer, make faster decisions, and prioritize convenience over price.

What we’re seeing this week is not just seasonal behavior; it’s a preview of how consumers are increasingly buying in 2026.

Buying Windows Are Getting Shorter

Across performance data this week, conversion spikes are sharper and more condensed. Instead of gradual build-ups, intent surges in narrow windows.

Consumers are procrastinating longer, researching quickly, and converting decisively. This pattern is becoming more common beyond Valentine’s Day; we’re seeing it around flash sales, product drops, influencer moments, and viral trends.

For brands, this means two things:
First, you must be ready to scale quickly when intent spikes.
Second, you cannot rely on long nurture cycles for every seasonal moment.

Convenience Is Outperforming Discounts

Late-stage Valentine’s shoppers aren’t comparing deeply. They’re prioritizing speed and certainty.

Clear shipping cutoffs, same-day pickup, digital delivery options, and transparent return policies are converting better than aggressive markdowns.

This reflects a broader shift. In urgency-driven moments, consumers reward clarity and simplicity more than price.

Brands that make the decision easier win.

Mobile Owns Urgency

Time-sensitive purchases are overwhelmingly happening on mobile devices. During peak Valentine’s traffic, mobile conversion rates increase when checkout is streamlined, and friction is minimal.

Slow load speeds, excessive steps, unclear pricing, or hidden fees are far more damaging in compressed buying windows.

Mobile experience is no longer just an optimization layer. It is the primary conversion surface.

Creative Fatigue Is Happening Faster

Another noticeable shift this week is how quickly creative performance declines. Shorter buying cycles mean audiences see campaigns multiple times in a tight window.

Creative refreshes must happen more frequently, especially during high-intent bursts. Brands that rotate variations, test messaging angles, and respond quickly to performance signals sustain results longer.

This is where agile creative strategy becomes a competitive advantage.

What Brands Should Do Now

Valentine’s Day is nearly over, but the data from this week is invaluable.

Here’s how to use it strategically:

Analyze peak performance hours and days. Identify when intent spiked and how quickly conversions followed.

Review mobile session recordings and checkout behavior during urgency traffic. Look for friction points that may have cost sales.

Evaluate creative decay timelines. How quickly did performance drop after launch?

Apply those learnings to upcoming spring moments: product launches, seasonal sales, and promotional pushes.

Most importantly, strengthen retention efforts. Customers acquired during compressed buying cycles often respond well to follow-up messaging and loyalty incentives.

The Bigger Takeaway

Seasonal events are becoming micro-moments. Instead of long buying journeys, consumers are moving in bursts of urgency and decisiveness.

Brands that recognize this shift and build flexible, mobile-first, rapid-response marketing systems will outperform those relying on slow optimization cycles.

Valentine’s week isn’t just about roses and chocolates. It’s a signal.

The brands that study it closely will be better prepared for every high-intent moment in 2026.

Need Help Turning Seasonal Data Into Strategy?

If you’re unsure whether your campaigns are built to handle shorter buying windows, mobile urgency, or faster creative cycles, we can help.

At National Positions, we translate seasonal performance into repeatable, scalable growth strategies.

The first full week of January is often misunderstood. Many brands treat it as a cooldown period after the holidays, but in reality, it’s one of the most important strategic moments of the year.

Holiday noise has cleared, consumer behavior has shifted, and performance signals are cleaner than they’ve been in months. Brands that recognize this moment as a reset, not a pause, are the ones that build momentum for the rest of 2026.

Shoppers Have Shifted From Gifting to Self-Improvement

Post-holiday shoppers are no longer searching for gifts. They’re searching for solutions.
January intent is driven by self-improvement, organization, wellness, productivity, and long-term value.

We consistently see search behavior move toward categories like fitness, skincare, home refresh, subscriptions, and everyday essentials. Messaging that focuses on outcomes, upgrades, and simplicity performs better than urgency-driven holiday copy.

For brands, this means it’s time to retire gifting language and lean into how your product fits into a customer’s “new year, new routine” mindset.

Performance Efficiency Resets in Early Q1

One of the biggest advantages of early January is cleaner performance data. CPMs and CPCs stabilize after Q4 volatility, and competition temporarily pulls back as some brands reduce spend.

This creates a rare window to test and optimize without peak-season pressure. Creative testing, offer experiments, and channel exploration are more cost-effective right now than at almost any other point in the year.

Brands that use January to learn instead of waiting for scale later in Q1 are better positioned to grow efficiently.

Retention Becomes the Primary Growth Lever

Early Q1 is when retention outperforms acquisition for most ecommerce brands. Existing customers are more likely to convert, have higher trust, and respond better to personalized messaging.

This is the moment to focus on:

• win-back campaigns

• replenishment reminders

• loyalty and VIP offers

• post-holiday follow-ups

• personalized recommendations based on past behavior

Instead of chasing cold traffic, brands that double down on their highest-value customers often see stronger returns with less spend.

AI-Influenced Discovery Is Now the Baseline

AI-driven discovery is no longer experimental. Shoppers are routinely using AI assistants, visual search, and conversational tools to research products and compare options.

This means brands must ensure their product feeds, PDPs, and content are structured, clear, and easy to interpret across multiple discovery environments. Clean metadata, strong product descriptions, and clear value propositions are now table stakes.

Visibility today isn’t just about ranking in one channel. It’s about being understandable and discoverable everywhere customers research.

What Brands Should Focus on Right Now

To capitalize on this early-January reset, brands should prioritize a few key actions:

First, refresh messaging to reflect New Year intent. Focus on improvement, longevity, and value rather than urgency or discounts.

Second, re-evaluate performance benchmarks now that holiday distortions have passed. January data provides a more accurate baseline for 2026 planning.

Third, shift budget toward retention and high-LTV segments while testing acquisition strategies at lower cost.

Fourth, audit product pages and feeds for clarity and AI-friendly structure to support modern discovery behaviors.

Finally, use January to test. Offers, creatives, channels, and messaging that perform now will scale more predictably later in the year.

The Bottom Line

January is not a slowdown. It’s a reset.
Brands that treat this moment as an opportunity to clean up data, refine strategy, and align with new consumer intent build an advantage that compounds throughout 2026.

Need Help Turning January Insights Into Growth?

If you’re unsure where to focus in early Q1, whether it’s retention strategy, acquisition efficiency, or adapting to new discovery behaviors, we can help.

At National Positions, we turn post-holiday data into clear, actionable strategies that drive profitable growth all year long.

As we approach Christmas, the nature of holiday shopping changes fast. This final week before December 25 is no longer about browsing, inspiration, or experimentation. It’s about decisions, availability, and momentum that carry brands into the post-holiday window known as Q5.

For brands that understand how shopper behavior shifts right now, this week can set the tone not just for year-end performance, but for how Q1 begins.

The Last Week Before Christmas Is Mobile and Intent-Driven

Late-season shoppers are decisive. They’re on their phones, they know what they want, and they’re filtering brands quickly based on convenience and confidence.

This is why mobile performance matters more than ever during this window. Fast load times, clean PDPs, visible trust signals, and frictionless checkout flows often matter more than discounts. When time is limited, shoppers choose the brand that feels easiest and safest to buy from.

Messaging Shifts From Gifting to Availability

Earlier in the season, gifting language dominates. This week, it changes.

What’s working now is clarity and certainty. Messaging that emphasizes availability, delivery timelines, digital options, and flexibility is outperforming broad promotional language. Shoppers are looking for reassurance that their purchase will arrive on time or can be redeemed easily.

This includes highlighting gift cards, digital delivery, buy online pick up in store options, and extended returns. The more transparent the experience, the higher the conversion rates in the final days.

Ad Costs Stabilize as Intent Peaks

While CPMs and CPCs remain elevated compared to non-holiday periods, we consistently see conversion rates rise in the final week before Christmas. Shoppers are no longer exploring. They’re narrowing choices and completing purchases.

For brands, this is not the moment to pull back. It’s a moment to protect efficiency, focus spend where intent is strongest, and ensure campaigns remain live to capture demand that is already there.

Q5 Begins Immediately After Christmas

One of the biggest mistakes brands make is treating December 26 as a slowdown. In reality, Q5 begins almost immediately.

Gift card redemptions, self-gifting, exchanges, and upgrades drive a surge in high-intent activity between December 26 and mid-January. Many shoppers use this time to buy what they wanted all season but didn’t receive.

Brands that prepare Q5 messaging, creative, and offers before Christmas are able to pivot instantly and capture this demand ahead of competitors.

What Brands Should Focus on Right Now

To maximize the final holiday push and prepare for Q5, brands should prioritize a few key actions.

First, audit mobile experiences. Make sure PDPs load quickly, shipping information is clear, and checkout is simple and intuitive.

Second, shift messaging toward availability and confidence. Delivery cutoffs, digital gifting, gift cards, and return flexibility should be clearly communicated across channels.

Third, keep performance campaigns live. Late-season shoppers are high intent, and maintaining visibility is critical during this window.

Finally, line up Q5 creative and offers now. Messaging should pivot quickly from gifting to self-purchase, upgrades, and New Year positioning as soon as Christmas passes.

The Bottom Line

This final week before Christmas isn’t about doing more marketing. It’s about doing the right things at the right moment.

Brands that simplify the buying experience, stay visible, and prepare for Q5 will finish the year strong and enter Q1 with momentum. Those that slow down too early risk missing one of the most profitable stretches of the entire season.

Need Help Navigating the Final Holiday Stretch?

If you’re unsure whether your campaigns, product pages, or measurement are set up to capture the final holiday surge and the Q5 opportunity that follows, we can help.

At National Positions, we help brands optimize performance through the most critical weeks of the year and into what comes next.

Most brands think the holiday season ends on December 25.
But the smartest marketers know the real opportunity is after the gifts are opened.

Welcome to Q5, the post-holiday period from December 26 through mid-January where purchase intent spikes, competition drops and shoppers buy for themselves at record rates.

According to Google’s own consumer insights, the weeks after December 25 drive dramatically higher shopping action rates, with 87% of shopping occasions ending in a purchase (Google Holiday Playbook, Google Marketing, 2024).

This is not a cooldown period.
This is a conversion accelerator.

Why Q5 Matters More Than Ever in 2025

1. Self-Gifting Is Surging

After a season focused on gifting others, shoppers shift their mindset and start buying what they truly wanted.
Google’s retail research notes that “self-gifting and upgrading drives a measurable lift in demand immediately after December 25” (Google Retail Holiday Trends, 2024).

Self-purchase behavior is less price-sensitive, faster, and more impulsive, which means your brand needs to stay visible.

2. Gift Card Redemptions Flood the Market

Gift cards convert into high-intent traffic within 48–72 hours after the holiday.
Google has repeatedly highlighted that gift card redemption windows correlate with higher AOV and higher repeat actions (Google Shopping Insights, 2024).

If you’re not promoting gift card usage in Q5, you’re leaving revenue on the table.

3. CPMs Drop While Intent Rises

As many brands pull back budgets between Christmas and New Year’s, competition falls.
Google Ads’ seasonal guidance confirms that CPCs and CPMs typically decrease in the final week of December, while conversion likelihood remains elevated (Google Ads Seasonal Guide, 2025).

It’s the perfect storm: cheapest traffic, highest intent.

4. Multi-Channel Influence Peaks

TikTok discovery surges.
Google Search queries shift from gifting to self-improvement.
Performance Max and Shopping placements see faster purchase cycles.

This is the most multi-touch moment of the year, and your brand must be findable across all surfaces.

Aritzia’s Strategy: How One Brand Unlocked a 55% Lift in Holiday Demand

Aritzia’s recent U.S. expansion offers a masterclass in Q5-ready performance strategy.

By taking an “omni-first” approach, Aritzia connected digital messaging with in-store availability using local inventory ads, Performance Max, and full-funnel search support.
Google’s case study reports a 55% lift in demand and a 42% increase in net e-commerce revenue in its strongest holiday quarter ever (Google Think With Google Retail Case Study: Aritzia, 2024).

The takeaway:
Brands that bridge search, local, social, and inventory-driven signals outperform those relying on isolated channel activations.

How to Win Q5: Your Action Plan for 2025

1. Keep Campaigns Live, Do Not Pause

Always-on visibility captures the surge of traffic from self-gifting, returns, and gift card redemptions.
Pause = losing the cheapest clicks of the season.

2. Refresh Your PDPs for Self-Purchase Psychology

Shift from “gift for them” to:

• “Treat yourself”

• “Upgrade your setup”

• “Start the year strong”

• “New Year essentials”

Shoppers are motivated by personal benefit and season reset energy.

3. Run Gift Card Redemption Messaging Everywhere

Email, SMS, homepage banners, PDP upsells.
Make it easy for customers to convert their balance into a purchase.

4. Use Local Inventory + PMax for Full-Funnel Capture

Like Aritzia, merging online performance campaigns with real-time local availability creates a measurable lift in both online and offline sales.

5. Scale Creative Faster with AI Tools

Google’s Nano Banana Pro and Gemini 3 creative expansion tools now allow marketers to generate on-brand creative variations in seconds.
Google states these tools “enable rapid iteration of seasonal creative, translations, and asset scaling within campaign workflows” (Google Gemini Creative Tools Launch Notes, 2025).

This is perfect for Q5 message refreshes.

The Bottom Line

Q5 is the hidden growth window that too many brands overlook.
The data is clear: shoppers buy more items, across more categories, with higher intent, and significantly less friction.

Brands that stay active, shift their messaging, and leverage AI-driven creative and performance tools will enter Q1 with momentum instead of a slump.

Need Help Capturing Q5 Revenue?

If you want a Q5 strategy tailored to your brand, from product feed optimizations to AI-driven creative to full-funnel performance, we can help.

At National Positions, we ensure your campaigns are live, your creative is refreshed, and your customer journey is optimized for the highest-intent weeks of the year.

The first week of December is already revealing a dramatic shift in how shoppers discover products. This isn’t a small behavioral trend; it’s a structural change in the holiday funnel.

If your brand is still relying only on traditional SEO and paid ads to drive discovery, you’re missing where consumers actually begin their buying journey in 2025.

AI Has Entered the Gifting Funnel

One of the most important signals this season is how often shoppers turn to conversational AI for gift ideas. Tools like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity are now acting as the modern “shopping assistant,” helping users:

• generate gift ideas

• compare prices

• find alternatives under a certain budget

• ask follow-up questions

• move directly to mobile checkout

Nearly half of early-season shoppers report that AI influenced at least one holiday purchase decision.
For brands, this means the “top of funnel” is no longer a search engine or a social feed, it’s a conversation.

Search Is Now Everywhere

Holiday discovery is no longer happening in a single environment. Shoppers are using multiple modalities, sometimes within the same journey.
We are seeing:

• visual search spikes on TikTok and Instagram

• voice search growth on mobile

• AI chat results acting as a new entry point to product exploration

• traditional Google queries still relevant but no longer dominant

The brands winning right now are the ones optimized for all three: visual, conversational and search-based discovery.

Value Is Outperforming Discounts

While consumers are shopping, they remain selective. This year’s biggest surprise so far?
Shoppers are choosing value over aggressive markdowns.
The strongest performers this week are leaning into:

• bundles and value packs

• loyalty rewards and VIP early access

• free shipping thresholds

• gift-ready sets

Price still matters, but clarity, value and convenience are outperforming deep discounts.

Mobile Is Dominating Checkouts

Mobile is now the primary decision point for holiday purchases. It is where shoppers compare products, add items to cart, and ultimately convert.
The brands converting best right now are focusing on:

• fast-loading PDPs

• clear, confidence-building shipping information

• simplified checkout flows

• flexible payment options

• clean, scannable product content

The difference between a sale and an abandoned cart this week often comes down to seconds.

What Brands Should Do This Week

To stay competitive during the most critical stretch of the holiday season, these actions can drive immediate impact:

1. Optimize for AI, visual and voice discovery
Ensure your product content, metadata, images and FAQ sections can be parsed by AI tools and surfaced in chat-based results.

2. Refresh PDPs to highlight value
Gift sets, bundles, perks and shipping clarity should be visible at a glance.

3. Audit your mobile checkout
Speed and simplicity are essential during December. Reduce clicks, clarify shipping, and ensure trust signals are prominent.

4. Launch early-access or loyalty offers
These are outperforming major discount drops and help lock in conversions before mid-December CPM spikes.

The Bottom Line

Holiday discovery has changed faster than many brands expected. AI is influencing decisions earlier in the journey, visual search is reshaping how products are found, and mobile checkout remains the final make-or-break moment.
Brands that adapt to where shoppers actually search, not where they used to, will win the final stretch of Q4.

Need Help Capturing Holiday Visibility?

If you’re unsure whether your brand is visible across AI, mobile and modern search channels, we can help. At National Positions, we identify your visibility gaps, optimize your discovery strategy, and build pathways that convert shoppers at every touchpoint.