Seven in ten Singapore consumers plan to do most or all of their holiday shopping online in 2026 — a strong majority, though slightly lower than the 76% recorded in 2025. The data comes from the Holiday Shopping Singapore 2026 Report published by Integral Ad Science (IAS), which surveyed Singapore consumers ahead of the year-end shopping season. For marketers and retail leaders operating in Singapore’s digital economy, the report maps where consumer attention is moving and, notably, where it is beginning to pull back.
Integral Ad Science and the Report Behind the Numbers
Integral Ad Science is a global digital media measurement and optimisation company. Its annual Holiday Shopping Singapore report is designed to track how consumers in Singapore approach the year-end shopping period across digital channels, covering device preferences, platform behaviour, advertising receptiveness and the growing role of AI-assisted discovery.
The 2026 edition was published on 30 September 2026. Megan Reichelt, IAS Country Manager for Southeast Asia, provided commentary on the findings and their implications for brands and advertisers in the Singapore market.
What the 2026 Data Shows: Mobile Leads, Budgets Hold, Enthusiasm Moderates
The headline figures point to a market that remains committed to online shopping but is showing signs of measured caution across several digital channels.
Mobile remains the dominant device. Some 71% of consumers identified mobile as their most-used shopping device in 2026, a figure unchanged from 2025. This consistency suggests mobile is now a settled default rather than a trend still in motion.
Spending intentions stay steady. Despite broader cost-of-living concerns in Singapore, 81% of consumers said they plan to maintain or increase their holiday shopping budgets in 2026. This is a meaningful data point for retailers: consumer willingness to spend has not contracted in line with the dip in digital channel enthusiasm.
Platform engagement has softened. Planned increases in digital channel use have declined across every major category year-on-year:
| Digital Channel | Planned Increase — 2025 | Planned Increase — 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Social media | 61% | 55% |
| E-commerce and retail sites | 64% | 55% |
| Video | 47% | 40% |
Source: IAS Holiday Shopping Singapore 2026 Report, published 30 September 2026.
The declines are consistent across channels rather than concentrated in one area, suggesting a broad moderation in the pace of digital adoption rather than a shift away from any single platform.
AI in the Shopping Journey: Still Present, Growing More Selectively
Artificial intelligence features prominently in the 2026 report, though the picture is more nuanced than a straightforward growth story.
Some 67% of Singapore consumers say they are open to AI-assisted shopping in 2026, down from 74% in 2025. Planned use of AI specifically for product and gift research fell from 27% to 22% over the same period.
However, a separate measure points in a different direction: 30% of consumers expect to increase their use of AI tools during the 2026 holiday shopping season. This suggests a core group of engaged AI shoppers is deepening its use even as the broader population approaches AI-assisted commerce more cautiously.
Reichelt framed this as part of a wider evolution in how consumers discover and research products. “Singapore’s holiday shopping journey remains firmly mobile-led, but the way consumers discover and research products continues to evolve across commerce, social, video and emerging AI-powered experiences,” she said, as quoted in the IAS report.
Online Advertising: Still Influential, but Slightly Less So
Online advertising retains a significant role in shaping purchase decisions, though its reach as a discovery tool has narrowed compared with 2025.
According to the report, 71% of consumers say online advertising makes it easier to find products and promotions matching their needs and budgets — down from 77% in 2025. Similarly, 69% say online advertising is important for discovering new products and promotions, also down from 77% a year earlier.
The quality and context of advertising environments matters to consumers. Some 44% find ads relevant to the content they consume to be helpful, while another 44% value advertising on sites they regard as safe and reputable. Reichelt noted that contextual relevance, brand safety and suitability are becoming increasingly important as consumers move across multiple digital touchpoints.
Discounts and promotions remain a primary driver of purchase decisions, cited by 73% of respondents as a major influence — a figure that underscores the continued importance of value-based messaging in Singapore’s holiday retail environment.
IAS noted that marketers can use contextual intelligence, brand safety and suitability controls, fraud prevention and independent measurement to reduce wasted media spend and improve campaign performance during peak shopping periods.
What This Means for Singapore’s Digital Commerce Leaders
Singapore sits at the centre of Southeast Asia’s digital economy, and the IAS findings carry implications that extend beyond a single holiday season. The combination of stable spending intent, softening platform enthusiasm and selective AI adoption describes a consumer who has not disengaged from digital commerce but is becoming more discriminating about where and how they engage.
For industry leaders in retail, marketing technology and e-commerce, the data points to a market entering a more mature phase. Reaching Singapore consumers in the 2026 holiday season is less about being present across every digital channel and more about the quality of that presence — relevance, safety and clear value. The 30% who plan to deepen their AI tool use are a group worth watching: they may represent an early signal of how AI-assisted shopping will develop in the Singapore market beyond this season.
The broader moderation in digital channel enthusiasm, while consistent across social, e-commerce and video, has not translated into reduced spending intent. That gap — between cautious digital engagement and maintained budgets — is the space where Singapore’s most agile commerce leaders will be competing in the months ahead.
Illustrative photo: Shopping online with bank card.jpg by Bogdan Hoyaux / European Commission / Wikimedia Commons. CC BY 4.0. Resized for display.
