Infobip Predicts 7.3 Billion Holiday Interactions for 2026
AI assistants and messaging platforms will handle record customer engagement during the upcoming holiday shopping period.
Updated on Oct. 26, 2026 in Spending
Live Poll
Do you trust using AI assistants to help you find and compare holiday shopping deals?
Infobip projects 7.3 billion customer interactions will occur globally across Black Friday and Cyber Monday 2026. This surge is driven by a rising reliance on AI-powered shopping tools and high consumer expectations for rapid communication.
Why it matters
The holiday shopping season now begins weeks earlier than in previous years, forcing retailers to implement AI and automation to meet demands for speed and personalization. Consumers increasingly rely on chatbots to navigate this compressed shopping timeline.
A report indicates that 63% of global consumers utilized AI assistants or chatbots for shopping over the last 12 months. In India, adoption reached 83%, with 95% of consumers expressing openness to virtual try-on technology via messaging.
The players
Infobip
Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that provides businesses with omnichannel engagement solutions, including SMS, WhatsApp, and AI-driven chatbots.
The details
Retailers are increasingly leveraging email for discovery, SMS for updates, and WhatsApp for conversational engagement to manage the heavy holiday traffic. Consumers in markets like the Philippines now expect order confirmations and support responses within five minutes of engagement.
Timeline
October 2026 marked the start of the holiday shopping season for many global consumers.
Black Friday 2026 is a projected peak period for customer interactions.
Cyber Monday 2026 is a projected peak period for customer interactions.
Market Dynamics
The forecast reflects a structural shift toward conversational commerce as retailers move beyond traditional email marketing to integrate interactive messaging platforms. This mirrors the broader industry trend of using AI to bridge the gap between consumer expectations for immediacy and retail operations.
Shoppers should anticipate more frequent personalized deal alerts via messaging apps and faster automated response times from customer support. Consumers who prioritize rapid order status updates will likely benefit from the increased adoption of AI-enabled conversational platforms.
The takeaway
Retailers are increasingly moving toward messaging-first customer service models to accommodate the compressed holiday shopping calendar. Shoppers can prepare for a more automated experience by setting up notification preferences on their preferred messaging platforms.
Further reading
Learn more about evolving consumer habits in our Spending section.
More information
View the full Infobip shopping season survey predictions to understand industry trends.
Source note: This article includes information reported by The Tribune.
Live Poll
Do you trust using AI assistants to help you find and compare holiday shopping deals?
