What Will Customers Get Delivered This Thanksgiving?

Consumers are planning to buy most products in stores, but digital orders could skyrocket as customers order last-minute essentials.

November 25, 2025

Over 85% of consumers are planning to celebrate Thanksgiving, Numerator reported, with the top plans among celebrators including gathering with family and friends (67%), cooking or baking at home (56%), hosting others at their home (28%), decorating the house (27%) and traveling (14%).

Additionally, 80% of Thanksgiving shoppers expect to do all or most of their shopping in-store. Almost all celebrators (89%) say they plan to purchase food for Thanksgiving, followed by non-alcoholic beverages (33%), alcoholic beverages (30%) and decorations (20%).

However, the likelihood is high that in the shopping rush, consumers will forget an item or two and order it via delivery. Lula Commerce, a digital commerce platform for c-stores, analyzed four years of Thanksgiving-week data across thousands of digital transactions, finding that stores typically experience a 15%-25% increase in digital sales during this week.

The Lula Commerce data shows that digital demand peaks on the Tuesday and Wednesday leading up to Thanksgiving, which it said is driven “by last-minute stocking up for gatherings, travel and social events.” On the holiday itself, digital activity is moderate and mainly consists of snacks, mixers and forgotten essentials.

Across the entire week, the busiest digital ordering windows occur between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and again between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

On the Lula Commerce platform, the top five categories purchased during Thanksgiving week are:

  1. Beer and hard seltzers are the largest category, “driven by strong demand for multi-packs as customers prepare for gatherings.”
  2. Ready-to-drink cocktails also see significant growth during Thanksgiving week, with high-ABV single cans and cocktail mixes performing exceptionally well.
  3. Party-size snacks appear frequently in digital baskets as shoppers stock up for group settings.
  4. Non-alcohol beverages, especially sodas and energy drinks, trend upward due to their role as mixers or convenience add-ons.
  5. Affordable wine rounds out the top categories, consistently performing better than premium options during this period.