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Several of the religious festivals during the winter holiday season are celebrated with the exchanges of gifts, and the winter holiday season thus also incorporates the holiday shopping season. This comprises a peak season for the retail sector at the start of the holiday season (the Christmas shopping season) and a period of sales at the end of the season, the January sales.
Although once dedicated mostly to clearance sales the January sales now comprise both winter close-out sales and sales comprising the redemption of gift certificates given as presents. Young-Bean Song, director of analytics at the Atlas Institute in Seattle, states that it is a "myth that the holiday shopping season starts with Thanksgiving and ends with Christmas. January is a key part of the holiday season." stating that for the U.S. e-commerce sector January sales volumes matched December sales volumes in the 2004/2005 winter holiday season. Many people find this time particularly stressful. As an remedy, and as a return to what they perceive as the root of Christmas, some practice alternative giving.

USA and Canada

In the United States, the holiday shopping season, during which a quarter of all personal spending takes place, is traditionally considered to commence on the day after Thanksgiving, a Friday colloquially known as either Black Friday or Green Friday. This is widely reputed to be the busiest shopping day of the entire calendar year. However, in 2004 the VISA credit card organization reported that over the previous several years VISA credit card spending had in fact been 8 to 19 percent higher on the last Saturday before Christmas Day than on Black Friday.[11] A survey conducted in 2005 by GfK NOP discovered that "Americans aren't as drawn to Black Friday as many retailers may think.", with only 17% of those polled saying that they will begin holiday shopping immediately after Thanksgiving, 13% saying that they plan to finish their shopping before November 24, and 10% waiting until the very last day before performing their holiday gift shopping. According to a survey by the Canadian Toy Association, peak sales in the toy industry occur in the winter holiday season, but this peak has been occurring later and later in the season every year.