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The AI tools small businesses should be watching this holiday season

·Ario Abbasi for elk Marketing

A man wearing a Santa Claus hat while working on a laptop at a desk with holiday packages and shipping labels. — Lysenko Andrii // Shutterstock
A man wearing a Santa Claus hat while working on a laptop at a desk with holiday packages and shipping labels. — Lysenko Andrii // Shutterstock
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For a small business, launching a holiday promotion also means preparing for the work it could generate, such as answering delivery questions, processing orders and checking stock. With 66% of small businesses reporting AI use in the U.S. Chamber’s 2026 report, owners have another resource for that workload. In this article, elk Marketing looks at how AI tools can help business owners manage repetitive work while they focus on strategy and creative direction.

AI Tools for Holiday Marketing

Once small business owners establish a holiday strategy, they can use AI to do the work that a marketer would do to launch that strategy like brainstorm promotions and organize ideas, or create a content calendar to keep them organized.

For a gift promotion, for example, small business owners can use the tools within an email software like Mailchimp. This platform offers email drafting, segmentation, personalization, and campaign analysis tools to tailor messages to different customer groups. Then, small business owners can repurpose the email content they’ve created into social posts and ads if they plan to run a few for the season. 

AI Tools for Content Creation

A shop’s best gift advice might already live in a staff-written guide. For example, a local bookstore might have a “staff favorites” guide, or a candle and lotion shop might have a list of in-demand scents. Rather than starting over, business owners could repurpose that expertise into blog posts and email campaigns or social media posts.

Canva is an accessible tool that business owners have access to that’s full of writing, image, and video tools to develop drafts or adapt existing materials into graphics, short videos, and social media assets. Owners can customize a brand kit, where they can upload their logos and choose colors and fonts, which keeps the content they create consistent. They can also upload their own photos to use in content.

AI Tools for Customer Service

Automation is a tool that helps business owners manage the slew of necessary communications that need to go out to customers. An automated delivery update could answer an after-hours shopper’s question before morning. Gorgias is a tool that supports automated order tracking and returns assistance after hours, alongside product questions and basic troubleshooting.

Owners can configure answers around logistics like current FAQs, shipping deadlines, exchange policies and product information. This means owners and their employees are spending less time on routine inquiries and complicated or sensitive situations have a clear path to a person.  

AI Tools for Ecommerce and Sales

A shopper looking for a gift may need help finding suitable options or accessories that work together. Shopify provides AI-powered storefront search and customizable product recommendations that can support discovery, personalization, upselling and cross-selling.

A pilot could pair those features with accurate descriptions, inventory checks, and follow-up for abandoned carts. Check which steps use AI versus conventional automation, and whether they make shopping easier.

AI Tools for Analytics and Business Intelligence

Owners can ask Shopify Sidekick to analyze sales and customer behavior without needing to manually build a report.

For example, an owner could investigate whether a sales decline coincided with dwindling stock or weaker campaign results. Summaries can make unusual changes easier to spot without a dedicated analyst. Before acting on a revenue forecast or purchasing recommendation however, check the underlying data and assumptions to make sure the recommendation makes sense.

AI Tools for Operations

Small businesses can use Microsoft Copilot to summarize meetings and suggest action items, while QuickBooks provides bookkeeping and transaction categorization support.

A manager or owner who is onboarding holiday staff can review a meeting summary and use it to prepare a project checklist or team update. Depending on the available integrations, the business can also test scheduling assistance or inventory notifications so owners aren’t spending time making manual employee schedules or checking tracking information daily. In each case, it’s important to make sure someone checks the work before colleagues rely on it.

The Rise of Agentic AI

Agentic AI can take a goal a business owner gives it and work through the steps needed to accomplish it on the owner’s behalf, without requiring instructions at every stage. Intuit describes agentic systems combining actions and recommendations with access to human experts.

For example, instead of helping a small business owner write a marketing email — as generative AI does — agentic AI could develop an email campaign based on the business’s goals and prepare the messages for the owner to review before sending.

Likewise, it might review several systems to flag a sales problem, research possible responses, and take an authorized action. This support depends on integrations, permissions and oversight, all of which the business owner would set up in advance of using the tool.

Meta Muse: One Example of the Agentic AI Shift

Meta’s September announcement describes Muse as a tool that connects business accounts and applications, including Instagram analytics, Facebook Pages and advertising accounts.

For the holidays, it could review campaigns and prepare customer-acquisition priorities for a marketer’s approval. Meta’s examples include growth planning, performance analysis and organizing administrative work. Once a business owner starts using Muse, it’s important to evaluate whether those connections reduce time spent gathering information across systems.

How to Choose the Right AI Tools for Your Business

Start with one or two problems and ask:

  • What does the tool solve, and how much time could it realistically save?
  • Does it integrate with existing systems, and can employees learn it easily?
  • How does it handle business and customer data?
  • What oversight is necessary, and does the cost justify the expected benefit?
  • Can you measure results and an improved customer experience?

What Businesses Shouldn’t Hand Over to AI

AI can help with preparation and repetitive work, while people need to remain responsible for decisions that shape the business and its relationships. The following are responsibilities that should stay in the hands of humans:

  • Brand and creative direction: Keep strategy, major creative choices and final approval of public-facing content with the team.
  • Customer relationships: Have people lead sensitive conversations and manage high-value sales discussions. Crisis communications should always be handled by a person.
  • Sensitive business decisions: Require human review and approval for matters involving finances, legal questions or private customer information.

Preparing Your Business for AI This Holiday Season 

To keep a pilot manageable, agree on its scope and review date:

  • Rank repetitive holiday tasks by employee time and choose one or two workflows.
  • Check existing software for built-in AI before purchasing anything new.
  • Make sure business data like product descriptions, service, pricing and customer records like email lists are up-to-date.
  • Establish approvals, train employees and set customer-facing guidelines.
  • Measure time saved, errors and business results; reassess after the holidays.

The Bigger Opportunity for Small Businesses

For a lean team, the benefit could be time to act on information it previously struggled to review. An owner might use a sales summary to plan stock purchases while employees handle personalized customer requests. Faster content production and routine operations could narrow resource gaps with larger businesses, with specialists and agencies continuing to guide strategy and quality.

The Future of the AI-Powered Small Business

Adobe measured a 693.4% year-over-year increase in AI-referred retail traffic during the 2025 holidays. Those visits reflect growing discovery through assistants, not proof of additional sales.

A controlled holiday pilot can show whether a tool saves time or improves service. Muse illustrates the wider agentic shift, but keeps tools for measurable benefits and retains human approval for important decisions. 

This story was produced by elk Marketing and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.