The Value Shift: Mastercard’s Gina Petersen-Skyrme On What Its Consumer Shopper Snapshot 2025 Report Reveals

Global payments leader Mastercard has released the Consumer Shopper Snapshot 2025 report, which has been built based off a survey conducted in collaboration with global consulting and market research firm The Harris Poll among 4,000+ adult respondents across four key markets, including 1000+ in the UAE. 

With the report providing a unique insight into purchasing behaviors this holiday season, Inc. Arabia spoke with Gina Petersen-Skyrme, Senior Vice President and Country Manager for the UAE and Oman, Mastercard, to discuss key findings from the Consumer Shopper Snapshot 2025 report. Check out excerpts from the conversation below. 

Mastercard has recently issued its first-ever Consumer Shopper Snapshot. What are the key insights or trends from the report that are most relevant for businesses in the region?

The report identifies three main trends shaping consumers’ purchasing behavior in the run-up to the holidays—focus on value, popularity of omnichannel shopping, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI)-driven personalized experiences. These trends underpin an ongoing shift towards intentional shopping—planning earlier, spending wiser and using technology to make every dirham count, which has been evident worldwide.

How does the report reflect Mastercard’s broader vision for fostering payments innovation?

The report shows that omnichannel shopping rules this holiday season, with 90 percent of UAE respondents turning to physical stores, and 87 percent buying gifts from e-commerce marketplaces—that’s an almost equal share. These outcomes send a clear signal that when we innovate, we need to meet consumers wherever they are—whether that’s in store, on a computer or on a mobile—and provide a streamlined checkout experience.

At Mastercard, we believe the greatest scope for innovation lies in the emergence of AI as a personal holiday shopper, with 61 percent of UAE consumers regularly using AI assistants or generative AI tools to help them with holiday purchases. Especially younger consumers see AI as a stress- and time-saving tool that helps them shop smarter—from suggesting the right product to finding the best deals and powering search functionality on retailer websites. More than half of the surveyed in the UAE rely on AI to recommend unique and thoughtful gifts. In an interesting finding, 51 percent trust AI advice more than their own judgment about what people like.

What opportunities or challenges have been identified in the report that entrepreneurs and businesses in the region should prioritize in the next 2-3 years?

One strong trend that presents a challenge as well as an opportunity is the rise of the cautious shopper. In the UAE, 80 percent of the respondents prioritize value in the gifts they buy. And value doesn’t necessarily mean cheap—it’s more about the cost-to-impact ratio.

In response, consumers have adopted a distinctly strategic mindset. They now begin their holiday shopping journeys months in advance with budgeting and saving. They also conduct extensive research, with 89 percent reading reviews before they buy, and 88 percent comparing prices across retailers.

Today’s value-conscious shoppers are highly motivated by the right incentives, and this is where the opportunity lies. According to our report, 82 percent of the consumers surveyed in the UAE respond to personalized discount codes, and 81 percent delay their purchases until their desired item goes on sale. In addition, 79 percent tend to buy towards the end of limited-time sales, when further reductions kick in, and 74 percent time most of their holiday shopping for major sale days. Businesses that adopt smart sale strategies tailored to the needs of their target audiences can make the most of this trend.

Resale is growing in popularity as 71 percent of the surveyed, including 80 percent of millennials, regularly thrift-shop, whether online or in store. Social commerce is another go-to gifting channel, with 63 percent of shoppers saying they trust it more than they used to. Almost half watch YouTube or social media reviews and demos as part of their holiday shopping research, and 51 percent trust influencer recommendations more than their friends’. These findings present more opportunities for businesses in the region to capitalize on.

How is Mastercard helping businesses, especially e-commerce players, grow in the region, and what new initiatives should we expect in the coming year?

We are supporting retailers—brick-and-mortar as well as online—by harnessing the power of our advanced technology to make payments simple, seamless, and secure. A prime example is Click to Pay (C2P) that streamlines the checkout process for consumers by reducing the multiple steps they face at different sites today. On the other hand, it allows merchants to improve their approval rates by using sophisticated tokenization technology, in addition to increasing checkout conversion rates due to enhanced user experience that leads to fewer abandoned carts.

In the coming year, we’ll be heavily focusing on tokenization, which helps reduce fraud across the digital ecosystem by turning primary account numbers into digital tokens. This protects a consumer account, because the merchant never sees or stores the original number, and even if a physical card is lost or stolen, the tokenized version can still be used. We aim to tokenize every transaction on our network by 2030, phasing out manual card entry.

In addition, we launched Mastercard Payment Passkey in the UAE in collaboration with noon Payments, and are planning to expand it across the region. This innovative solution revolutionizes the shopping journey by eliminating the need for one-time passwords and enabling device-based biometric authentication methods, such as fingerprinting, facial recognition or iris scans. Mastercard Payment Passkey makes transactions not only faster, but also more secure against fraud and scams, ensuring that no payment details or biometric data are shared with third parties.

What role does Mastercard see for itself in driving the changes or opportunities outlined in the report? Are there any specific programs or initiatives being implemented in the region?

Our most exciting initiative is the introduction of Mastercard Agent Pay that uses agentic AI to deliver smarter, more secure and more personal payment experiences. We are debuting Agent Pay in the UAE in collaboration with Majid Al Futtaim, and it will initially be used for purchases through the VOX Cinemas app. Consumers will soon be able to search and book movie tickets seamlessly using their AI agent. This is the first launch of the solution outside the US, so it’s a big deal for us.

In its pilot phase, Agent Pay will be available to a select group of friends and family. This will mark the first step toward transforming how customers engage with Majid Al Futtaim’s world-class experiences.

We have chosen Majid Al Futtaim as our original partner because they share our vision for driving responsible innovation and being at the forefront of bringing AI-powered convenience to everyday experiences. We are currently in discussions with more leading merchants in the region to expand use cases to grocery, F&B, fashion and more.

And we are going global over the next three to six months. We are working with AI leaders, like Microsoft, OpenAI and IBM, and with key payment enablers, like Braintree and Checkout.com, to bring Agent Pay to consumers and merchants.

On a lighter note, what (and where) are you personally buying this holiday season?

With a busy family home, the festive season usually comes with a long shopping list. We rely heavily on e-commerce platforms that offer speed and convenience to keep everything running smoothly during celebrations and family time at home. Trusted aggregators like Amazon, Instashop, Talabat, and Ounass are our go-to options for last-minute gifts or party essentials.

At the same time, festive mall activations from favorite global brands are a big part of the season for us and really make the UAE feel special at this time of year. There’s something joyful about walking through beautifully dressed malls and visiting flagship stores from the world’s biggest brands. It’s a lovely reminder that while digital shopping makes life easier, in-person experiences still matter—they bring families together, create special memories, and help brands connect with people in a more meaningful, human way.

Pictured in the lead image is Gina Petersen-Skyrme, Senior Vice President and Country Manager for the UAE and Oman, Mastercard. All images courtesy Mastercard.