It is—as the song goes—beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Perhaps not everywhere you go, since Salvation Army Santas aren’t ringing bells on every corner. But with the calendar marching past Halloween and the election season, it’s hard to go into a big store or mall without seeing holiday decor.

Before too long, it will be everywhere. Seventy-five percent of Americans plan indoor holiday decorations this year, and nearly two-thirds (64%) plan to set up displays outdoors, according to a recent Harris Poll survey. A similar number (65%) plan to send holiday cards. And of course, with the holidays comes shopping. Eighty-five percent of Americans plan to purchase gifts this holiday season.

Not nearly that many of us enjoy holiday shopping. Americans are narrowly divided, with 52% saying that end-of-year gift buying is burdensome. That may be why a plurality (45%) said they put it off—waiting until closer to the holiday season to start shopping. It may also be why 14% started shopping in the middle of the year, and an additional 24% recently started or are about to, mitigating the pain by spreading it out.

So, what will smooth the shopping way for Americans this holiday season? First and foremost, discounts. Three-quarters of Americans (75%) said that cost will impact their shopping this year. A like number (74%) said that major shopping events such as Black Friday sales and Amazon Prime Days are the best time to shop for holiday gifts.

What else can retailers do? Here are three other trends we discerned from our survey: 

Appeal to the happy shoppers

Large numbers of every demographic find holiday shopping demanding, but that doesn’t mean everybody sees it that way. Older shoppers, especially baby boomers, are less likely to agree: 53% of baby boomers said that they don’t find it a burden, while Gen Xers were evenly split, 50-50. Millennials are the most put-upon at this time of year, with only 39% saying that gift shopping is not a burden.

Boomers are also the group most likely to do most shopping in stores rather than online or split between the two, with 27% saying they do most of their shopping in brick-and-mortar facilities (as compared to 22% of Americans generally).

Boomers—half of whom won’t start gift-shopping until closer to the holidays—prize convenience more than anything else: 72% of boomers who shop brick-and-mortar cite convenience, such as the ability to incorporate a shopping stop into other errands, as a factor vs the 62% of all holiday shoppers. This bodes well for mall outlets.

Identify the “in” crowd

Thirty-five percent of Americans told us that they split their shopping evenly between going into a physical store and e-commerce. “Mostly online” was the second-most popular response (28%), with shoppers predominately doing their shopping in stores coming in third (22%).

Like boomers, most Americans identify convenience as the biggest factor influencing their decision to walk through a store’s doors, with the older cohorts (64% of Gen Xers and 72% of boomers) especially emphasizing it.

Product availability is Americans’ second most important in-store factor (59%), with older generations again feeling it more keenly (65% of boomers and 62% of Xers identified it as opposed to 54% of millennials and only 46% of Gen Zers). Older generations also prize in-store offerings such as sales and exclusive products: Majorities (56%) of boomers and Gen Xers listed it but only 49% of millennials and 43% of Gen Zers. It illustrates the difference between people who grew up browsing in stores and those for whom shopping online is natural.

Calibrate your social appeal

Social media is another area with a sharp generational split. A slight majority of Americans told us that what they see on social media informs where they shop (51%) and what they look for (53%). But in each case, social media marketing is a young person’s game: More than two-thirds of adult Generation Zers (68%) and millennials (70%) said that social media helps them decide where to buy holiday gifts and similar numbers (67% for both generations) said that it informs what they look for.

Gen X, which had achieved adulthood by the time social media and e-commerce blossomed, is less bought in, with 57% saying that they take gift cues from social media and about half (48%) saying that it helps them decide where to shop. Boomers are the least interested, with 31% saying social media helps them decide where to shop and 33% saying it helps give them ideas of what to get.

The bottom line: Craft your social media appeals for the younger crowd and customize your in-store experience for more mature shoppers.