As the retail, apparel and footwear industry gears up for the holiday shopping season, top brands are lining up seasonal hires. But there are challenges to figuring out just how many frontline workers are needed.
Keith Moore, CEO of AutoScheduler.AI, said figuring seasonal headcount is only half the equation. “Prepping for peak is a fun dance between trusting your forecast and hiring to meet it,” Moore explained. “However, most organizations don’t optimize their onboarding or overtime strategies for peak season to put them in the best position to deliver needed service while mitigating the risk of a bad forecast in either direction.”
This year presents other issues. New data from ICIMS show retailers and brands face a smaller, younger candidate pool, raising the stakes for employers competing for frontline talent. Another variable is consumer sentiment. Over a dozen polls found shoppers are more value-focused and cautious but still willing to spend this year. Meanwhile, holiday sales estimates are all over the map, ranging from 3.5 to 6 or more percent year over year. Everything is a moving target.
Either way, retailers and brands are set on building up their seasonal workforce.
The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects U.S. retailers and brands to hire somewhere between 325,000 and 375,000 seasonal workers for the 2026 holiday shopping season. This compares to roughly 356,000 seasonal hires in 2025.
On Tuesday, Amazon said it plans to hire more than 300,000 seasonal, part-time, and full-time workers for its U.S. operations. This marks the online giant’s first increase in holiday recruitment in three years. UPS said it plans to add more than 100,000 seasonal workers, while retailers like Dick’s Sporting Goods recently said they will hire 11,000 seasonal employees. Like other brands, the sporting goods and footwear retailer said seasonal workers are key to succeeding this holiday season.
“Our stores truly come alive during the holidays, and seasonal teammates bring the passion and team spirit that make shopping with us so special,” said Julie Lodge-Jarrett, executive vice president and chief people, purpose and transformation officer at Dick’s, in a statement. “Whether it’s helping a parent pick out a first baseball glove or equipping a young athlete for the winter season, our store teams play a huge role in creating holiday memories.”
At the retailer’s Foot Locker division, it’s hiring 2,900 teammates for Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, WSS, and Champs Sports store locations in North America.
“At Foot Locker, our stores are where sneaker culture comes to life,” said Michael Keinath, senior vice president and chief people officer at Foot Locker North America. “We’re excited to welcome new teammates who are passionate about sport, sneakers and culture, enjoy connecting with customers and want to be part of an energetic team during the holiday season.”
But will retailers be able to fill their ranks?
ICIMS, the intelligent hiring platform, recently released its ICIMS Insights October 2026 Workforce Report, which found that frontline applications ended September 18 percent below the baseline measure, while retail time to fill positions remained at 37 days.
“With fewer candidates entering the hiring funnel and seasonal demand approaching, retailers have less room for delays and a greater need to identify qualified candidates, re-engage known talent and move people through the hiring process faster,” the report’s authors said. “The shift reflects a broader cooling across the U.S. labor market.”
The report noted the research was drawn from proprietary ICIMS data from more than 3.1 million users and 691 million candidate profiles. It revealed U.S. hiring fell 7 percent below the September 2025 baseline, while job openings remained 3 percent above baseline. “In September, hiring, openings, and applications all moved down together, making hiring efficiency increasingly important for employers that still need to fill critical roles,” the report’s authors said. “Gen Z is leading the retail applicant pool. Candidates ages 18 to 24 made up 40 percent of retail applicants in September, up from 37 percent a year ago, while every age group 45 and older lost share. Retailers need hiring experiences that meet candidates where they are and make it easy to communicate and move forward.”
“Holiday hiring never stops being a hot topic, but the candidates behind it have changed,” said Trent Cotton, head of talent insights at ICIMS. “Gen Z is now leading the pool, and recruiting strategies built for a different generation will not hold up this season. Employers will need to adjust their processes for faster communication, clearer disclosure and an application built for how this generation applies.”
The company said one of its clients, Urban Outfitters, is responding to a tighter seasonal candidate pool by making better use of talent it already knows. “The retailer uses ICIMS to identify former employees and past applicants who may be qualified for open roles, giving hiring teams another source of candidates when new applicant flow is low,” the company said.
Danny Rojas, senior principal of product and market insights at ICIMS, said qualified, available candidates “are becoming harder to attract in high-volume hiring, especially when retailers are competing for many of the same people at the same time.”