Holidays – both worldwide and celebrated by a certain nation or religion – and all sorts of special occasions and dates are a golden opportunity for ecommerce businesses to increase their revenue and win the hearts of more customers, and missing on them would be a real shame.
But more often the problem lies not in lack of enthusiasm of the merchant, but in the simple unpreparedness. It takes a lot of effort and planning in advance to organize a sale, promotion or a special campaign, and nobody really keeps ALL the holidays in mind, so the occasion is remembered only when it is too close to even try and hold something special for it.
So no more missed opportunities in new year – here’s a 2019 ecommerce calendar that BelVG team created with special care and attention to every occasion that has marketing potential. With this calendar you will be able to plan your sales and promotions months ahead and conduct all the necessary preparations to nail your campaign. Moreover, you will never lack marketing and content ideas – our calendar contains all sorts of special dates, and every online business can make use of its product.
Ecommerce calendar 2019 download
What does holiday marketing consists of? Having the promotion idea in mind, you can proceed to planning your marketing campaign. In order to reach out to the maximum number of potential customers, it should consist of the following elements:
- email campaign (newsletters, presales, promo codes, etc.),
- promotional content (blog posts, videos and pictures),
- SMM – social media marketing (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google Plus).
Want to learn more about how to prepare your online store for the holidays and special occasions? You can find everything you need in our article Holiday Marketing Plan for Successful Sales in Ecommerce.
Finally, keep in mind that a successful online retailer is always on the same page with his customer – he thinks and feels like the customer, he knows customer’s wishes and anticipates them and, what’s most important, he knows his customer joys and sometimes reminds of or even gives the customer cause for celebration.
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Learn moreNow let’s go over the major holidays from the 2019 ecommerce calendar, uncover their marketing meaning for ecommerce and give you a couple of promotion ideas.
January
First month of the year is time to strike the iron when it’s hot and work on strengthening customer loyalty of the clients you have acquired during Christmas. Remember that January is the time people realize (or at least try) their New Year resolutions, which means there is a huge demand for sports goods and hobbies supplies. Plan out post-Christmas sales and New Year special offers and organize an email campaign to notify your old and new clients.
Martin Luther King Day – January 15th, Tuesday. Martin Luther King was and still remains a person of great importance not only for American society, but for the entire world. This day is great for releasing a piece of powerful motivational content that will appeal to your audience.
February
The month begins with Lunar or Chinese New Year on February 5th, Tuesday – a massive celebration for the global Asian community. Around this time we advise you to pay more attention to your eastern markets and enhance marketing of Asian goods if you trade such. It would be also a great idea to style your website in red tones (the colors of this festival) and the symbol of 2019 – Pig.
Valentine’s Day – February 14th, Thursday – inspires a steady demand for chocolates, heart-shaped things and, actually, just nice, large and small presents in general. Apart from sales and special offers, organize a series of articles – selections of the best presents ideas for the loved ones. Or, on the contrary, you can play the Valentine Day hater card and promote goods for those who are single. If you are looking for promotion ideas, we have a ton of them here, in this post 7 Ecommerce Marketing Tips for Valentine’s Day.
March
Women’s Day on 8th of March, Friday, is an international holiday, and in each county, it bears its own meaning – from celebration of female emancipation (in Western countries) to appreciation of woman’s role (in Russia and post-soviet countries). But one thing is clear – the products from the Health & Beauty category that speaks to the ladies’ feminine side will be in higher demand. Also, don’t forget to congratulate you female customers and offer them discounts.
On March 17th, Sunday is St. Patrick’s Day – a jovial holiday that celebrates Ireland’s heritage and culture. The color of this holiday is green, so emerald-and-clover website design is a must. Also, emphasize advertising and marketing of Ireland themed products like funny hats, t-shirts, etc.
April
As it’s getting warmer in April, people start planning their summer activities – outdoor sports, camping, weddings, picnics, holidays, etc.
April’s Fool Day – 1st of April, Monday – doesn’t have much marketing opportunities (unless you’re selling goods for pranks), but on the other hand, if you have a wonderful joke idea that you’re certain your community will get and appreciate, why not try and pull it?
Catholic (21st of April, Sunday) and Orthodox Easters (28th of April, Sunday) this year are celebrated within a week’s span (on 21st and 28th of April correspondingly), and these holidays are far less commercialized than another major Christian holiday – Christmas. Therefore, it’s better to place the emphasis of your eastern marketing campaign on the topic of Spring, Newness, Freshness and Revival.
Earth Day on 22nd of April, Monday marks the foundation of environmental movement in 1970. Traditionally, on this day communities hold various events aimed at raising environmental awareness. Your business shouldn’t stay on the sideline – let your customers know what do you for Earth’s protection, share your thoughts on what can be improved in your current state and better ways to utilize the packaging your company produces, or even run a fundraising environmental campaign.
May
Labour Day on the 1st of March, Monday, is a global holiday and a day off. Great late spring weather and usually adjoining Saturday and Sunday encourage people to spend time outdoors with their families and friends or even travel. Therefore, you can launch either overall sale or establish special offers for outdoor activities and tourism goods.
Mother’s Day, 12th of May, Sunday, is the third-largest spending special occasion in the USA, and it’s a great opportunity for a heartwarming marketing campaign and selection of best presents articles. What is more, launch a large email campaign with a touching message for mothers (“being a mom is a full-time job – take a rest for a day”, promoting beauty and hobby products) and presents ideas for all the rest who want to congratulate their mothers.
June
June is the month of holidays and vacations, but it doesn’t mean there should be a decrease in your sales volume; it’s all the matter of the right approach. For example, Father’s Day on 16th of June, Sunday is a wonderful cozy family holiday, perhaps not that hyped up like Mother’s day, but still worthy of attention and a small separate marketing campaign.
July
The beginning of this month is colored in stars and stripes – it’s Independence Day on 4th of July, Thursday, the most American holiday ever! And even if you’re not operating solely for US markets, the occasion is still worthy of some marketing actions. Here’s a couple of ideas from top American brands for you to get inspired.
All in all, summer’s in full swing, and it’s high time for midsummer sales and promotions to get rid of unsold stock before the new season.
August
As autumn draws closer, the attention shifts from holiday activities to Back to School mood. In 2017, Americans spent approximately $86 billion, making it the second largest spending period (after Black Friday and Cyber Monday). This season is a great time to introduce new products and offer new deals, especially on warmer clothing and footwear, stationery, office supplies and, of course, electronics – PC, laptops and cell phones.
September
This Labour Day on 2nd of September, Monday is a solely Canadian and US federal holiday which celebrates workers’ contributions and achievements with fireworks, picnics, and barbecues. This day is also associated with saying goodbye to summer and beginning of a school year and 4th quarter for businesses. For ecommerce it’s also high time to begin planning for Black Friday / Cyber Monday and Christmas sales.
If you’re concentrated on european markets, than you can’t miss the Oktoberfest – the largest beer and folk festival held in Munich, which begins on 21st of September, Saturday. But who said that you should go to Germany to celebrate and have fun? Create amusing content with the focus on bretzels, traditional German costumes and, of course, beer. And let your customers celebrate the Oktoberfest wherever they are.
October
Halloween, 31st of October, Thursday is HUGE in both Europe and the USA and, despite the gruesome meaning of the holiday, is associated with spooky fun like carving pumpkins, wearing costumes, trick-or-treating and watching horror movies. Even if your business has minimum associations with these activities, it’s still a must to at least add some Halloween-themed elements like popups and newsletters.
November
Black Friday on 29th of November is, without exaggeration, the largest international sale of the year. Every online shop, large and small, is giving up to 90% discounts on their produce. This sale is a win-win situation – bargain hunters get their bargains and business owners can clear their warehouses and get significantly higher revenue.
The Black Friday sale grows even more massive as it transforms into Cyber Monday on November 2nd. On this day online shops offer even higher discounts. And the statistic shows, people are buying more and more each year on Cyber Monday!
December
This month is nearly reserved solely to buying presents for Christmas on 25th of December, Wednesday so even without much effort you will evidence your sales will increase. However, if you don’t want to stay on the sideline and nail this Christmas sales season, there’s a ton of working marketing and promotion tricks: advent sales (the percentage of discount increases each day), Green Monday (the day when, marketers notices, people’s panic that they are running out of time reaches its peak; this year it will be the 9th of December), email campaigns of all sorts, Free Shipping Day on December 17th, Super Saturday (the day when revenue of US retailers is reportedly at its highest – the best day to offer maximum discounts). Actually, we have already dedicated a whole article to a substantial Christmas promotion campaign, so you might as well check it out. Don’t give up your marketing efforts even after Christmas – for some countries (Russia and post-soviet) New Year on 31st of December, Tuesday is the major holiday and present-giving time.
We hope ecommerce calendar and marketing tips will be of great use to you. If you have any questions or comments, please leave them down below.
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Thank you! Merry Christmas :)
Nice article, keep it up like this in your future. I hope you do best afford and make the future bright.