If you are looking for a 2021 holiday shopping calendar for your online business, spend little time looking at this. In this article, we’ll discuss the shopping sales holiday calendar for eCommerce merchants in 2021.
Biggest shopping holidays of the year for eCommerce merchants
New Year’s Day – 1 January
This day marks the beginning of the new year or a new start to better themselves. This month is also a suitable time for people to join in a new activity or a new group because they are trying to form positive habits.
Making your marketing campaign around the new year’s resolutions will be an effective plan.
Valentine’s Day – 14 February
14 February is a day celebrating love and romance for all people in the world. On this day, couples give gifts to each other to express their love.
You can engage your current customers on social media or by email. Additionally, a marketing campaign with a creative message of love such as breaking limitations, etc. may be a good way to attract new customers. Don’t forget to provide your audience with gift guides and offer them any discounts if possible.
Lunar New Year – 11-16 February
Lunar New Year is a very important holiday in Eastern countries such as China, Southeast Asia, etc. People buy a variety of goods these days, such as food, decoration stuff, and clothes.
If you make your website background stand out and fit with the time, your shoppers will be attracted.
International Women’s Day – 8 March
International Women’s Day honors the females, they are your customers’ moms, friends, etc.
You should accomplish this desire of your customers and design exceptional gifts for mothers. There are some other tips you can apply to increase your sales: free shipping, promote products through emails or allow personalization of products.
Mother’s Day – 9 May (US & AU) / 9 March (UK)
In 2021, Mother’s Day will fall on 9 March in the UK, and 2 months later in the US & AU. There is a large number of people shopping for gifts on this day, so it’s a good time for brands to increase sales.
Email marketing and social media marketing are what you should concentrate on. Moreover, it will be a shortcoming if there are no sales promotions or gift guides for your customers.
Father’s Day – 20 June (US & UK) / 5 September (AU)
Father’s Day is a similar day to Mother’s Day. It honors all of the fathers in the world. People often purchase gifts for their fathers to express their love and esteem.
You can use marketing channels like on Mother’s Day, but deploying something new such as free shipping or free messages delivery will be a plus for your brand in the customer’s mind.
Back to school – August-September
This back-to-school day is another different season from usual under the impact of the Covid-19. However, mothers and college students still buy necessary school supplies.
Thus, make sure you offer them a discount. Making a combo of stuff will encourage your customers to buy more, then increase your sales figure. Don’t forget important personal defense stuff in this epidemic environment: masks and hand sanitizer.
Halloween – 31 October
Halloween is the most fruitful event for spooktacular deals.
Run an online Halloween marketing campaign, generate and promote creative content on Halloween.
Thanksgiving – 25 November
If your target market is in the US, Thanksgiving, one of the most popular holidays to boost sales, shouldn’t be missed. Thanksgiving falls on the fourth Thursday of November every year. On this day, people usually gather with their family and friends, have a cozy meal, and share gifts.
Investing in advertising for this holiday season is the right decision.
Black Friday / Cyber – 26 November / 29 November
Do you know – This is the biggest holiday in the eCommerce calendar when people shop more through the weekend.
You can encourage your customers to purchase with free shipping and eliminate additional charges from the products. Remember to kick off your campaign a few weeks in advance.
Christmas – 25 December
People spend an enormous amount of money during this holiday.
You can run online contests on your website and offer Christmas gifts. Offer discount coupons or gift cards, and use social media to drive traffic to your store.
Ideas to increase productivity and drive sales
Shopping sales holidays require online merchants to make careful plans and preparations in advance. Remember these tips to maximize your profit during the high shopping seasons of the year:
1. On-page optimization
Optimizing your page will help increase the conversion rates. Make sure your website has the best performance during these holidays so that your customers have a perfect experience with your brand. You can optimize your mobile site, pop-ups, or website messaging. Don’t forget to optimize CTAs, it may not be easy, but it is worth your effort.
2. Have a good customer service
Don’t think discount programs or other promotions of sales are enough. To keep sales for the long-term, you need to provide the best customer service to make sure that they will come back with you, make further purchases in the future. Always remember that it’s easier to retain your existing customers than to find new ones. Therefore, try to maintain high service levels in these peak seasons. You know – It’s difficult but if you can, you will win your loyal customers and your competitors.
3. Avoid shopping cart abandonment with automation
This is a very effective way to increase your sales. In holiday shopping seasons, shoppers often add a large number of items to their shopping cart to hunt for deals and leave before completing the transaction. If you can reduce this cart abandonment rate, you can improve your total sales. How can you do that? Don’t worry, automation can help you with the issue. You can remarket abandoned carts via automation. Integrate your store with email automation platforms such as Mailchimp and Klaviyo. They will automatically send your customers a reminder to continue their transaction.
4. Avoid losing sales by allowing backorders
In the high shopping seasons, eCommerce businesses usually face the risks of stockouts. Although you don’t expect these events, you can still rescue your revenue by enabling backorder. Even when your product has been out of stock, let your customers continue ordering and guarantee to ship to them later whenever you have the item in your warehouse. To keep a good experience for your customer, you should ensure the back-in-stock date, don’t make them wait for a long time.
Conclusion
Holiday season sales in 2021 are a huge opportunity for businesses of all sizes. Even though the pandemic may bring several uncertainties, eCommerce is still holding strong. We hope this holiday calendar will help you navigate your eCommerce journey successfully and make the most of 2021.
