The start of new year is the perfect time to plan ahead. To make the most of it, you need to know what’s going on in the world of eCommerce. As always, Pixc has got you covered. We look at the upcoming year and all the significant holiday dates, essential business dates and eCommerce events in 2018 that should be on your calendar.
Holidays and seasons
Each year is full of holidays, events, and opportunities to boost your revenue. Planning ahead with your email marketing, social campaigns, and advertising can lead to some significant boosts in revenue.
Here’s a rundown of some of the most significant sales and marketing opportunities in 2018.
Groundhog Day: February 2
Source: IMDB
Groundhog Day isn’t that big for shopping, but it offers another chance to interact and relationship build with your audience. Social media posts with cute groundhog pictures or references to the Bill Murray classic are proven to boost sales. It’s kinda hard to go wrong with Bill Murray.
Super Bowl Sunday: February 4
One of the few times that more eyes will be focused on TV screens than PC’s and mobile devices, the Super Bowl still offers an opportunity for eCommerce businesses who can’t afford TV ads during the game.
Social content gives you a chance to connect with your audience and make an impression. Be entertaining, creative, and relevant to the big game to make the big game into a big hit.
Valentine’s Day: February 14
Early February sees a lot of Valentine’s Day shopping. If you’re selling anything that would make a great gift, January is the time to get your promotions ready.
Pre-selected gift bundles make it easier to buy on the holiday where no one knows what to buy except candy and flowers. Promote your gift suggestions on your homepage and social media, and reach out through email as well.
We all want to get Valentines Day right. Unfortunately, most of us have no clue what we’re doing. Make it easier for your customers to know what to buy, and reap the sweet monetary rewards of love.
International Women’s Day: March 8
Women keep the world turning, and International Women’s Day celebrates women’s contributions to the world.
Use this day as an opportunity to reach out to your female customers. Acknowledge them, thank them, and offer them a chance to treat themselves. Female-centric stores should focus on thoughtful gifts that customers can buy to honor the women in their lives.
St Patrick’s Day: March 17
39% of Americans celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. That’s a lot of people with full pint glasses and loosened wallets.
Take advantage of the high spirits to boost your sales. Add a tasteful amount of green to your site, roll out an email campaign, and get interactive through social media. Being festive and fun doesn’t have to cost much, but it might just earn you some goodwill.
Easter: April 1
Food and children’s gifts reign supreme on Easter. If you want to pull a profitable rabbit out of the hat, appeal to the kid in everyone.
Planned Easter spending for 2017 was $18.4B. To get a piece of the Easter candy, break out the bunny jokes and Easter eggs starting in mid-March.
Mother’s Day: May 13 in the US (March 11 in the UK)
The most significant shopping day between last Christmas and next Christmas. Nobody wants to let mom down, so this is your opportunity to make some sales.
Help your customers get mom a great gift. Prominently feature your best gift options, create specific gift sets for mom, combine discount codes with email and social media campaigns. Get your marketing on-point and organized, and Mother’s Day could be one of the biggest of your year.
Top selling categories for Mothers Day:
- Jewelry
- Dinner
- Flowers
- Service gifts (Spa, hair, makeup)
- Electronics
- Clothing
- Gift Cards
P.S. Make sure to feature your gift cards. Some of us love mom but have no idea what to buy her. Gift cards help.
Memorial Day: May 28
In the US, memorial day is not just a holiday to honor veterans; it’s also the unofficial start of summer.
For any stores with a mainly US customer base, running a promotion for Memorial Day is a great idea. Dress the site up a bit, create and promote discounts to veterans, and get involved on social media.
P.S. Not only is offering Veterans a discount a great way to thank them for their service, but it’s also a shrewd business move. Vets and others are more likely to shop your store year-round just because of this show of respect.
Wedding Season: May-July
Weddings tend to create a lot of spending. That spending used to be restricted to a small segment of retailers, but changes in wedding trends mean that the love is starting to spread.
There are a few areas that could get big during this time:
- Wedding attire ranging from lingerie to menswear
- Flowers
- Jewelry, makeup, and hair accessories
- Party supplies and favors
- Gifts
- Travel
If you’re in a position to get in on the wedding money during this season, get your campaigns ready during the colder months to get in front of your audience starting around February.
Summer Season: May-Sept
Summertime and the shopping is easy. Bad weather may keep online shoppers indoors, browsing online, but warm weather can be great for specific categories.
- Sports equipment
- Outdoor adventure gear
- Kitchen/Barbecue
- Outdoor furniture and decorations
- Clothing
- Sunglasses
- Toys and games
- Gardening
Spending for these categories starts to heat up around the time kids leave school. The increased free time of students and some jobs during the summer leads to boredom, new hobbies, and more spending.
For those with lots of American customers, the 4th of July falls here as well. There will be deals on clothing, electronics, and anything summer-fun related. Promotions and sales centered around independence day will draw a lot of interest.
If you don’t sell anything to tempt summer shoppers, this slow season can be a great time to do some housekeeping. Get your inventory in order, and start making plans for fall and winter. The next holiday shopping season is never that far away, and having your campaigns ready early will make it more profitable and less stressful.
Fathers Day: June 17
Father’s Day is another big day for eCommerce retailers.
Much like Mother’s Day, offering discounts and some guidance about what to give dad is a great idea. Put together bundles, feature your best dad-gifts, maybe even tell a terrible dad-joke on the homepage.
Top-selling Dad gifts
- Dinner
- Electronics
- Clothing
- Gift cards
- Home improvement
The biggest shopping day for Father’s Day is June 3rd. Get your Father’s Day promotions moving in late May to make the most out of this one.
Back to School: August-September
Kids and college students head back to school in late August and September, so it’s a great time to offer discounts and draw in those in need of school supplies, clothes, and everything else needed to start studies off right.
Halloween: October 31
Between costumes, decorations, and food, Halloween has passed Valentines Day in spending.
Even if you can’t get in on the Halloween action directly, it’s still a great time to feature some brand personality. Create some Halloween promotions, show off your costumes, and get spooky.
Thanksgiving & Black Friday/Cyber Monday: November 23-26
Ahhhh Thanksgiving day. Families gather together to eat, be thankful, and kick off the Holiday shopping season. Although physical retailers are seeing fewer shoppers on Black Friday each year, eCommerce is picking up the slack.
Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday are a critical time for many online retailers. Hopefully, you have everything you need planned well in advance.
To take full advantage of BFCM and Thanksgiving season, you should consider:
- Email campaigns
- Targeted Ads
- On-site promotions
- Seasonal discounts
- Conversion rate optimization
- Site prep (You could see a substantial increase in traffic)
If you need help getting ready for this critical time, Pixc has got you covered:
- Create An Optimized Shopping Experience For Your Customers On Black Friday/Cyber Monday
- Black Friday and Cyber Monday Marketing: How To Improve Sales on Your Shopify Online Store
- Boost Your Black Friday Sales with These 10 Email Marketing Tips
- Do You Have a Social Media Marketing Plan for Black Friday/Cyber Monday?
- Roundup #7: Get Ready For Huge Black Friday Sales
- Checklist for This Year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday Sales
- 9 Ways to Bulletproof Your Store for the Black Friday Surge
- And even more
Green Monday: December 12-10
Green Monday is the refuge of lazy gift-givers. This is a favorite shopping day for those of us who wait until the last minute. Many eCommerce retailers report big sales on the second Monday in December.
Day After Christmas (Boxing Day)
Boxing Day in the UK, or just the day after Christmas in the US, this can be another day of gift-giving and shopping. Many consumers are counting either gift cards or cash given as presents. Retailers often use this day to move leftover holiday inventory and prepare to start the new year fresh.
New Years
Not typically regarded as a huge day for sales numbers, the overall increase in eCommerce numbers has spread to the New Years holiday as well. Tech Crunch reports that traffic for online retailers was up 15% on NYE and 32% on NYD in 2017 compared to 2016.
Online stores should consider their post-Christmas plans carefully. Taking advantage of this recent surge in New Years shopping could let you start the year off with a profitable bang.
eCommerce Industry Events
These shows are packed with the biggest names in every sector of retail and eCommerce. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, executive, job hunter, or freelancer, there is no better place to be if you want to dive deeper into the world of eCommerce.
Here’s our list of the biggest and best that you won’t want to miss:
February 15
Berlin, Germany
February 22-25
Sydney, Australia
eTail West eCommerce & Omnichannel Conference
February 26 – March 1
Palm Springs, California
February 21-22
Sydney, Australia
March 18-21
Las Vegas, Nevada
April 23-25
Las Vegas, Nevada
May 7-9
Toronto, Canada
Internet Retailers Conference + Exhibition
June 5-8
Chicago, Illinois
August 6-9
Boston, Massachusetts
September 10-12
Paris, France
September 12-14
Orlando, FL
Shop.org Retailers Digital Summit
Sept 25-27, 2016
Los Angeles, CA
September 26-27
London, England
October 9-11
Las Vegas, Nevada
Other Essential Business Dates
Financial year
Australia
Financial year begins July 1 and ends June 30,
United Kingdom
Tax year begins April 6 and ends on April 5
United States
As with many other things, the US is a bit complicated with their financial calendar.
The default is that the financial year matches the calendar year, January 1 to December 31, with the tax deadline on April 15. Simple.
Here’s the complicated part. Businesses can create their own fiscal year. That means it starts and ends in whatever month they want. Taxes are then due on the 15th of the fourth month after the end of the financial year. So if your company chooses to make it’s financial year July 1 to June 30, taxes must be filed by October 15.
Chinese New Year
If you import from China, you should know that Chinese manufacturing and exporting are essentially offline for approximately two months. Here’s a guide on how to prepare for and survive this holiday if you work with Chinese suppliers.
The official holiday for 2018 is on February 16th. Some factories begin shutting down operations as early as late January, with slowdown and complete work stoppage by February 10th. Manufacturing employees may start coming back by March, but normal operations won’t resume until nearly April.
But, there’s one thing that will help your business thrive year round: high-quality product images. Let Pixc help you show off your products with our free trial.
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