We all know holiday shopping days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday break the internet.
Just last year, Cyber Monday raked in a new record of $12.4 billion in sales—that’s more than Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day combined. There’s no doubt you should circle these events in your marketing calendar.
Besides Black Friday Cyber Monday, there are plenty of other shopping holidays in October, November, and December you can market to boost your sales.
We’ll go through a list of fourth quarter shopping holidays that don’t get as much hype and love as Cyber Weekend but are still worth your time and attention. Plus, you’ll find actionable campaign ideas you can use for your ecommerce business!
Halloween
When is it? October 31, 2024
Halloween is known for costumes, candy, and trick-or-treating, but it’s also gaining ground in terms of spending. The most popular spending categories are candy, decorations, and costumes. That’s why Halloween is also a prime occasion for retailers to plan a campaign and showcase their Halloween offers!
Create Halloween-themed designs or product collections
Themed apparel or accessories will appeal to fans of the holiday and the fall season. You can also create products with evergreen designs that can be sold year-round. A simple design with a black cat, for example, is stylish even after Halloween.
Tease your customers about the upcoming Halloween products in advance by sharing sneak peeks on your social media. You don’t have to go extreme and start a campaign at the end of August—a couple of weeks before Halloween will work just fine.
Not only will the marketing campaign get your customers excited about the start of fall, but your store will also be the first to pop into your customers’ minds once they start shopping for Halloween-themed products!
Host a contest or giveaway
Ask your social media followers to share photos of their Halloween costumes, their favorite fall recipe, or Halloween candy as a way to drive engagement on your social media profile. For example, if you have a clothing brand, you can ask your followers to enter your contest by using products from your line as a part of their costume.
Remember to come up with a unique hashtag to keep track of your entries. And of course, plan your prizes. Giving away a couple of your products, or a gift card to your store can be an inexpensive way to promote your product and increase user engagement.
Singles’ Day
When is it? November 11, 2024
Singles’ Day is still relatively unheard of in the Western world, but it’s a big deal in China.
Created in 1993, Singles’ Day was originally meant as an anti-Valentine’s Day to celebrate being single. In 2009, Alibaba founder Jack Ma transformed Singles’ Day into a consumer spending day, spreading the message to treat yourself as a celebration of being single.
Shopping sprees were initially driven by major discounts offered on China’s largest online retail store Alibaba’s Tmall, but these days many other companies are getting involved too. In fact, Singles’ Day continues to break records: last year marked the largest ever Singles’ Day to date, reaching a staggering $159 billion in sales.
But this shopping day isn’t just for customers in Asia. Each year, Singles’ Day is earning more and more attention in other parts of the world as well. Last year, 89,000 brands participated in the celebrations.
What can you do?
Keep in mind that Singles’ Day is still relatively new in the West. Most consumers are likely waiting to shop on Black Friday Cyber Monday, so they might not want to start spending so early. Your campaigns will have to both educate and entice, so don’t feel discouraged if your first try is underwhelming. Continue to experiment! With time, it’s possible that Single’s Day will catch on.
November 11 is also Veterans Day in the US (and Remembrance Day in Canada), so be sensitive to your audience and what appeals to them.
If you want to truly get into the spirit of Singles’ Day and make your campaign work, offer a deal that’s on par with what you’ll be offering during Black Friday Cyber Monday. You can frame your Singles’ Day offer as a pre-Cyber Week deal to encourage getting holiday shopping done early.
Created in 2010 by American Express, Small Business Saturday was meant as a chance for small business owners to compete against the big-box retailers offering crazy deals for Black Friday Cyber Monday. This is a great opportunity for small businesses to become more visible and stronger as big companies are not in the spotlight during this time.
If you’re a small business owner, you might have a story and a personality, which is something big-box retailers often lack. According to a survey by Groupon, 67% of respondents say they prefer shopping at small businesses over national chains.
Remind your customers about Small Business Saturday and promote the idea of shopping small:
Create a banner for your store
Send an email campaign to your list
Share on social media
Use hashtags like #ShopSmall, #SmallBizSat, #SmallBusinessSaturday
Take advantage of the Shop Small Studio downloadable marketing materials, provided by American Express. They created customizable visuals that you can use for your Small Business Saturday campaigns.
Green Monday
When is it? December 9, 2024
Green Monday is an online shopping day that falls on the second Monday in December. The term “Green Monday” was coined by eBay in 2007 as a way to mark their most significant day of sales that year. Fun fact: the “green” in the name refers to all the money the retailer made that year.
A number of retailers, including Amazon, Target, and Best Buy offer Green Monday deals, and often the discounts are even better than those on Cyber Monday.
Use Green Monday as an opportunity to remind your customers that the holidays are just around the corner, and now’s the time to finish their gift shopping. Be mindful of order deadlines: you might still be able to guarantee Christmas Eve delivery with express shipping. Make sure you’re transparent about delivery dates!
If you use Printful for dropshipping, keep an eye for our holiday deadlines announcement later in the fall!
Free Shipping Day
When is it? December 14, 2024
Similar to Green Monday, Free Shipping Day is a perfect opportunity to cater to shoppers who are looking for last-minute Christmas gifts. The idea of this event is that consumers can shop from both large and small online merchants that offer free shipping with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve.
Both big and small retailers participate in Free Shipping Day, often offering additional discounts to attract more customers. Free shipping doesn’t just help the customer rationalize buying something online instead of going to a brick-and-mortar store.
As long as you can guarantee delivery by Christmas Eve, you should definitely host a one-day-only free shipping day. Additionally, you can offer discounts on your products, making shopping at your store even more appealing to your excited customers.
If you work with Printful, here’s what you can do:
Check our order deadlines beforehand to make sure orders will be delivered to your customers by Christmas (we usually announce our order-by dates in October or November).
Limit your free shipping offer to domestic orders only. International express shipping can get pricey, plus there are customs fees to keep in mind!
Super Saturday
When is it? December 21, 2024
Super Saturday is one of the busiest shopping days in Canada and is becoming popular in the US and UK too. The holiday falls on the last Saturday before Christmas and is one of the last opportunities to buy Christmas presents.
During Super Sunday, stores offer significant discounts and extend store hours to attract customers and drive impulse buying.
Last-minute Christmas shopping shouldn’t be your main message to the customers since it’s probably too late to order online. Although the second time of December is more successful for brick-and-mortar stores, you shouldn’t miss the opportunity to offer discounted deals.
Focus on people who have bought Christmas presents for everybody else, but didn’t have time to think of themselves. Plus, they’ll be OK with getting their present after December 25.
Create bundle deals like:
$10 off orders over $50
$20 off orders over $100
Boxing Day
When is it? December 26, 2024
Boxing Day is celebrated in Canada, Australia, the UK, and several other countries. It’s similar to Black Friday Cyber Monday in terms of being a major shopping holiday where retailers offer great discounts.
With Black Friday Cyber Monday gaining more worldwide notoriety, Boxing Day spending has been decreasing. However, it still racks in the numbers and can boost post-Christmas sales if your audience is in Canada, the UK, or other countries where Boxing Day is observed.
What can you do?
Treat Boxing Day like you would a Cyber Week sale. Set up your discount and promote it through email and social media.
Remember that Boxing Day is after Christmas, so your message shouldn’t be about buying gifts. Emphasize that this is a post-Christmas blowout and that it’s a great time to buy gifts for occasions to come in the new year.
You’re not limited to one weekend of sales this holiday season! There’s a lot you can target in the lead-up to Christmas and in the days after. Whether it’s an engagement-boosting event like Halloween that doesn’t shine with as many sales or an up-and-coming holiday like Singles’ Day, there’s plenty you can do to drive customers to your store during the fourth quarter.
Curious about other shopping holidays left in 2024? Check out our ecommerce holiday marketing calendar for a full list of 2024 holidays and spending events!
