The magnitude of holiday online sales
The holiday season is the most profitable time of the year for many businesses, including yours.
- US online shoppers spent over $211B during the 2021 holiday season, up 10% from $192B in 2020.
- In 2021, Cyber Week drove almost $34B in online sales, making it the most profitable period for online stores.
- It’s expected that 2022 holiday online sales will increase by more than 15%, rounding up to over $236B.
My advice for other online store owners during the holiday season is to make sure that the photography and the content on your website are fresh. Many of the people that visit your site during the holiday season and buy are likely repeat customers, and it’s important you give them a new and interesting experience, especially during this time.
Mike , Blue Ocean Life Co.
My advice for anyone who hasn’t already started preparing would be to prepare now! Again, Christmas sneaks up on us every season, so the earlier you can get started the better.
Caleb , Charming Rose Supply Co.
Biggest predictions in ecommerce this BFCM
Learn about the most relevant online holiday shopping trends and how to use them for your ecommerce business in our latest Ask Printful episode.
Don’t press snooze on your holiday sales
See how our customers did during the 2021 holiday season
Facts
Last year, most of our customers started preparing for Cyber Week in advance. Their 2021 campaigns paid off because, during the BFCM weekend alone, our customers generated more than $13M in sales, which is 45%+ more compared to a non-holiday period. During the 2021 holiday season, our customers’ all-time sales hit $1B.
What you can do
Start preparing for the holiday season as early as September. Don’t sleep on the opportunity to earn more by investing extra time into your holiday season preparation.
Facts
In 2020, 34% of our customers expanded their product catalog to get more holiday sales. The overall best-selling Printful products during the 2021 holiday season were blankets, beanies, flags, sweatshirts, t-shirts, mugs, and posters.
What you can do
Research trending holiday products. Expand your product catalog, experiment with new items and designs. We offer 342 products, so you have plenty of options to choose from.
Jump on one of the hottest holiday trends
How to get ready for the holiday season
Dedicate time for research, planning, and preparing
Create a timeline
Shoppers will start buying gifts earlier this year to avoid price hikes, so get your store ready as early as September. Start now:
- Choose products for your store and create new designs
- Set up banners, coupon codes, and other technicalities on your store
Decide on marketing campaigns
Choose one or mix-and-match multiple offers to see what works for your audience. Consider:
- % or $ discounts, quantity discounts
- Free shipping, promo codes
- Buy one, get one free
- Giveaways, contests
Prepare content
Write down a communications plan with all the content you’ll need to work on. It’s a time-consuming process, so here are some ideas for you:
- Emails (order deadlines, offers, guides, new products, etc.)
- Social media copy (Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, etc.)
- Visuals (product photos, campaigns, social media posts, store banners, ads, etc.)
We’ve prepared a guide with practical information that’ll help you prepare for the holiday season. Check it out!