The Essential Guide to Holiday Promotions for Eсommerce Stores

16 min read

For retailers, the holiday season is the pinnacle of business opportunity, with consumers eager to spend generously on gifts and treats for their loved ones.

However, preparing for the holiday season as a business owner is not as relaxing as holiday shopping. How should you strategize promotions to capitalize on this seasonal surge? Which promotional channels are most effective for your store?

If you’re pondering these questions, this blog post is for you. Check out a comprehensive guide to holiday promotion strategies and beyond.

The Holiday Season at a Glance

Maybe you’re still on the fence about maximizing your holiday promotions.

In that case, these statistics might change your mind:

In 2023, the most popular sales events were Cyber Monday and Black Friday.
The NRF forecasts that in 2024, winter holiday spending is anticipated to increase by 2.5% to 3.5% compared to 2023.
In the US alone, the projected number of Black Friday shoppers is 130.7 million.
In 2023, 78% of US consumers intended to shop during the holiday season, a trend mirrored in Canada, Poland, and Germany.
In the UK, millennials are expected to be the biggest spenders on Black Friday 2024, planning to spend an average of 188 pounds.

It’s crucial to note that most consumers plan to shop online — a key insight for ecommerce businesses:

Almost 68% of US shoppers and 40% of Canadian consumers said they planned to shop online for Black Friday.
Among European consumers, 70% of respondents in Italy plan to shop exclusively online during Black Friday. Similarly, over 50% of the shoppers in Spain and France expressed the same preference.

The most popular sales days among consumers are Cyber Monday and Black Friday

Clearly, shoppers are spending massive amounts of money during the holiday season. For ecommerce store owners, this is an opportunity to cash in big.

When Should You Plan Your Holiday Promotions?

The short answer is as early as possible.

Traditionally, the shopping season doesn’t truly kick off until late November, following Thanksgiving. However, an increasing number of consumers are beginning their shopping earlier to avoid the seasonal rush and capitalize on Halloween promotions.

In fact, nearly 6 in 10 shoppers start their holiday shopping in October or November.

Starting your promotions in early October is a wise strategy. This ensures that your marketing efforts are fully operational and on time for the year’s biggest sales event — Black Friday.

Bearing this in mind, let’s explore how to effectively plan your holiday promotions.

What Holiday Promotions to Run?

When it comes to holiday promotions, there are a variety of options available to businesses. The key is to select the ones that will best resonate with your target audience and drive sales.

Discounts and Special Deals

One popular option is offering discounts or special deals on products or services. These can take the form of percentage off, buy-one-get-one-free, or other creative offers.

Customers are always looking for ways to save money during the holiday season, so this promotion can attract their attention and encourage them to purchase.

ASOS compares the sale price to the original cost to highlight the savings. You can do that in your Ecwid store, too

The ecommerce platform you use for your online store typically includes tools for promotions. Ecwid by Lightspeed, for example, offers a robust online store and built-in tools for running various promotions, saving you time.

If you run an Ecwid store, you can schedule your discounts to start and end on specific dates automatically. This makes it easy to plan and saves time on sales setup.

Scheduling a sale with Ecwid is as simple as making a few clicks

With Ecwid, you can also run a variety of buy-one-get-one-free promotions. Discover the details in this article:

Also: 6 Cool “Buy One Get One Free” Promotions for Online Stores

Gift Cards

Another option for holiday promotions is offering gift cards. This allows customers to purchase a gift card for a certain amount, which they can use for future purchases.

This strategy not only boosts sales during the holiday season but also encourages returning customers to redeem their gift cards in the new year, often spending beyond the card’s value.

With Ecwid, you can seamlessly sell gift cards directly without needing third-party applications.

An example of a gift card in an Ecwid store

Free Shipping

Shipping costs can often deter customers from purchasing, especially during the busy holiday season. Offering free shipping as part of your holiday promotion can entice them to buy from you instead of your competitors.

To increase average order value and prevent revenue loss from shipping costs, consider offering free shipping for orders exceeding a specific threshold, such as $50. Here’s how to do that in your Ecwid store.

Inform your customers about free shipping with a promo bar. Here’s how to set it up in your Ecwid store.

Select from a variety of promotional bars for your Ecwid store

Gift Sets and Bundles

Another effective strategy is creating limited-time bundles or gift sets. These curated packages can offer convenience and value for customers who may be struggling with gift ideas.

You can offer a discount on bundles to make them more appealing or create themed bundles for different recipients, such as “Gifts for Parents” or “Gifts for Friends.” This can also help increase cross-selling opportunities and encourage customers to purchase multiple items.

CultBeauty has a Gift Sets section on their website, a strategy worth considering for your store too

In Ecwid, you can create discounted product sets with the help of the apps from the Ecwid App Market, such as Upsell and Cross Sell Product Kit or Product Bundles.

There are also other ways to create product bundles in Ecwid — check them out in the Help Center.

How to Select Marketing Channels for Holiday Promotions

With countless marketing channels available today, how do you determine your primary focus? Which ones can you afford to overlook?

Before selecting a marketing channel, here are some insights you should consider:

Budget

Marketing channels vary significantly in cost. For instance, PPC requires a much larger budget compared to inbound marketing. If your budget allows, paid advertising is recommended. However, if funds are limited, consider “free” methods like social media and content marketing, where your primary investment is time.

Existing Expertise

It’s more effective to concentrate on a channel you already know well rather than spending time mastering a new marketing medium. If you (or someone on your team) excel in PPC, focus on paid ads. If you’re a master of memes, prioritize content marketing on TikTok. If you have a talent for photography, dive into Instagram and so forth.

Audience Demographics

Ask yourself: where are my target customers most likely to be found? For instance, if you sell hearing aids, Snapchat might not yield significant results. Similarly, you can’t ignore TikTok if your target audience is primarily Gen Z.

Or, if you specialize in selling home decor, product tagging on Pinterest is just what you need.

Since people often seek decoration inspo on Pinterest, it’s perfect for showcasing your home decor products

Product Type

Lifestyle, food, and fashion products thrive on discovery-driven platforms such as Pinterest, TikTok and Instagram. Tech products thrive on blogs, where shoppers can access research and reviews, or YouTube channels that offer comprehensive overviews of tech gadgets.

How to Prepare Your Online Store for the Holiday Promos

Before diving into a full-blown promotional campaign, it’s a good idea to get your business ready for the holiday rush.

Here’s how:

Step 0. Stock Up on Inventory

Few things are more frustrating than executing a successful promotional campaign only to discover you’ve run out of stock and must turn away customers.

Ensure you have enough inventory to handle an increase in sales during the holiday season. Take some time to analyze your sales data from previous years and use it as a guide for how much stock you should order this year.

If possible, consider partnering with suppliers who can provide extra inventory quickly if needed. Also, keep track of popular products so you can prioritize stocking them during the holiday season.

Step 1. Create a Holiday Promotions Calendar

Keeping a clear overview of your promo schedule — knowing where and when they’ll happen — helps you stay organized and ensures you don’t overwhelm your customers by spacing them out nicely.

To get started on your promo calendar:

Create a list of holiday promotions. Identify when your business experiences the highest sales volume and use this insight to pinpoint key holidays. Generally, if your business offers affordable, “impulse buy” items, expect a surge in sales either at the start of the season or right before major holidays. If you sell expensive products, shoppers might hold out until November, anticipating discounts.
Compile your promotional materials, such as emails, graphics, banners, and ads, and organize them by holiday. Place all Halloween-themed promos in one folder and Black Friday-themed ones in another. Then, review your graphics and ads to identify any that can be repurposed for multiple holiday campaigns.

It’s good to remember that shoppers often spread their purchases over several days instead of limiting themselves to just one or two days of shopping. Though Black Friday and Cyber Monday are key highlights for your sales promotions, it’s wise to extend promotional efforts throughout the entire holiday season.

Step 2. Ensure Your Website Runs Like Clockwork

This holiday season, the last thing you need is a web host failure or a broken website. Before launching promotions, ensure your website is well-prepared to handle the impending surge in traffic.

Here are some steps you can take:

Improve your website’s loading speed. Slow loading times can lead to potential customers abandoning their carts and looking for alternatives.
Test your website on different devices and browsers to ensure it is compatible with various platforms and does not have any technical hiccups.
Upgrade to a faster web host. Understand how your provider manages its infrastructure during the holiday rush and ensure it can handle significant traffic spikes. If not, it may be time to consider a change.
Make your website mobile-friendly. Smartphones make up more than three-quarters of retail site visits in the US and produce about two-thirds of online shopping orders. Optimizing your website for mobile devices opens up a huge market and boosts your SEO performance, too.

By the way, Ecwid stores are optimized for mobile use and prepared to handle a high volume of shoppers during peak sales events.

Ecwid stores are designed to enhance speed and user experience

Step 3. Establish a Social Media Presence

As an ecommerce business owner, you understand that social media offers a significant opportunity, which remains true during the holiday season.

Gen Zers are more than twice as likely (42%) as average (20%) to buy holiday gifts via social media in 2024, according to research from Basis Technologies and GWI.

Instagram (57%) and Facebook (56%) are the top platforms for buying holiday gifts via social media, followed by TikTok (43%) and YouTube (38%), as stated in the same research.

To fully leverage the benefits of social media, ensure you do the following:

Choose popular social media platforms among your target audience and focus on building a strong presence there. The holiday season is a busy period, so you won’t have time to engage with every platform.
Add a link to your website with holiday-themed promotions in your social media bio.
Create holiday-specific content, such as gift guides, home decor ideas, or celebration tips, to attract and engage potential customers. This will not only showcase your products or services but also provide value to your audience.
Use influencer marketing by partnering with popular social media influencers who align with your brand and target demographic. They can help promote your holiday offerings to their engaged followers.
Run targeted ads on social media platforms to reach a wider audience and increase visibility for your holiday deals and promotions.

Social media is a great source of inspiration for consumers, so focus on creating holiday-themed content

Step 4. Gather Essential Tools

To run promotional campaigns, you will need to gather some essential tools.

Here are some examples of the tools you might need:

An email marketing tool like Mailchimp to send out all your promotional emails, newsletters, and autoresponder sequences.
A landing page tool for crafting holiday-themed promotional pages and capturing leads and sales. If you manage an Ecwid store, you can create such pages in no time.
A pop-up tool to capture leads and offer discounts and deals to shoppers. If you run an Ecwid store, look for popup apps in the Ecwid App Market.
Analytics software helps you figure out where your traffic and sales are coming from and steers your marketing strategy. Google Analytics is a great free tool. If you have an Ecwid store, check out key store stats in the Reports section.

To Sum Up

The holiday season can be challenging for store owners, yet it also presents incredible opportunities. Maximizing your shop’s profit potential requires hard work, but the rewards are well worth the effort.

Now go out there and earn that holiday money. You can thank us in the new year!

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Holiday season 🎉

Oct 24, 2024

About the author

Anastasia Prokofieva is a content writer at Ecwid. She writes about online marketing and promotion to make entrepreneurs’ daily routine easier and more rewarding. She also has a soft spot for cats, chocolate, and making kombucha at home.