Important Shopping Dates For 2016

Here are the important shopping dates that essential to any e-tailer's calendar. Make sure you've accounted for everything, from peak shopping times to e-commerce events.

14th February - Valentine's Day

This is an easy one to remember, as it's on the same day every year. 14th February can be a big day for your sales, if you sell items that could be considered in any way romantic.

Promote the perfect gift on your homepage, send out an email to your existing customers, and, most importantly, produce a sense of urgency. 

Bear in mind that most shopping for Valentine's Day is done on the 5th and 6th of February, so ensure your marketing campaign begins well before then.

8th May - Mother's Day

We all have mothers, and most of us love them. Fortunately, the vast majority of your customers will be mother-lovers, so you should notice a surge in sales in the time around Mother's Day. If you get your marketing right, that is.

19th June - Father's Day

Father's Day will fall on June 19th in 2016. There are just as many fathers as there are mothers in the world, so you should expect similar traffic to what you received on Mother's Day. As ever, that is if you take the time to do some targeted marketing.

25th November - Black Friday

Black Friday was originally an American shopping holiday, though as practice of e-commerce has risen in recent years, the phenomenon has spread to become an international event. It is typically seen as the start of the Christmas shopping season and so is a good benchmark for you to ensure that your website is fully prepared for Christmas shoppers.

28th November - Cyber Monday

Cyber Monday, like Black Friday, was born as a by-product of America's Thanksgiving holiday. While Black Friday was originally intended for retail businesses to capitalise off of the consumer rush after Thanksgiving, Cyber Monday came about after it was observed that millions of Americans took a weekend off after the holiday, and proceeded with their sales-hunting on the Monday.

18th December - Free Shipping Day

Buying Christmas presents late has become part of the festive tradition. Gone are the days where people had finished buying presents before they had flipped their calendar to December - your customers will still be shopping for their gifts about 10 days before Christmas.

24th December - Christmas Eve Day

Christmas Eve is the day before Christmas Day. Occurring each year on December 24th, Christmas Eve acts as critical last chance day for any late (or forgetful!) shoppers. Malls tend to be open later, or at least have special hours to help accommodate stressed and under-the-wire consumers. Christmas Eve also acts as a last minute boost in revenue both online and offline for retailers before Christmas Day.

25th December - Christmas Day

Christmas Day occurs annually on December 25th. Although it is usually a “quiet” day in retail, with most (if not all) shopping malls and shops closed, consumers usually begin to deal hunt ahead of Boxing Day/Week.

26th December - Boxing Day

Boxing Day, traditionally, is the day after Christmas (December 26th), but over the last couple of years it has now turned into Boxing Week. Boxing Day is now a week long affair, stretching itself usually up until New Years Eve.

31st December - New Years Eve Day

Finally, New Years Eve (December 31st) is the last day of the year and the last opportunity for retailers to lock in sales before the end of the year. It caps off the busiest month of the year and Boxing Week. Retailers are usually strategizing how to best sell excess inventory from the holiday season and which post-holiday campaigns will be most successful in enticing consumers back in January.

PLAN SMART, AND PLAN AHEAD

Whether you’re preparing for Black Friday, Super Saturday or Boxing Week, there are an abundance of key holiday shopping dates for all merchants (of any size) to take advantage of. Speak with your team, outline your game plan and most importantly set your budgets. Plan smart, and plan ahead and you too can be successful in this holiday season.

Source: wemakewebsites.com / demacmedia.com