It’s no secret that holidays are the ultimate ecommerce revenue boosters. From small to big, brands leverage the power of the holidays shopping frenzy to convert new customers and re-engage old ones.
So, if you want to maximize your sales potential and grow your customer base, now is the time to ramp up your holiday marketing game.
And no, you shouldn’t wait until Christmas, but rather take advantage of the holidays spirit all year-round with targeted campaigns for your audience.
In this article, we’re going to discuss 6 international holidays you must absolutely mark on your Q2 (April - June) 2023 ecommerce marketing calendar, as well as when you should start preparing for each, and what kind of campaigns you should run:
- Easter, 7-10 April
- Cinco de Mayo, May 5
- Mother’s Day, May 14
- International Children’s Day, June 1
- Father’s Day, June 18
- First Day of Summer, June 21
Let’s dive in.
Easter, April 7-10
Easter is a Christian holiday celebrated around the world. It commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ and is typically observed on the first Sunday following the start of spring.
Easter is also associated with new life and renewal, making it a time for families and communities to come together and celebrate the season. Many people attend church services and participate in various traditions such as egg decorating, gift-giving, and enjoying festive meals.
In 2022, 80% of Americans celebrated Easter, making this holiday a huge opportunity for ecommerce brands.
How to increase sales during the Easter holiday
Offer discounts, free shipping, or other incentives to encourage customers to buy from your ecommerce store during the Easter season.
Depending on your shop’s industry, you should take advantage of the Easter holiday with tailored offers for your customers. Food & Drinks, Toys and Home Décor products are great candidates for Easter shopping sprees.
Make sure to create a few compelling visuals that highlight your Easter offers or gift-bundles, and then use them across digital channels.
If you’re short on design ideas for your promotions, tools like eyeris.io allow you to create engaging content for your offers, for free and with no design skills needed.
Where to use them:
Social media
In 2023, Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest are by far the best social platforms for ecommerce. Use these networks to run Easter-themed campaigns that include giveaways, contests, and other interactive promotions to engage with your customers and build your brand.
Social media is great both for re-engaging your audience, but also for reaching and converting new customers. Use hashtags to reach wider audiences and create shareable, engaging content, if you can, so you can get some UGC going.
Make sure to be active both on your feed, and on Stories for Instagram and Facebook. And always include a direct link to your shop so that visitors can easily complete the purchase.
Social Ad campaigns
Speaking of reaching new audiences, you might consider investing in some social ads as well during holiday times, if your budget allows.
You don’t need to do anything sophisticated. Simply choose one or two of the social posts created above, and boost them the week before Easter.
Make sure to choose your target audience carefully, based on your buyer persona. Look at demographics, interests and anything else that makes sense for your business.
Done right, a budget as small as 50$ can help you reach thousands of new relevant accounts. Add a clear CTA with a link to your shop/product page, and your chances of converting will skyrocket.
Send out an e-mail campaign to your customers highlighting your Easter promotions, new products, and exclusive deals.
E-mail is a powerful tool because it allows you to re-engage existing customers. That’s important, because the success rate of selling to a customer you already have is 60-70%, while the success rate of selling to a new one is only 5-20%.
When crafting the campaign, make sure to follow ecommerce e-mail marketing best practices, including defining your audience and your goals, segmentation, and keeping it short, pretty and visual.
eyeris.io will allow you to create powerful videos for your promotions, which can be exported as GIFs and included right into your e-mail body, making it more impactful and eye-catching.
You should make sure to start preparing for everything at least two weeks in advance to have time to organize the offers, design the campaigns and ensure you have enough throughput to sustain a large amount of orders.
Latest date to start preparing for Easter campaigns: 27th of March.
Cinco de Mayo, May 5
Cinco de Mayo is a holiday celebrated on May 5th in Mexico and the United States. The holiday commemorates the Mexican army's unlikely victory over the French forces at the Battle of Puebla on May 5th, 1862. Although it is a relatively minor holiday in Mexico, Cinco de Mayo has become a popular celebration in the United States, particularly in areas with large Mexican-American populations.
Food and drinks, party supplies and decorations are the items most sought after for the Cinco de Mayo festivities.
So, depending on your product offerings, Cinco de Mayo might be a great opportunity to tap into the festive spirit with special promotions, discounts and other incentives that drive traffic to your online store.
As with Easter, make sure to take advantage of all major social and ad channels, including Instagram, Facebook and e-mail.
Latest date to start preparing for Cinco de Mayo campaigns: 21st of April.
Mother’s Day, May 14
Mother's Day is a special holiday celebrated worldwide to honor and appreciate mothers and mother figures. This day is celebrated on different dates in different countries, but it is usually observed on the second Sunday of May.
All ecommerce brands should consider running campaigns for Mother's Day because it is a very popular gift-giving occasion. According to the National Retail Federation, consumers in the United States alone spent over $28 billion on Mother's Day gifts in 2021, with 31% of shoppers planning to purchase their gifts online.
Some popular ideas for ecommerce Mother’s Day campaigns are:
- Gift guides: Create gift guides that showcase your products and make it easy for customers to find the perfect gift for their mother.
- Bundle deals: Create bundles of related products and offer them at a discounted price for Mother's Day shoppers.
- E-mail marketing: Send targeted emails to your customer list with Mother's Day gift suggestions and special offers.
A great example from Cozy Earth:
Latest date to start preparing for Mother’s Day campaigns: 1st of May.
International Children’s Day, June 1
International Children's Day is a holiday celebrated annually on June 1st to promote the welfare and rights of children worldwide. This day aims to raise awareness about the issues and challenges faced by children, and to promote their education, health, and overall well-being.
Apart from the classic discounts and promotions shared across digital channels such as social media and e-mail, a creative idea for marking International Children’s Day as an ecommerce is to organize a charity campaign.
There are lots of children charities out there, find one in your area you empathize with, and contact them to find a way for you to collaborate.
This way, you’ll build brand loyalty and drive customer engagement all while doing a good deed by helping the charity raise awareness and funds for their cause.
Latest date to start preparing for International Children’s Day campaigns: 18th of May.
Father’s Day, June 18
Father's Day is a special holiday dedicated to celebrating fathers and father figures worldwide. In most countries, Father's Day is celebrated on the third Sunday of June each year. This day is an opportunity to show appreciation and love for the men who have played a significant role in our lives.
Same as for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day is all about gift-giving. According to a study by NRF, in 2022, around 76% of Americans celebrated Father’s Day, with the average person spending up to $170 on this holiday.
One thing to keep in mind to leverage this holiday for your store is that gift-giving for dads is not as easy as for moms. Many shoppers struggle to find the perfect gift for their fathers. So, offering suggestions will go a long way.
In fact, nearly half of Generation Z and Millennials say they’d “always or very often” get Father’s Day gift inspiration from retailers.
At the same time, shoppers are considering these top five gift categories for Father’s Day: greeting cards, clothing, a special outing, gift cards, and personal care products.
So, one could argue that two good strategies for taking advantage of Father’s Day are:
- Personalized gift suggestions: Create personalized gift suggestion lists based on different personality types, interests, and hobbies. And don’t forget that people try to be as original as possible when gift-giving (dads get tired of receiving ties and socks).
- Gift cards: an excellent gift option for those who are not sure what to buy. You can promote gift cards as an easy and convenient gift option.
Here’s a nice, funny example from Fitvine:
Latest date to start preparing for Father’s Day campaigns: 4th of June.
First Day of Summer, June 21
The First Day of Summer, also known as the Summer Solstice, occurs around June 20th or 21st in the Northern Hemisphere. It marks the longest day of the year and the beginning of the summer season. The First Day of Summer is a time of celebration and anticipation for warm weather, outdoor activities, and vacations.
Ecommerce brands take advantage of this holiday because it is an opportunity to tap into the excitement and anticipation of the season. People are looking for summer-related products, such as outdoor furniture, BBQ equipment, swimwear, sunglasses, and more. By running targeted campaigns, businesses increase their visibility and drive more sales.
This is especially important as Summer is known for being the slowest period for ecommerce. That’s why it might be worth to ramp up your marketing efforts in order to compensate.
A great idea to leverage this holiday for your brand is to engage in influencer marketing. Nothing sells a summer product better than a vibe, and a video/photo shared by influencers using or wearing your products can create the summer vibes that drive consumers to purchase.
Combine this with discounts and targeted campaigns, and you’re set.
Latest date to start preparing for First Day of Summer campaigns: 7th of June.
Keep yourself busy all year-round, and reap the profits
To wrap up, it’s important to remember that you mustn’t wait until Christmas to leverage the power of the holiday shopping frenzy to boost revenues.
Holidays are an ecommerce brand's best friend, as they represent a year-round opportunity to build brand awareness and drive sales.
From Easter to Mother’s Day and First Day of Summer, make sure you always tap into consumer’s festive spirit with promotions and other incentives. Always prepare at least a couple of weeks in advance, and get ready to reap the profits.
