A holiday season like never before.
This year, your customers are looking forward to celebrating the holidays more than ever before. Find out why, what it means for e-commerce brands, and learn how to set your brand up for growth through the end of 2020.
Holiday shopping starts now. Ready, set, grow!
2020 has been tough. With drastic life and economic changes due to the coronavirus, people deeply miss having something to look forward to. From making one’s home feel festive to gift-giving and practicing traditions, it’s no wonder why people are looking to have fun and find familiarity in the holidays this year. With a holiday season like never before, there is an even bigger opportunity for e-commerce brands.
With the risk of infection continuing through 2020, consumers are doing much more of their holiday shopping online.
Shoppers are looking to the brands they love to help them celebrate, but smaller businesses are up against the big dogs and a lot of noise. From industry research and market predictions to our latest data and learnings, consider this your hub for helping you connect with your customers this holiday season.
Holiday searches on Pinterest in April 2020 jumped 77% higher than April 2019.
– Pinterest Earlier than ever:
Holiday 2020 Report
Seasonal Marketing Calendar
From Prime Day and Small Business Saturday to Christmas and everything in between, this calendar will help you define your seasonal marketing goals and plan your campaigns through the end of 2020.
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 Labor Day | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 Rosh Hashana | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| 27 Yom Kippur | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 Indigenous Peoples' Day | 13 Amazon Prime Day Begins | 14 Amazon Prime Day Ends | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 Halloween |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 Election Day | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 Veteran's Day | 12 | 13 | 14 |
| 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 |
| 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 Thanksgiving Day | 27 Black Friday | 28 Small Business Saturday |
| 29 | 30 Cyber Monday |
| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 Hanukkah Begins | 11 | 12 |
| 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 Hanukkah Ends | 19 |
| 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 Christmas Eve | 25 Christmas Day | 26 Kwanzaa Begins |
| 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 New Year's Eve |
Calendar Legend
- High CPM
- Medium-High CPM
- Medium CPM
- Low CPM
- Online Shopping Season
Goal 1: Reach New Customers
CPMs dipped in March and April this year and have been following 2019’s trends since May. We can expect CPMs to steadily rise through Q3 and peak in November. Now’s the time to double down on getting your brand in front of new potential customers.
Goal 2: Plan Logistics and Operations
With more shoppers purchasing online this year logistics, inventory management, shipping, and packaging are more important than ever. Plan and finalize operational pieces now to ensure great customer experiences, and communicate them loud and proud.
Goal 3: Reach New Customers
Without large in-store shopping events this year holidays like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday will not be limited to just one day. Rather than having one huge deal, breaking it up into several smaller deals that run across the pre-holiday shopping season will lead to greater growth for your brand by meeting your customer’s needs.
Goal 1: Grow Customer Relationships
With increasing CPMs now’s the time to grow relationships with existing customers and contacts. Engage your audience with creative and communicative emails designed to up excitement for the holiday season. Design personalized shopping experiences, and carry your messages across channels and devices.
Goal 2: Prepare Your Online Store
Last year, one of the biggest complaints online shoppers had were issues with website quality. Namely, the site breaking and checkout flows not working. Get ready for heavy site traffic and avoid missing out on sales by load testing and quality assuring your online store now.
Goal 3: Motivate Customers to Shop Small and to Start Shopping Now
Big-box retailers are ramping up their efforts to capture more e-commerce market share this year. Encourage your customers to shop small early this season and begin offering motivational seasonal promotions. Don’t let big box retailers own your customer relationships.
Goal 1: Convert Early and Often
Convert like crazy with targeted and personalized retargeting campaigns. Drive conversions throughout the month by adapting one-day events like Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday to smaller several-day promotional offerings that begin at the start of November.
Goal 2: Give a World-Class Customer Experience
This year, the world will experience its largest demand for e-commerce holiday shopping ever and delivery services will have a hard time keeping up. Get ahead of delivery timing issues by motivating your customers to shop early and clearly communicating realistic expectations and then deliver on your promises. Have all hands on deck to manage customer support requests.
Goal 1: Target Last-Minute Holiday Shoppers
Entice last-minute holiday shoppers with creative and efficient ideas like digital gift cards to drive purchases. Communicate expectations around shipping deadlines, available stock, and more.
Goal 2: Drive Customer Engagement and Loyalty
Your brand will help make celebrations extra special. Focus on building loyalty by creating opportunities for your customers to share the great experiences they’re having with your brand. Encourage social shares and ask customers to leave reviews.
Goal 3: Focus on Analytics and Reporting
The performance data you gather this holiday season is critical to guiding your brand growth strategy for 2021. If there’s one key opportunity e-commerce brands have this holiday season, it’s that they’re getting a taste of what the future looks like.
Seasonal Marketing Resources
We’re here to help. Get free seasonal marketing-related information, tips, and tricks that will help you grow your brand through the end of this year and beyond.
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Black Friday in 2020
With 2020 throwing millions of companies into a tailspin, the stakes have never been higher for the holiday shopping season. This guide will help you manage this season successfully and grow your brand.
Monthly Seasonal Marketing Goals
In these posts, you’ll find monthly seasonal marketing goals you should be focusing on along with tips and tricks on how to hit them.
Reaching Out with Email
If you're looking for email templates to promote your business during these holidays, be sure to check out AdRoll's designs. With over 200 customizable templates to choose from, there's one ready to go for every occassion.
