getting holiday sales Archives

by Gail Oliver, Ecommerce Marketing Consultant

If you want your online shop to succeed, you have to advertise. There is no way around it. Your competitors are advertising, so you need to as well. I am not sure why so many shops fight it when it is one of the most effective and proven ways to drive traffic and sales.

Now, I also believe in spending your ad dollars wisely, especially if they are limited. Therefore, if your shop does the best during the high gift buying times of the year, such as Valentines Day, Mother’s Day, Christmas and so forth, then save your advertising dollars for these occasions to get the most bang for your marketing budget.

The key is to look at when people start searching and when those searches peak. Below are my recommendations for when you should run ads to maximize your sales opportunities as well as cash in on those early shoppers. Be sure to bookmark this page for reference.

Teachers Gifts

Searches start in November and reach their peak in December. They start again in early May and peak in late May, with some searches still in June, but searches are highest in December overall, so we can assume that Christmas gifts for teachers are more popular than end of year gifts.

RUN YOUR ADS: mid November to mid December; all of May.

Valentines Gifts

Searches start in late December right after Christmas and reach their peak the first week of February.

RUN YOUR ADS: late December to February 9th.

Mother’s Day Gifts

Searches start around Valentines Day and then hit their first peak mid March, likely for the UK Mother’s Day. Searches start up again mid April and peak the first week of May.

RUN YOUR ADS: mid February to mid March; mid April to the first week of May.

Graduation Gifts

Searches start in early April, peak in mid May, with still some searches in June.

RUN YOUR ADS: early April to first week of June.

Father’s Day Gifts

Searches actually start in April as the second wave of people who are searching for a Mother’s Day gift likely decide to look for a Father’s Day gift at the same time. Searches peak by mid June.

RUN YOUR ADS: mid April to first week of June.

Christmas Gifts

Searches start in October, grow through November, but forget about what you heard about Black Friday. December is still when searches for Christmas gifts is the highest (those last minute shoppers).

RUN YOUR ADS: mid October to December 20th.