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Your 12-Month Retail Calendar: How to Make the Most of Seasonal Sales All Year Long |
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CHAPTER 2 9 MIN
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Your 12-Month Retail Fiscal Calendar by Season
Now that you understand what seasonal selling periods are and why they’re so important, let’s look at some examples and break it down into a retail fiscal calendar. Here’s a preview of what we’ll look at:
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● Winter holidays
● Back-to-school ● Changes in season/weather ● Graduation |
● Non-Christmastime holidays
● Tourism ● Sports |
Get your 12-month retail planning toolkit to stay on top of busy and slow periods all year long. |
Winter holidays
Winter holidays, fourth quarter, Christmas — whatever you want to call it, there’s no doubt that November and December are the busiest season months for retail.
Let’s look at the stats, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF):
Winter holidays, fourth quarter, Christmas — whatever you want to call it, there’s no doubt that November and December are the busiest season months for retail.
Let’s look at the stats, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF):
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● Customers spent $691.9 billion during the 2017 holiday season, exceeding NRF’s forecasted $678–$682 billion.
● The NRF predicts consumers will spend up to $720 billion during the 2018 holidays. ● Consumers planned to spend about $967 during the holidays: |
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⚬ $608: gifts for friends, family, coworkers, etc. (Consumers spend significantly more on gifts for family than friends, coworkers and others.)
⚬ $218: candy, food, decorations, greeting cards, flowers, potted plants ⚬ $141: non-gift purchases for themselves and family — this is important to note because while most shoppers are buying gifts, there are also other opportunities to push non-gift items. |
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● Six in 10 consumers want to receive a gift card, while 55% would like to be gifted clothing. Share these insights with customers to help them make final decisions.. Gift cards are often considered thoughtless gifts, but the majority of consumers want them. Offer a way to make them more thoughtful with personalization or high-quality packaging.
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What was once just Christmas and Black Friday has turned into a whole fiscal quarter of shopping events. It’s helpful to break it down by each phase of the holiday season so you can recognize the different contexts shoppers are coming from.
Black Friday: The day after Thanksgiving
This was the most popular day for in-store shopping in 2017, cited by 77 million consumers, according to the NRF. If you’ve actively promoted your Black Friday promotions, be ready for lots of foot traffic.
These shoppers are looking for deals — you’ll want to promote your biggest discounts on Black Friday. This is a good time to slash prices on slow sellers from Q3 or soon-to-be-outdated fall product lines.
Remember to make it easy to navigate the store, keep walkways clear, and spread your most popular or anticipated items throughout your store.
Small Business Saturday: The Saturday after Thanksgiving
The second-most popular day for in-store shopping was Small Business Saturday, with 55 million consumers. According to the 2017 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, the most popular businesses were:
This was the most popular day for in-store shopping in 2017, cited by 77 million consumers, according to the NRF. If you’ve actively promoted your Black Friday promotions, be ready for lots of foot traffic.
These shoppers are looking for deals — you’ll want to promote your biggest discounts on Black Friday. This is a good time to slash prices on slow sellers from Q3 or soon-to-be-outdated fall product lines.
Remember to make it easy to navigate the store, keep walkways clear, and spread your most popular or anticipated items throughout your store.
Small Business Saturday: The Saturday after Thanksgiving
The second-most popular day for in-store shopping was Small Business Saturday, with 55 million consumers. According to the 2017 Small Business Saturday Consumer Insights Survey, the most popular businesses were:
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1. Restaurants, bars, and pubs (41%)
2. Clothing and accessories stores (24%) 3. Food stores (23%) 4. Coffee shops (22%) |
Use this day to promote your locally sourced wares or products that give back.
Museum Store Sunday: The Sunday after Thanksgiving
A less popular but potentially impactful day during the holiday season is Museum Store Sunday. It was created to promote the retail shops that many museums have. “Museum Store Sunday offers a special shopping experience in one-of-a kind stores, showcasing broad assortments of highly curated, unique, mission-specific gifts,” their website says.
Here are a few ideas on how you might be able to get involved on Museum Store Sunday:
Museum Store Sunday: The Sunday after Thanksgiving
A less popular but potentially impactful day during the holiday season is Museum Store Sunday. It was created to promote the retail shops that many museums have. “Museum Store Sunday offers a special shopping experience in one-of-a kind stores, showcasing broad assortments of highly curated, unique, mission-specific gifts,” their website says.
Here are a few ideas on how you might be able to get involved on Museum Store Sunday:
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● Sell wholesale to museum shops and get your wares in front of their customers.
● Donate a portion of your sales on Museum Store Sunday to a local museum or gallery. ● Partner with a local museum to host an event or pop-up on Museum Store Sunday. |
Cyber Monday: The Monday after Thanksgiving
When Cyber Monday rolls around, shoppers are still looking for deals like ones from Black Friday. Only this time, they’re bargain hunting online. This means brick-and-mortar retailers are under extra pressure to compete.
If you sell online as well as in your store, promote Cyber Monday savings on your site. To drive customers to visit your shop, offer extra discounts on in-store purchases. Don’t sell online? Extend your Black Friday or Small Business Saturday promotions to span the entire weekend, and make sure everyone knows about it.
Giving Tuesday: The Tuesday after Thanksgiving
The holidays isn’t all about shopping, is it? To take us back to the human side of the holiday season, Giving Tuesday was established as an occasion for consumers to make a conscience effort to give back. We’re spending all this money on our loved ones and ourselves, what about those who are less fortunate?
The holiday has acquired momentum. In 2016 alone, U.S. consumers spent (raised) $180 million on Giving Tuesday, according to the Giving Tuesday Insight Report. As a retailer, you can get in on the movement and donate a portion of your sales from this day. Take it a step further and look to add products that give back: Pura Vida Bracelets, for example, has an entire line of products that give back to charities.
When Cyber Monday rolls around, shoppers are still looking for deals like ones from Black Friday. Only this time, they’re bargain hunting online. This means brick-and-mortar retailers are under extra pressure to compete.
If you sell online as well as in your store, promote Cyber Monday savings on your site. To drive customers to visit your shop, offer extra discounts on in-store purchases. Don’t sell online? Extend your Black Friday or Small Business Saturday promotions to span the entire weekend, and make sure everyone knows about it.
Giving Tuesday: The Tuesday after Thanksgiving
The holidays isn’t all about shopping, is it? To take us back to the human side of the holiday season, Giving Tuesday was established as an occasion for consumers to make a conscience effort to give back. We’re spending all this money on our loved ones and ourselves, what about those who are less fortunate?
The holiday has acquired momentum. In 2016 alone, U.S. consumers spent (raised) $180 million on Giving Tuesday, according to the Giving Tuesday Insight Report. As a retailer, you can get in on the movement and donate a portion of your sales from this day. Take it a step further and look to add products that give back: Pura Vida Bracelets, for example, has an entire line of products that give back to charities.
Free Shipping Day: December 14
Another ecommerce-oriented occasion, Free Shipping Day is exactly that: a day where online retailers may offer free shipping to orders that otherwise would have an additional shipping charge.
Again, retailers need to get creative to compete here. Consider hosting a “Free Ship From Store” Day. Offer to let customers pay for their purchases and ship it to their homes on their chosen date. You can spin this as a service to parents with children who like to snoop on Santa.
Super Saturday: The last Saturday before Christmas
Super Saturday is for all the procrastinators, extremely busy people, or people who just loathe shopping — this is when they have that “oh no!” moment and need to purchase something last-minute. This is also why this day is often referred to as Panic Saturday.
This day is becoming increasingly important for retailers. In 2012, only 5% of holiday shopping was AFTER December 25; five years later, that number was more than 7x higher, according to Deloitte. And brick-and-mortar shops have the advantage over online sellers in this scenario, with the ability to offer instant gratification and fulfillment, unlike ecommerce sites.
Another ecommerce-oriented occasion, Free Shipping Day is exactly that: a day where online retailers may offer free shipping to orders that otherwise would have an additional shipping charge.
Again, retailers need to get creative to compete here. Consider hosting a “Free Ship From Store” Day. Offer to let customers pay for their purchases and ship it to their homes on their chosen date. You can spin this as a service to parents with children who like to snoop on Santa.
Super Saturday: The last Saturday before Christmas
Super Saturday is for all the procrastinators, extremely busy people, or people who just loathe shopping — this is when they have that “oh no!” moment and need to purchase something last-minute. This is also why this day is often referred to as Panic Saturday.
This day is becoming increasingly important for retailers. In 2012, only 5% of holiday shopping was AFTER December 25; five years later, that number was more than 7x higher, according to Deloitte. And brick-and-mortar shops have the advantage over online sellers in this scenario, with the ability to offer instant gratification and fulfillment, unlike ecommerce sites.
Seasonal spotlight: The Giving Manger
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The Giving Manger is a really unique brand: They only have ONE product, and it’s only in demand ONCE a year. Owners (and sisters) Lisa Kalberer and Allison Hottinger turned an annual holiday tradition with their families into a nationwide business.
Though the product is meant for use in December, their busy season begins in August, thanks to B2B sales to brick-and-mortar shops across the country. “It gets busier week by week,” says Hottinger. By early December, business slows down, and they usually sell out of product. Because it’s so seasonal, they have to be careful not to produce too many manger-building kits, otherwise they won’t be able to recoup those losses. Small Business Saturday gives the brand a spike in sales. “[This is] mostly mostly due to influencers sharing our product on that day and encouraging their followers to shop small,” Hottinger says. “Online sales stay pretty steady throughout the holiday season, mostly |
NEXT CHAPTER 8 MIN
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3. Your 12-Month Retail Fiscal Calendar by Season: Non-Christmastime Holidays (Jan-Mar)
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