One of the best ways to ensure a successful fiscal year is to plan ahead. By planning your inventory and promotional strategy months in advance, you can take advantage of the boom in demand on key sales days, holidays and special events.
Below is a list of all the major and minor holidays that occur throughout the year:
January
Brands that sell health and fitness products, productivity-enhancing products, and products that help customers organize their lives should target resolution shoppers with discounts and special offers.
- January 1: New Year’s Day
- January 16: Martin Luther King (MLK) Day
February
Brands selling giftable items should optimize their offers for Valentine’s Day. We also recommend including gift-related keywords in PPC campaigns to increase visibility. Use virtual bundle or Buy-one and get-one(BOGO) promotions to get rid of leftover stock from the holidays.
- February 2: Groundhog Day
- February 12: Super Bowl Sunday
- February 14: Valentine’s Day
- February 20: Presidents’ Day
March
Brands selling swimwear, travel products, Saint Patrick’s Day accessories, pool party supplies or products that can be given to women can expect a jump in sales.
- March 8: International Women’s Day
- March 13-15: The Prosper Show
- March 17: St. Patrick’s Day
- March 20: First day of spring
April
The businesses are selling products that can be placed in an Easter basket, pet products and eco-friendly products should tailor their offerings to the upcoming special days and holidays.
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- April 1: April Fools’ Day
- April 7: Good Friday
- April 9: Easter Sunday
- April 11: National Pet Day
- April 22: Earth Day
May
Brands offering Cinco de Mayo party supplies, gift items for moms and mother’s figures, or products related to Memorial Day like folding chairs, koozies, American flags, American flag apparel, and any kind of American flag-related gift items can see a boost in sales.
- May 1-4: Labor Day in China
- May 3-4: White Label Expo
- May 14: Mother’s Day
- May 4-6: Sellers Summit
- May 5: Cinco de Mayo
- May 31: Memorial Day
June
Brands that offer Father’s Day products should include gift-related keywords in their advertising campaigns and listing copy to increase visibility and accelerate sales. Just snap a good deal on your listing and watch the orders flow in.
- June 14: Flag Day
- June 18: Father’s Day
- June 21: First day of summer
July
Brands that sell summer must-haves, travel items and products that help shoppers celebrate the 4th of July can prepare for growth this month.
- July 4: Independence Day
August
Brands selling backpacks, laptops, water bottles, notebooks and other school essentials should optimize their listings with back-to-school keywords to target students, parents and teachers.
- August 16: Back-to-school
September
Brands selling NFL-related products, football/sports party supplies can expect to see an increase in sales for this month.
- September 4: Labor Day
- September 9: NFL season begins
- September 23: First day of Fall
October
Brands selling fall wardrobe essentials and costumes should ensure that their listing is in good shape for the upcoming holidays.
- October 9: Columbus Day
- October 31: Halloween
- October 31: Last day to order inventory before Lunar New Year
November
All the brands should start preparing for Black Friday & Cyber Monday. Ensure that inventory is in, marketing strategy is in place and discounts/deals are finalized.
- November 1: Last day to get inventory to Amazon warehouse for Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the holiday season
- November 8: Election Day
- November 11: Veterans Day and Singles’ Day
- November 23: Thanksgiving
- November 24: Black Friday
- November 25: Small Business Saturday
- November 27: Cyber Monday
December
All brands should include popular holiday and gift-related keywords in their advertising campaigns and listing copy to prepare for the most wonderful time of the year.
- December 7-15: Hanukkah
- December 21: First day of winter
- December 24: Christmas Eve
- December 25: Christmas
- December 26: Boxing Day
- December 31: New Year’s Eve
Inventory Send-in Date for Major Events and Days
- Mother’s Day (May 14th): March 24th
- Memorial Day (May 29th): April 10th
- Father’s Day (June 18th): April 28th
- Independence Day (July 4th): May 16th
- Prime Day (Mid-July): Early June
- Back to School season (Mid-July – Mid-September): May 29th
- Labor Day (September 4th): July 17th
- Holiday season (October-January): September 1st
Please note that these dates are based on predictions and are not actual deadlines.
Monthly Reminders to Keep your Business Running Smooth
- Take a look at your inventory and remove any inventory that’s been sitting in your warehouse for a long time. This will help you avoid long-term storage fees and restock limits.
- Place inventory orders for upcoming key sale days and events.
- Review your sales data.
- Keep on optimizing your listings and identify the scope for improvements.
- Ask your Amazon advertising agency to make adjustments to your Amazon PPC strategy.
Final Thoughts:
Retail holidays and major sales events are a great opportunity for brands to target customers and drive sales. With RetailTantra’s FBA calendar, brands can plan a comprehensive sales strategy and make the most of increased traffic during seasonal events and retail holidays.
If you don’t have much more time to prepare these sales occasions in your marketing calendar, then go with the specific events which are related to your business niche. If you don’t want to go through the trouble of planning for the entire year, you can leave that to the Amazon consultants at Retailtantra.com. We’ll keep track of all the important dates and make sure you’re always one step ahead.
(source: https://sell.amazon.com/fulfillment-by-amazon/holiday)
