Sales Holidays for Small Businesses

The holidays are back!

The recurring holidays are already on everyone’s mind, but every year there's an opportunity to jump on a different holiday or a new celebration. If you’re looking for some unique ways to engage your audience and keep the holiday sales rolling, try advertising for one of these lesser known days.

Small Business Saturday

Calling all independent businesses: this small business holiday is for you. Held on the last Saturday of November, Small Business Saturday (or Shop Small Saturday), is a counterpart to Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Instead of focusing on big box retail and e-commerce stores, this holiday shines a spotlight on small and local brick and mortar businesses. 

While it started as a small undertaking by American Express, Small Business Saturday has now become a full-fledged contender with the rest of the shopping holidays. In 2022, American Express reported that spending reached almost $17.9 billion.

Don’t miss out on joining the movement — prepare your business for this day with the following tips: 

• Announce your participation. Let your customers and prospects around your community know you have special things planned for this day. Use social media marketing, email outreach, and even flyers — anything you can to get the word out there. This is especially important for your prospects: A whopping 96% of consumers who’ve shopped on Small Business Saturday said the day makes them want to Shop Small all year long. This could be an excellent opportunity to gain a fan.

• Cross-promote with other businesses. The essence of this holiday for small businesses is to bring communities together. Reach out to other small businesses and build a partnership that could be profitable for both parties. For instance, you can offer a discount to anyone who presents a receipt from your partner store, and they can do the same for you.

• Make it special. Whether it's sprucing up your store with streamers and balloons, or redesigning your website to honor this day, it's essential to let your customers know that they're a part of the celebration.

Sofa Sunday

Yup, Sofa Sunday is a real thing, and no, it’s not a day where sofas go for crazy low prices. It's the day before Cyber Monday when you get to curl up with your jammies and search for deals.

Why is this day important for your business? Because it’s essential to develop your holiday strategies on time —two-thirds of shoppers will spend more time researching deals on Sofa Sunday than actually shopping on Cyber Monday. It’s a great time to make a positive final impression with shoppers before the big day.

With so much attention focused on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, many retailers may overlook Sofa Sunday – an influential shopping day,” said Curtis Tingle, SVP of Product, Valassis.

With that in mind, take a look at your marketing metrics and figure out what’s been performing best. For example, if a particular product has been receiving the most engagement, you can make it the star of your homepage.

Boxing Day

You might think that with Christmas being over, so are the sales (and you can finally rest). However, you should know that Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) is one of the most popular days to shop during the holidays, with 75% of Australians stating they’d dip into their savings to shop the holiday in 2022. While it’s a bigger event in Canada, the UK, and Australia you can take advantage of it as a small biz.

Here are a few suggestions on how:

• Use your Christmas campaign traffic. Hype people up with messaging that emphasizes how the holidays may be over, but the sales aren’t. 

• Make a splash on social media. People are enjoying their Christmas presents and plastering them all over social media, which makes it the perfect time to boost visibility. Ask your followers to post pictures of your products with a hashtag, or run a contest with discounts as prizes.

• Deck out your website. Some brands are business as usual, even on select holidays. Make sure that when people visit your site, they know they’re in for a good time on Boxing Day.

Blue Monday

Whether you’re in the UK or not, Blue Monday is a holiday to consider adding to your calendar. Coined by UK travel company, Sky Travel, the day is said to be the most depressing of the year: January 15 (2024).

As a brand you can lean into the post-holiday blues and offer a shopping escape. Try:

• Discounts. Who doesn’t feel better with a % off their shopping cart?

• Continue the narrative. If your customers were just setting goals with you and your product/service a month ago, continue the narrative. Become their biggest fan and uplift and remind them what you can do together this year. 

• Tease upcoming announcements. A brighter future is on the way! Tease new discounts, loyalty programs, products, and more.
  

Learn From Your Holiday Efforts

Tapping into holiday trends is a great way to close out the year. However, without the right tracking and reporting, you won’t know how much your effort paid off. Spend time organizing, creating UTMs, and tracking campaign movement after launch so that you can bask in the glory of your successful efforts.

Craft a holiday strategy that will return for the rest of the year with our resources below!

Last updated on September 19th, 2023.