Key points in this article:
- Holiday marketing is essential because the season brings increased demand and competition, making it crucial for ecommerce businesses to stand out and attract both existing and new customers.
- Holiday shoppers feel a stronger urgency to buy due to time-sensitive gift purchasing, which means well-timed campaigns can lead to more impulse buys.
- Planning ahead and staying organized is important, as many consumers begin their holiday shopping early, so businesses should outline their promotions and timelines well before the season.
- Using the most relevant marketing channels for your audience—such as social media, email, and paid ads—helps ensure your holiday efforts reach the right customers.
- Creating compelling offers without devaluing your products and expanding marketing strategies, like content and nonprofit collaborations, can help your holiday campaigns perform better.
Regardless of the size of your ecommerce business, the holiday season is likely going to demand your full attention. As internet shopping becomes increasingly popular, more and more consumers are turning to digital commerce stores for their holiday purchases.
But with so much competition on the web, how can you be sure to catch the eye of shoppers in order to take advantage of this? Having a powerful marketing strategy in place can encourage your current customers to return to buy presents for their loved ones and get new customers for your ecommerce store.
Whether you’re completely new to holiday marketing or are looking to develop your current strategy, this article will help guide you on the path to launching festive campaigns that convert!
Although the exact path to success regarding holiday marketing can vary from store to store, there are a few tactics that should prove effective for any ecommerce entrepreneur, regardless of what they sell. Here are some helpful ideas to consider implementing into your future campaigns!
Table of contents
- 1. Organize a giveaway on social media
- 2. Host a webinar or an online course
- 3. Share previews for enticing promotions
- 4. Send holiday-themed emails
- 5. Make a holiday video
- 6. Create a holiday gift guide
- 7. Collaborate with a non-profit organization
- 8. Sell an Advent calendar featuring your products
- 9. Reduce your cart abandonment rate with free shipping
- 10. Launch holiday-themed products
- 11. Keep your customers informed about shipping deadlines
- 12. Create limited-time offers
- 13. Promote gift cards for your online store
- Final thoughts
1. Organize a giveaway on social media
Most people love a good giveaway, and your followers on social platforms are likely to be no exception!
Organizing a giveaway or contest on social media is an excellent way to expand your reach and delight your followers at the same time.
Consider giving your event a holiday twist by, for example, gifting winners with a holiday-themed product, having participants answer holiday-related trivia, or giving away two items, as in one for the winner and one for their friend to help spread the holiday cheer.
As with any giveaway or contest you host on social networks or elsewhere throughout the year, you’ll want to be sure that you clearly state the rules of the event, including what entrants must do to participate, the prize, how the winner(s) will be chosen, and the deadlines for entry.
You should also detail how the winner(s) will be notified, e.g., via DM or tagged in your Stories, as well as the date that you’ll announce the winner(s).
Holiday giveaway by Delectables Cat Treats and Travel Cat (Your Cat Backpack) on Instagram
2. Host a webinar or an online course
Connect with your audience on a more personal level during seasonal festivities by hosting a webinar or online course that’s pertinent to what you offer on your ecommerce site.
For instance, if you sell hiking backpacks, you might conduct a tutorial on how to care for your products or what to pack for winter camping trips.
With this type of promotion, you’ll be able to teach consumers and increase their knowledge about a specific topic, simultaneously boosting their trust in your brand in the process.
This can often then naturally lead to more sales for your ecommerce business!
Keep in mind that even when webinars or online courses are offered free of charge, it can sometimes be difficult to get people to sign up for them.
By stating that attendees will receive a gift, such as a special discount code, at the end of the event, you can make your educational offering all the more tempting.
Tips for Healthy Holiday Eating webinar by Foodsmart
3. Share previews for enticing promotions
Consumers are well aware that the holidays provide many opportunities to take advantage of amazing deals from their favorite companies.
In fact, many even hold off on making purchases until major events like Black Friday arrive. Build anticipation for your own sales extravaganza by giving shoppers a preview of the event in advance.
This encourages people to begin planning their shopping early on and possibly even prioritize your business above others! Announce your sale via social networks, email, and/or your site, and if possible make it easy for users to add items to their wish lists to facilitate the buying process.
Sephora Black Friday preview
4. Send holiday-themed emails
Hopefully you already have a good email marketing plan in place, but if not, the holiday season is a great time to start!
When determining what content to include in your emails, remember that it should always involve what will be most appreciated by your subscribers.
Say that you sell pet supplies. Your seasonal emails sent to an animal-loving audience might then include gift guides for different kinds of pets, recipes for tasty treats, advice on how to keep a Christmas tree safe from cats whose only obsession seems to be to climb it at 2 AM every night, a photo of your company’s team members’ pets wearing Christmas sweaters, etc.
Although you won’t want to use your holiday newsletters strictly as advertising space to promote your ecommerce business, they’re perfect for highlighting special discounts or seasonal goods and services that your subscribers may want to take advantage of!
Holiday email by ASOS
5. Make a holiday video
Videos are becoming increasingly preferred over images by consumers around the world. A quick glance at social platforms proves this, with TikTok’s popularity skyrocketing and platforms like Instagram beginning to prioritize Reels over images.
It’s no surprise then that videos can be used as effective ecommerce marketing tools at any point, but you definitely won’t want to miss out on their power for your next festive campaign!
For many people, watching videos on YouTube or other social media platforms is a great way to discover new brands and products to purchase for themselves or for others. In addition, you can also use your videos on social networks, on your website, or even in your emails.
Of course, before you craft your holiday video, you’ll need to determine what you hope to achieve with it. Do you want to educate customers? Highlight a product? Boost engagement? Increase brand awareness? You may very well have several goals in mind for your project.
Next, you’ll decide what type of video you’d like to make. For instance, you could tell viewers all about your latest products, demo a product’s use around the holidays, show support for your local community or a non-profit organization, wish your customers a happy holiday season, etc.
Feel free to have fun and let your creativity go crazy!
Holiday video by Chewy
6. Create a holiday gift guide
Shopping during the holidays isn’t always filled with joy and merriment—many consumers can find this period stressful, especially when they’re having trouble deciding what to buy for their loved ones.
Ease their stress by creating a gift guide that details a variety of gift ideas for shoppers to consider for their purchases throughout the season.
Note that when well crafted, this type of guide can be a powerful type of content marketing. You’ll be assisting users with gift inspiration while also promoting your ecommerce business.
Although you’ll of course want to include your own company’s products in the guide, consider adding goods from other businesses as well. You might even opt to collaborate with other brands when creating the guide, as they’ll be able to share it with their base and therefore help you gain even more customers online!
Gift guides can be supplied in various formats. You could, for example, offer a PDF that shoppers can download for free on your site either automatically or by providing their contact details as a way to help build your email list.
Other brands opt to offer gift suggestions via video, as done by REI:
Video gift guide by REI on Instagram
Another option is to create a landing page or a special category page on your website to provide gift ideas, as shown in the image below by LUSH.
Holiday gift guide on the LUSH website
7. Collaborate with a non-profit organization
Although it’s of course wonderful to give back at any moment, many people feel even more inspired to do so during the holiday season. By collaborating with a nonprofit, you’ll be helping others and simultaneously demonstrate to your customers that you care about more than just your bottom line.
When deciding which nonprofit to partner with, aim to find one that best matches up with your values as well as those of your target market. This can aid in strengthening your brand and show that your actions align with your messaging.
If you have no idea where to begin, try searching for a local non-profit group in your community or checking with your followers on social media to discover the groups that mean the most to them.
Then, there are various ways that your ecommerce business can collaborate with the organization.
You might, for example, sponsor an event to raise awareness and money for the organization, donate a percentage of your profits from the sale of a specific product, or donate a percentage of your profits from the sale of anything available from your store when purchased on a certain date.
HOKA spotlighting a nonprofit on Instagram
8. Sell an Advent calendar featuring your products
When you create an Advent calendar to sell on your ecommerce website, you make it possible for customers to discover something new from your brand each day.
An Advent calendar is a holiday-themed concept that reveals something new each day in the lead-up to Christmas, traditionally counting down from December 1 to December 24.
For ecommerce businesses, it can be an effective holiday marketing idea because it encourages customers to return to your site daily, increasing engagement and boosting conversions through repeated product exposure.
Featuring your brand’s products helps customers discover your range in a fun, low-pressure way while building excitement over time.
To create the best results, your Advent calendar should be part of a clear strategy: target products that appeal to your core customer, balance hero items with hidden gems, and support the launch with a well-promoted campaign.
Advent calendar by LEGO
9. Reduce your cart abandonment rate with free shipping
For many shoppers, the cost of shipping can be one of the biggest barriers to completing a purchase when it comes to digital commerce.
During the busiest shopping day and season of the year, customers are especially sensitive to unexpected shipping costs, which can quickly derail conversions at checkout.
Free shipping also helps brands stand out across marketing channels, where shoppers are comparing options more closely than usual.
With this idea, you’ll want to start planning early by setting clear thresholds or timelines that protect your margins while still appealing to the customer.
Be sure to promote the offer consistently and communicate shipping deadlines clearly, so buyers feel confident ordering in time.
When used strategically, free shipping can boost trust, reduce cart abandonment, increase order value, and drive stronger holiday performance year after year.
Example of an offer for free shipping (Source: Really Good Emails)
10. Launch holiday-themed products
Another great way to tap into seasonal excitement and emotional buying during the holidays is to offer a holiday-themed product for sale on your ecommerce website.
A festive product can feel timely and special, giving shoppers a clear reason to choose your brand for gifting or personal purchases.
Examples include limited-edition holiday packaging, seasonal scents or flavors, or bundled products designed specifically for gift-giving.
Remember to treat the launch as a focused marketing campaign, using email to announce availability and highlight urgency.
Also aim to keep the holiday theme aligned with your brand identity so it feels authentic rather than forced.
Holiday-themed product collaboration between What’s Your Passion Jewelry and Care Bears
11. Keep your customers informed about shipping deadlines
With all the hustle and bustle of the holiday shopping season, it’s important for your ecommerce business to help manage your customers’ expectations during the busiest time of the year.
Clear communication encourages customers to complete their purchases early, reducing last-minute stress and potential delays.
To effectively target your audience, start sharing shipping cutoff dates early across all channels, including email, social media, and your website.
You can also use countdown timers or reminders to reinforce the message as the deadline approaches.
These tips help build trust and improve customer satisfaction by ensuring timely delivery, which can increase repeat business.
Travel Cat email noting holiday shipping deadline
12. Create limited-time offers
Limited-time deals encourage your audience to act quickly, boosting conversions by creating a fear of missing out.
These offers help your brand stand out amid the crowded holiday marketplace and can drive increased traffic on key shopping days like Black Friday or Cyber Monday.
To maximize success, support your campaign with clear messaging in your content across all channels, especially social media, where real-time updates and countdowns create buzz.
Plan your digital commerce offers strategically to align with your audience’s needs and shopping habits, and promote them early to build anticipation.
Depending on your target audience, the biggest dates for holiday buying can vary. However, here are several that you may want to note for 2026, as they may be important for your ecommerce store:
- Thanksgiving (US): November 26
- Black Friday: November 27
- Small Business Saturday: November 28
- Cyber Monday: November 30
- Giving Tuesday: December 1
- Green Monday: December 14
Black Friday offer from Alchemilla Herbcraft
13. Promote gift cards for your online store
The holiday shopping season can be fun and exciting, but it can also be a stressful time for consumers. With many shoppers waiting until the last minute to make a purchase or wondering what to get those hard-to-shop-for loved ones, gift cards can be a real life saver!
Offering customers the ability to buy gift cards for your online store gives them a convenient and flexible gifting option, especially during the busiest shopping time of the year.
Gift cards help increase sales by encouraging recipients to explore your products, often leading to additional purchases beyond the card’s value.
As part of your marketing strategy, you’ll want to highlight the ease and versatility of gift cards across all channels to reach your target audience effectively. The best approach is to start promoting gift cards early, emphasizing last-minute gifting solutions and personalized messages.
In addition, it’s a good idea to create attractive designs and incentives, such as bonus credit with purchase, to motivate customers.
Gift cards not only boost holiday sales but also expand your customer base and foster long-term loyalty.
Space NK promoting gift cards as last-minute gifts
Final thoughts: Keep the momentum going with post-holiday marketing!
While the holiday season can certainly get a bit chaotic for those with an internet commerce store, it also provides one of the best opportunities to boost awareness of your business, create a memorable customer experience, increase engagement, and earn more revenue.
After the hecticness of this time of year is over, you may be tempted to let your marketing campaigns fall by the wayside…
Keep in mind, though, that many consumers may have recently received gift cards and money as presents and may be looking for ways to utilize their new funds through online shopping. Others may have discovered your shop when buying gifts for their loved ones and want to return to purchase items for themselves.
Maintain the momentum you’d created with your holiday marketing by working on campaigns for the new year and beyond.
This can be achieved by methods such as creating special end-of-the-year sales, utilizing the data you collected to improve your future marketing messages with segmentation, and continuing to provide high-quality content in any of your strategies in your ecommerce marketing checklist, involving social media, blog posts, email newsletters, etc.
