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Advertisers rightfully view the end-of-year holidays as the biggest shopping time of the year; the 2023 season turned in a staggering $964.4 billion spent. Focus on it too much, however, and you just might miss other opportunities where consumers are happy to open their wallet.
Genius Monkey data shows that personalizing ads around current events increases click-through rates by 35%! Let’s take a look at the other big shopping days through the year and the best strategies for making them work for you!
10) Prime Days
Amazon commands a leading 37.8% of the e-commerce marketplace and invites the world to celebrate the medium with deals and discounts each summer. On the 11th and 12th of July, consumers hop online to spend around $6.4 billion each year. Popular items include electronics, home and garden items, and health/beauty supplies.
During this event, customers generally focus on buying smaller items in bundled discounts. Whether your business is exclusively online or just barely testing the waters, check out these 5 tips for elevating your e-commerce strategy!
9) St. Patrick’s Day
On March 17th, over 50% of Americans celebrate the Irish with corned beef, cabbage, and a whole lot of booze. St. Patrick’s day is the 4th most popular drinking day in the U.S., following New Years, Christmas, and the 4th of July (more on that soon). Guinness is a popular choice – selling around 13 million pints – and the color green becomes a major selling point for clothes and party decorations.
Participants cough up around $7 billion on the festivities each year. Lots of them will gather in bars and other public places for the evening – a perfect opportunity for your business to join the celebration with Irish-themed CTV ads! A captive audience looking for a good time will be more inclined to laugh along or embrace the feels; give them what they want!
8) 4th of July
Citizens of the U.S. will drop a cool $9.5 billion each year to commemorate the birth of the nation. Friends and families gather for barbecues and parades decorated with nostalgic red, white, and blue. 150 million hot dogs will be mercilessly devoured, and $2.2 billion worth of fireworks go up in smoke.
Every great party needs music, so there’s no better time for patriotic audio ads. The flexibility of modern audio ads means you can reach your audience wherever they’re celebrating, be it on the road to visit family (50.7 million people travel for the 4th), or in the comfort of their own homes.
7) Halloween
Spooky season has grown in popularity, becoming something of a pop culture celebration where both kids and adults dress up, go to parties, and eat lots of candy. Around 75% of Americans celebrate Halloween in one way or another, and one survey reported that about a quarter of Americans named it as their favorite holiday.
Consumers spent $12.2 billion gearing up for the big day in 2023. The most popular items are – in order – costumes, candy, decorations, and even greeting cards. The over-exposure to pop culture in the month or so leading up to Halloween can create some very interesting customer journeys:
Imagine a mom searching for a kid’s costume in a certain color; that might lead her to a Hobby Lobby, where she starts thinking on home decor. She searches for coupons in the Hobby Lobby and finds a deal for the furniture store next door, so she heads home with a costume AND a new coffee table.
Users can track the touch points and customer journey through Genius Monkey’s powerful attribution.
6) Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is consistently the largest sporting event in the U.S. each year, drawing in well over 100 million viewers who spend nearly $17.3 billion. It’s a heyday for the OTT/CTV industry; most of the Super Bowl spend goes to food, but nearly 10% goes to new TVs.
Sporting events remain at the top of the list for entertainment broadcasts, bringing with them a captive audience looking for a good time. More people are watching ad-supported sports streaming and broadcasting, evidenced by the decreasing CPMs. Even when the prices of ad placements themselves are slightly increasing, a disproportionately high number of people are watching and seeing your brand on their big screen!
5) Father’s Day
Every dad has his day, and it has become a day of gift-giving across the US. The most popular gift items are greeting cards, clothing, and special outings/experiences. In 2023, dads found themselves receiving a collective $22.9 billion spent across the nation.
When looking for Father’s day gift ideas, 70% of shoppers will turn to social media for suggestions, especially Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram: it’s a great time for sentimental or nostalgic social media ads!
4) Easter
When Spring is in the air, it’s time to set up the egg hunt! 81% of Americans reported they celebrated Easter in 2023, spending $24 billion on Easter eggs, candy, Easter baskets, decorations, and gifts. Compared to other holidays and celebrations, people don’t travel for Easter nearly as much, so you can expect to find them at home.
The commercial side of the holiday is geared towards families and especially kids, generally ones who haven’t received their first phone yet. Some of these younger children will have social media accounts set up, but most get their digital entertainment from tablets and streaming services. The Easter season is a great time to create OTT content directed towards younger audiences, both for the kids watching and the parents looking for ideas.
3) Valentine’s Day
Sometimes known as Love Day or Singles Awareness Day, Valentines is a day for people to show love and care for loved ones and themselves. Many will show it with fancy dinners, fun date nights, and chocolate: 58 million pounds of chocolate. All-in-all, they’ll spend around $25.8 billion.
As people are looking for activities and gifts, they keep a sharp eye out for valentine-specific deals. Using the Genius Monkey platform, you can see which competitor’s offers your target has seen, and offer them a better deal through targeted banner ads related to the consumer’s preferences and search patterns.
2) Mother’s Day
Sorry fellas: moms tend to get fancier gifts! The gift categories are largely the same, bumped up to $35.7 billion across the country. One study found that 48% of younger people (ages 18-24) want to give their mother an “experience” gift, like going to a fancy restaurant or taking a trip. Subscription boxes are an increasingly popular choice as well, with 66% of people ages 25-54 planning on gifting a sub box of some kind.
1) Back-to-School
And finally, the biggest shopping season outside of the winter holidays. Granted, it cheats a little since it covers late July - early September instead of a single day, but that doesn’t change the remarkable sales potential. Combining K-12 with college and university students, we’re looking at $135 billion spent on laptops, backpacks, school supplies and - get this - clothes.
Even for those who aren’t going to school, the end of summer represents a kind of second New Year - a new beginning that warrants spending money on hobbies, fashion, and home furnishings. During this season, it’s time to go all-in: display/banner/native ads, social media videos, emails offering deals, and serious retargeting for every customer that has visited your site without buying.
Programmatic Marketing Throughout the Year
Like every industry, digital marketing has its up-and-down periods, but that doesn’t have to stop you from getting the most from your money spent. Lowering your cost-per-conversion and increasing your exposure isn’t just our goal: it’s our business model!
Talk with the Genius Monkeys today to see how our state-of-the-art programmatic platform can help you evolve your marketing to the next level!
