Annual planning: Your ecommerce calendar for 2022

To the German article

The new year has already begun and many merchants are in the middle of planning their marketing for the period ahead. Although the pandemic of the last two years has shown that even the most thorough planning can be upset by unexpected events, as a shop operator you should still try to prepare for the year as thoroughly and proactively as possible.

After all, there is an advantage to all this: the coronavirus pandemic has further accelerated the growth of the ecommerce sector. In 2021, for example, there was a sales growth of almost 19% compared to the previous year [1]. If you keep an eye on all the important dates, you can plan marketing campaigns in good time, and therefore increase your sales potential.

With so many dates, it's easy to forget one or two – so we've put together a list to help you with your planning. This gives you an overview of the international holidays or seasonal events from month to month that you should definitely plan for. We provide you with practical tips and tools for implementing special offers and campaigns or creating suitable content – so that you can exploit the full potential of your shop throughout the year!

January

1 January – New Year’s Day

Although the first month of the new year has already passed, you can still use our tips to look back on January and check whether you prepared well in January for February. Like every year, Valentine's Day is coming up on the 14th of February. Sweets, flowers, personalised gifts, clothing or experience vouchers make the perfect gifts. Have you used Valentine's Day as an opportunity to inspire your customers and promote gifts for him and her?

Pralines: Besides flowers, the classic gift for Valentine's Day

February

1 February – Chinese New Year

14 February – Valentine's Day

In February, many people start their annual spring cleaning. So you can use this time to offer your customers the perfect products for tidying and cleaning their homes. At this time of year it's still cold and rainy in many countries, so plenty of people start thinking about planning their summer holidays – does your shop have products relevant to this? Perfect, then you can start showcasing these items with appealing promotional pages on the topic of summer holidays!

March

17 March – St. Patrick's Day

20 March – First day of spring

27 March – Summer time begins

The arrival of March brings with it the first signs of spring, and many people are starting to shop for outdoor products in a range of different categories to prepare for the coming season. The DIY and garden sectors in particular have seen enormous growth in ecommerce in recent years [2]. So now is the time to focus on the perfect products for spring.

Easter falls in April this year. According to one study, Easter is one of the most popular occasions for online shopping, which is probably not least due to the numerous Easter promotions in ecommerce [3]. Taking a look at the Google search queries around the topic of Easter, it is easy to see what users are searching for at what time. For example, people first start searching for "easter decorations" as early as January, but by far the most searches for this in 2021 were at the end of March/beginning of April.

Last year, the search for "easter gifts" began as early as mid-February, with enquiries peaking at the end of March. You can use these dates as a good guide when planning Easter promotions for your shop.

You don't see a graphic here? Then click here.

Or how about a special Easter deal for your VIP customers? The Dynamic Access feature gives you the option to make certain promotional pages or products visible only to selected customers or to create special rules for these customers. Learn more about the Dynamic Access feature here.

Promote your products for the upcoming Easter season in March.

April

17 April – Easter Sunday

As April approaches, the weather in many countries starts getting sunnier and our sense of anticipation for the coming summer months intensifies. Many customers want to take advantage of the first warm days, so they start to browse online for suitable products. This gives you the opportunity to increase your sales in April with a range of marketing campaigns. For example, you can put together suitable items in your online shop or publish blog posts to offer your customers inspiration on how to spend their springtime.

Remember, many countries celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day in May. Use newsletters and social media to inspire your customers with gift ideas. You could also try a paid campaign. The following is an overview of which countries celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day and when.

	Mother's Day	Father's Day
IT	8th May	19th March
PL	26th May	23rd June
FR	29th May	19th June
Benelux	NL 8th May BE 8th May LU 12th June	NL 19th June BE 12th June LU 2rd October
UK/IE	27th March	19th June
USA	8th May	19th June
AT	8th May	12th June
CH	8th May	5th June
ES	1st May	19th March
DE	8th May	26th May

Spring is also the beginning of the season for weddings, garden parties and graduation ceremonies. This is the ideal opportunity to promote quality clothing and decorations for these festive occasions.

 

 It's slowly getting warmer outside – your customers are drawn outside!

May

25 May – Shopware Community Day (hybrid event)

June

21 June – First day of summer/Summer solstice

Summer is finally here and your customers want to go outside – whether it's to the pool, the lake, on holiday, or spending time in the garden. Find out how you can use the summer slump effectively to create new customer incentives here.

July

In July and August, many shops are stuck in the so-called summer slump. But there is still plenty to do. This is the perfect time to review the year so far and optimise your workflows. Maybe you can automate some of your processes and work even more effectively in the future? This article on the topic of automation gives you a few suggestions.

August

August – first day of school

Summer will soon be over and autumn is just around the corner, and with it comes Halloween! Of course, suitable decorations and Halloween outfits are essential. Prepare your shop and bring the cosy atmosphere to your customers' homes. For example, you can highlight the perfect items in your shop or write topic-specific blog posts for your customers.

 

 Do you have suitable products for Halloween or autumn in your shop? Put them in the spotlight now!

September

23 September – First day of autumn

October

30 October – Summer time ends

31 October  – Halloween

Every year, Black Friday and the subsequent Cyber Monday are regarded as the big kick-off for Christmas trade and have become some of the most important sales days for merchants. Since many customers start finding out about Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers as early as October, it is important to prepare your shop and advertise promotions in good time [4]. We give you all the details on how to make Black Friday and Cyber Monday a success in your online store and what you need to know about preparing your online store in this blog post about the peak season.

Besides Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the majority of Christmas gifts are bought in the first two weeks of December [5]. Since Christmas is the season when most customers order their gifts online, you can boost your sales during the Christmas season with a little preparation [6].

There is also Single's Day on the 11th of November. This promotional day is popular in many Asian countries, and while it is not yet as widespread as Black Friday, it is becoming more and more relevant and has recently also gained in popularity in Europe and America [7]. So it may be worthwhile to think about special promotions for your shop on this day too. You can read all about exactly what Single's Day represents here.

November

11 November – Singles Day

21 November - 18 December – FIFA World Cup Qatar

24 November – Thanksgiving

25 November – Black Friday

28 November – Cyber Monday

From the start of November, anticipation is growing and preparations for the coming Christmas season are also gradually getting underway. So prepare your online shop now for the Christmas season, as this is when most sales are generated.

Gifts that can be customised or personalised are particularly popular. With Custom Products you can offer your customers the option of personalising their products according to their tastes, for example by choosing their favourite colour or adding personalised lettering.

Christmas decorations and gifts for loved ones are back in high demand.

December

6 December – St. Nicholas Day

21 December – Winter solstice

24 - 26 December – Christmas

31 December – New Year's Eve

High sales rates also bring some challenges during the Christmas season, such as an increased rate of returns [8]. However, a smart returns process can help you turn the cost of returns into conversions and repeat purchases. You can find out more about this in our blog post on the subject of returns and conversion optimisation.

In addition to following up on Christmas business, you can support and inspire your customers with their New Year's resolutions. In the fashion and food sectors, for example, you can focus on sportswear, sports accessories and healthy food. Apart from classic resolutions, you can also encourage your customers to adopt a more sustainable attitude and increased environmental awareness, for example. If you also add some tips, interesting facts or recipes, your products are sure to fly off the virtual shelves! This is the ideal way to combine content and commerce.

Conclusion

It is clear to see that throughout the year, you can find a wide range of occasions that lend themselves to launching marketing campaigns. The approach behind this is called occasion-based marketing and is highly effective. So never miss an opportunity to boost your sales with discount promotions, recommendations tailored to certain events or customised to specific customers, and special offers.

The Rule Builder and Flow Builder can also help you implement these offers in the Shopware online shop. For example, offer special customers a discount when they reach a certain purchase value or send them an offer email triggered by a specific promotion. Unleash your creativity!

Useful Shopware features – the Flow Builder and Rule Builder

This might also interest you:

• 5 tips for occasion-based marketing in your online store
• Shopware’s Rule Builder and its Importance to Delivering Best Practice ecommerce
• Customer centricity – the key factor in ecommerce 

 

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[1] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/71568/umfrage/online-umsatz-mit-waren-seit-2000/
[2] https://einzelhandel.de/index.php?option=com_attachments&task=download&id=10572
[3] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/875839/umfrage/beliebteste-anlaesse-fuer-online-shopping-in-deutschland/
[4] https://t3n.de/news/studie-deutsche-black-friday-mehr-ausgeben-1426608/
[5] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/361848/umfrage/kaufzeitpunkt-fuer-weihnachtsgeschenke-in-deutschland/
[6] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/875839/umfrage/beliebteste-anlaesse-fuer-online-shopping-in-deutschland/
[7] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/1189973/umfrage/weltweiter-umsatz-von-amazon-am-prime-day-und-von-alibaba-am-singles-day/
[8] https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/786950/umfrage/erwartete-schwierigkeiten-im-weihnachtsgeschaeft-fuer-den-deutschen-online-handel/