Planning a successful marketing and sales strategy entails keeping an eye on retail holidays. These are key events during the year when people are more likely to go shopping.
For solopreneurs and e-commerce retailers, these upcoming retail holidays mean opportunities to increase their revenue.
In 2022, the total holiday spending rose to nearly 7%. According to a GlobalData Survey of over 55,000 consumers, people spent 8.4% more during Thanksgiving and 6.5% more during Christmas. The survey also revealed that consumers were expecting holiday discounts.
This article compiles a list of big retail holidays in 2023. But before diving in, we’ll discuss why knowing these dates is important.
Why Keep Track of Retail Holidays?
Besides maximizing your sales during these big occasions, preparing for them is extremely helpful for inventory management.
Some retailers that fail to anticipate their holiday inventory needs — for instance, ordering too much or ordering too little — may either deal with excess inventory or out-of-stock items.
On top of that, consumers have slightly different choices during special events. Take, for example, Labor day, which marks the end of summer, usually features discounted items like clothing, accessories, and tech items.
Last but not least are contests and giveaways. For new and smaller businesses, any retail holiday is a chance to offer free amazing stuff in exchange for spreading the word about their brand!
Giveaways are a great way to increase brand awareness and acquire more leads, which ultimately leads to sales. Between shopping at brands they already trust, customers are also in the mood for entering competitions to win something for free.
Retail Holidays in 2023
Note that some of the dates on this list may not be relevant to your business.
That said, make sure to pick the ones you think are best. These are holidays that allow you to promote your main product or some of your products (if you sell items in different categories).
January
- Jan 1 - New Year’s Day
- Jan 15 - National Bagel Day
- Jan 16 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- Jan 22 - Chinese New Year
- Jan 31 - National Hot Chocolate Day
February
- Feb 12 - Super Bowl Sunday
- Feb 14 - Valentine’s Day
- Feb 20 - Presidents’ Day
- Feb 21 - Pancake Day
March
- Mar 3 - World Wildlife Day
- Mar 8 - International Women’s Day
- Mar 17 - St. Patrick’s Day
- Mar 17 - World Sleep Day
- Mar 18 - Global Recycling Day
- Mar 21 - First Day of Spring
- Mar 29 - Mom and Pop Business Owners Day
As you can see, March is filled with holidays. If your business sells sleep products, World Sleep Day is a good time to promote a three-day giveaway where participants can win some of your products (e.g., pillows, weighted blankets, mattresses, etc.)
April
- Apr 1 - April Fool’s Day
- Apr 2 - World Autism Awareness Day
- Apr 2 - International Children's Book Day
- Apr 6 - National Burrito Day
- Apr 9 - Easter Sunday
- Apr 7 - World Health Day
- Apr 11 - National Pet Day
Here at UpViral, one of our users put together a children’s book giveaway that resulted in 7,878 leads. While it wasn’t held around International Children’s Day, it’s a perfect example of promoting your products for bookworms and parents who want to help kids enjoy reading.
In this giveaway, Max Rhymes gave out their own product — a 5-set book series worth $39.95 — plus additional prizes to two more winners. Check out the case study to copy their strategy!
May
- May 2 - National Fitness Day
- May 14 - Mother’s Day
- May 17 - World Baking Day
- May 25 - National Wine Day
- May 29 - Memorial Day
For wine lovers, National Wine Day means wine deals across various wine sellers. You could combine your bestsellers in different categories in one affordable package. Or why not do a giveaway for a chance to win a wine-tasting experience?
June
- Jun 1 - LGBT Pride Month
- Jun 4 - National Cheese Day
- Jun 18 - Father’s Day
- Jun 21 - International Yoga Day
- Jun 21 - First Day of Summer
- Jun 21 - World Music Day
Revenue in the cheese segment amounts to $221.70bn in 2023, according to Statista. So it’s no surprise that cheese has its own special holiday.
Cheese retailers can take advantage by offering cheese enthusiasts or “turophiles” 50% off the second cheese they’ll buy. Or perhaps a contest to win a cheesemaking kit or a cheeseboard!
Father’s Day is also the perfect time to promote items that dads are into. In our Father’s Day Campaign case study, Common Sense (a restaurant in Belgium) gave out a Kamado Joe Jr.® barbecue grill and a smaller table BBQ grill to those who shared the campaign and checked out their grill shop.
The campaign resulted in nearly 3,000 leads and 8,000€ in sales.
July
- Jul 4 - Independence Day
- Jul 7 - World Chocolate Day
- Jul 30 - International Friendship Day
August
- Aug 4 - Sister’s Day
- Aug 9 - Book Lovers Day
- Aug 19 - World Photography Day
- Aug 21 - World Senior Citizen's Day
- Aug 26 - International Dog Day
September
- Sep 4 - Labor Day
- Sep 11 - Patriot Day
- Sep 16 - First Day of Oktoberfest
- Sep 27 - World Tourism Day
- Sep 30 - International Podcast Day
World Tourism Day is celebrated to increase awareness of the importance of tourism. If you want to boost the visibility of your destination, you could do a giveaway with a prize that includes an all-expenses paid trip and certificates to local shops.
For example, PR and communications agency I SAY used UpViral to host a contest that promoted the visibility of the Tibet region and culture in China. The grand prize was a 10-day trip to Tibet for 2 couples.
This resulted in 60,340 leads and over 66,000 social media shares.
October
- Oct 1 - International Coffee Day
- Oct 4 - World Animal Day
- Oct 9 - Canada Thanksgiving Day
- Oct 10 - World Mental Health Day
- Oct 31 - Halloween
If you sell coffee (beans, drip packs, instant coffee, etc.) take advantage of International Coffee Day to attract coffee lovers!
Below is an UpViral giveaway that resulted in 3,000 leads in just 2 weeks. Brad Costanzo and his wife Kenia just started their own coffee brand, Stiletto Coffee, and they wanted brand exposure. So they gave out their coffee beans. Participants only needed to share the giveaway on Facebook and Twitter.
To potentially increase sales, they added a link to their sales page from the campaign.
November
- Nov 13 - World Kindness Day
- Nov 19 - International Men's Day
- Nov 23 - Thanksgiving
- Nov 24 - Black Friday
- Nov 27 - Cyber Monday
Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of the biggest retail holidays you shouldn’t miss out on. It’s when retailers offer significant discounts on hot and trending items, such as appliances, smartwatches, phones, and computers.
Have you seen Saastronautics’ giveaway? As a platform that offers the best SaaS tools, they decided to do a giveaway from November 20 to December 20 to boost their leads and establish partnerships with SaaS companies.
Launched around Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the giveaway resulted in over 7,000 leads and massive engagement. Saastronautics targeted tech enthusiasts, giving away an iPad Air, web cam, and other tech products and software tools.
December
- Dec 14 - National Free Shipping Day
- Dec 24 - Christmas Eve
- Dec 25 - Christmas Day
- Dec 26 - Boxing Day
- Dec 31 - New Year’s Eve
December is the last month of the year. For retailers, it’s their final chance to make the most out of their profits. People shop for gifts from the first day of the month until Christmas Eve, which is why brands should plan their campaigns in advance.
Want to build your email list and generate sales around Christmas? We have a special template at UpViral called Christmas List Builder, which you can use to run a sweepstake and offer discount codes to your participants. (See the screenshot below)
Retail Holidays Are an Important Part of Your Business
There you have it — all the retail dates you need to remember this 2023! Have you started planning a few already? Hopefully, this calendar gave you a headstart and inspired you to try using contests and giveaways.
No matter the time of the year, UpViral is here to help with your promotions. See the different ways UpViral grows your business. Better yet, get started today for only $1.
