Your Guide to Ecommerce Holiday Readiness

It’s an ecommerce brand’s favorite time of year—there’s a chill in the air, football is back, and pumpkin-spice is flowing at every coffee shop.  

Beyond the seasonal delights, the start of Q4 marks a crucial period for retail brands: the holiday selling season. Spanning key events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas, this multi-month stretch can make or break a brand’s annual performance and profitability. To start the new year on a high note, brands must align their strategies to connect with customers and drive substantial growth.

Prepared brands experience:

• Revenue Surge: Q4 can account for a sizable portion of annual sales for many brands, with some generating up to 40% of their annual revenue in just this quarter. This surge is driven by increased consumer spending during the holidays, making it a make-or-break season for businesses.
• Brand Visibility and Awareness: The heightened shopping activity during the holiday season provides a unique opportunity for brands to increase their visibility. Strategic marketing campaigns, holiday-themed promotions, and collaborations can enhance brand awareness and attract new customers.
• Customer Acquisition and Retention: Q4 is not just about immediate sales; it’s also a prime time for acquiring new customers. Brands that deliver exceptional experiences can turn holiday shoppers into loyal, repeat customers. Retention strategies like follow-up marketing and loyalty programs become crucial after the holidays.

On the other hand, brands who are less prepared may experience:

• Inventory Management Challenges: The increased demand during Q4 requires brands to manage their inventory carefully. Stockouts can lead to missed sales opportunities, while overstocking can result in excess inventory that needs to be discounted after the holidays. Balancing this is crucial for profitability. ‍
• Operational Pressure: Fulfillment centers, customer service teams, and logistics partners experienced significant strain during this period. Brands must ensure they are equipped to handle the spike in orders, returns, and customer inquiries to maintain service quality and customer satisfaction.
• ‍Financial Implications: The success of Q4 can determine a brand’s financial health entering the new year. A poor Q4 can necessitate budget cuts and strategic reevaluation.

In this guide, we have gathered insights from our top experts on holiday ecommerce trends, marketplace strategies, and advertising, ensuring your brand is not just prepared, but poised to thrive this season.

Holiday Shopping Trends

Each new season brings with it fresh opportunities for growth as customer behavior, technology, and the economy continue to evolve. These shifting factors influence how brands should approach the biggest retail season of the year, making it crucial to stay ahead. Here’s what to watch for, along with timeless insights from past seasons:

2022:

• Shoppers are starting to prioritize ecommerce as a report by Deloitte estimates ecommerce growth of between 12.8% and 14.3%, far outpacing the growth of in-store holiday shopping.
• Consumers lean heavily on deals and promotions as they make money-conscious decisions. A study from Numerator found that 25% of consumers are cutting back on categories like health & beauty, and home or garden supplies with electronics rising upwards of 40%.

2023:

• The help of deals and promotional events have allowed shoppers to venture into buying more variety than ever before. The holiday and Q4 seasons are no longer about toys, apparel, or jewelry as shoppers are purchasing not only "want" items but also essential "need" items.
• The October Prime event at the start of Q4 gives brands a head-start on the holiday season, offering a competitive edge. Early deals and holiday discounts help boost visibility and sales, improving your Best Sellers Rank (BSR) and positioning your brand at the top of search results during the peak season.

2024:

• Per our forecast, ecommerce will grow 9.5% reaching $271.58 Billion as shoppers go online for quick, easy purchases and price comparisons.
• Social commerce will surge as brands work to compete against shopping apps and adopt partnerships with platforms such as TikTok.
• Brands need to be aware of their online presence and buying experience as Mobile devices are expected to account for 53% of online sales.

“Piece of advice for brands: don't forget to check the delivery promise times on your listings. Sales will drop off immediately if your listings say they arrive after Christmas. Push your items on marketplace channels to have the most accurate delivery estimates and offer one-to-two-day shipping if available.” - Margeaux Oswald, Director of Channels Marketplace

Holiday Marketplace Strategies

Holiday-specific strategies on ecommerce channels are essential for maximizing sales and standing out in the competitive holiday market. With consumers actively searching for deals and gift ideas, it’s crucial for brands to participate in seasonal events, promotions, and flash sales. Being present and engaged during key shopping moments, such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, not only boosts visibility but also helps capture the heightened demand, driving significant revenue and customer acquisition during this critical selling season.

Let's dive into the big three—Target, Walmart, and Amazon—to spotlight key events, deals, and strategies that brands need to prioritize during the holiday selling season.

Target Events:

• Circle Week: This special shopping event is exclusive to Target Circle members, offering significant discounts and promotions across various product categories. For brands, participating in this event provides an excellent opportunity to boost visibility and drive sales by reaching a highly engaged audience of loyal shoppers. With increased traffic and targeted marketing support from Target, brands can capitalize on the excitement and exclusivity of Circle Week to attract new customers and strengthen their presence during this high-traffic period. ‍
• New Year/New You: Designed to help shoppers kickstart their year with products that support health and wellness, brands participating in this event find an excellent opportunity to align with the seasonal mindset to reach motivated consumers. By featuring products in categories like fitness, personal care, and home organization, brands can boost visibility, tap into new customer segments, and start the year with strong sales momentum.

Target Deal Types:

• Top Deals: A selection of limited-time discounts and promotions on popular products across various categories. These deals offer significant savings and are updated regularly to provide customers with the best prices on sought-after items. These offers attract high traffic from value-conscious shoppers looking for the best bargains. ‍
• Circle Deals: Exclusive discounts and offers available to members of Target’s free loyalty program, Target Circle. These deals provide additional savings on a wide range of products, from everyday essentials to seasonal items. Being featured in Target Circle Deals enhances visibility and drives engagement among loyal, value-seeking customers, making it an effective way to boost sales and reach a dedicated audience.

“The ‘New Year/New You’ event is important to mention as it tends to really sneak up on brands as everyone prepares for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or October events. It starts towards the end of the year in late December but hits strongest in Q1. If you sell through FBA, you've got to have your inventory in way before December to make sure that you're ready to take advantage of any product promotions that are going to be associated with health, with fitness, or any sort of New Year's resolutions. It's a huge sales season. There are many brands in this category that make 30% of their sales in January and February. Be ready before we hit that sales season for Black Friday, Cyber Monday, especially if you're utilizing fulfillment centers.” - Kevin Lamb, Director of Marketplace, Target

Walmart Events:

• October: A key opportunity for brands to capture early holiday shoppers looking for deals and seasonal essentials. As consumers begin planning for the festive season, this event drives significant traffic and boosts visibility for participating products. Brands that join can benefit from heightened exposure, increased sales, and the chance to secure a strong position ahead of the competitive holiday rush. ‍
• November: Events during this time, including Black Friday and Cyber Monday, are among the biggest shopping days of the year, attracting millions of deal-seeking customers. Participating in these events offers a unique opportunity to maximize visibility, boost sales, and reach a broad audience at the height of the holiday shopping season. With extensive marketing support, these events can help brands generate significant revenue and build customer loyalty during the most competitive time of the year.

Walmart Deals:

• Flash Deals: Time-sensitive, limited-quantity promotions that offer deep discounts on popular products for a brief period. These deals create a sense of urgency, driving heavy traffic and quick sales as customers rush to take advantage of the savings. Flash Deals can significantly boost visibility and attract new customers by highlighting products to a large audience actively searching for bargains. The spike in demand and increased engagement during these promotions can help brands clear inventory, increase sales volume, and enhance their overall presence on the Walmart platform. ‍
• Mosaic: Curated promotional offers tailored to specific customer segments based on their shopping behaviors and preferences. These personalized deals help brands reach targeted audiences more effectively by showcasing their products to consumers most likely to be interested. By aligning promotions with customer interests, brands can increase engagement among a relevant shopper base, drive higher conversion rates, and boosts sales.
• ‍Coupons: These discounts incentivize shoppers to try new products, increase purchase volume, and boost overall sales. Brands can use coupons strategically to promote specific products, clear excess inventory, and gain valuable insights into consumer behavior and preferences.

“Mosaic placement is the best placement available to sellers on Walmart during big, holiday events. This is where we see the highest ROI. These items are usually prioritized on the events page as static placement, as well as receive a blue deal badge in the top right corner of the listing to denote that this is an item selected to run in this event. Walmart also offers a deal reveal opportunity to highlight the best of the best deals that are going to be featured during the event in the event announcement newsletter that Walmart posts.” - Brooke  Schulzkump, Associate Channel Manager, Walmart

Amazon Events:

• October Prime Days: A 48-hour, pre-holiday shopping event that offers Prime members exclusive deals and discounts across a wide range of categories. With millions of shoppers actively looking for deals, brands can attract new customers, increase sales momentum, and improve their rankings ahead of the critical holiday season. ‍
• T5: A shopping promotion that offers exclusive deals and discounts in the five days leading up to Thanksgiving, targeting early holiday shoppers. In recent years, this has now been extended for 12 days. The T5 event provides a strategic advantage by capturing consumer interest ahead of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It’s an opportunity to boost visibility, drive significant sales, and establish a strong presence as shoppers kick off their holiday buying.

Amazon Deals:

• Coupons: A coupon offer is a self-service tool that can be leveraged at any time without approval. Customers can discover coupons through the coupons page, search results, and on PDP (Product Detail Page). ‍
• Top Deals: 24 hour-long deals curated by Amazon through submissions from sellers for specific themed events. These deals are 1-click from the home page and can obtain a home page placement dependent on overall popularity. ‍
• Lightning Deals: A limited-time deal badge that creates a sense of scarcity. Lightning Deals are a good fit for high-value products buyers have been eyeing and waiting to buy at a discount. These deals run from 4 to 24 hours, are self-service and surfaced to sellers by algorithmic suggestions. ‍
• 7-Day Deals: Brands can push deals for a full 7 days while having more control over the date and the time the deal appears. 7 Day Deals tend to convert a bit lower due to the lack of scarcity and are served to sellers by algorithmic suggestions.

“When it comes to which deal type offers the most results, we see a few things. Coupons are effective in instances where buy box competition is minimal, and advertising budget is available due to how they are merchandised on page and in search. In instances where you're fighting for buy box or strike-through pricing, adding a price discount directly to the retail goes a long way! Top Deals are another deal type that we see great outcomes from but come with immense pre-planning as due dates are typically 3-4 months in advance of promotional events.” - Keeleigh Marr, Channels Manager, Amazon

Holiday Season Ecommerce Advertising

Ecommerce advertising during the holiday season is a high-stakes game where creativity, timing, and strategy collide. With consumers ready to spend and competition at its peak, it’s the perfect opportunity to capture attention, boost sales, and build lasting customer relationships. But to stand out in the crowded marketplace, your ads need to be more than just eye-catching—they must connect with the festive spirit and resonate with shoppers on a personal level.

Let’s explore each marketplace to discover the most effective advertising strategies for this critical season.

Amazon DSP Advertising

A Demand Side Platform (DSP) is a powerful tool in ecommerce advertising, allowing brands to automate and optimize their digital ad campaigns across various channels from a single interface. By leveraging data and advanced targeting, DSPs enable advertisers to reach their ideal audience with precision, driving higher engagement and conversions. Utilizing a DSP can be the key to cutting through the noise and effectively connecting with customers during peak shopping seasons.

Lead-in:

• Start strategy at least three weeks prior to event.
• Sponsored Brand and Display Ads to generate interest and brand awareness
• Increase bid adjustments to gain competitive positioning
• Be flexible with budgets and be ready to increase with overall data driving budget allocation
• Start video ads that display the value of your product
• Utilize Amazon Attribution to drive off-site traffic and gain Brand Referral Bonus

Peak Season:

• Track real-time performance focusing on CTR, CVR, and TACOS
• Increase bids on high performing or priority KWs based on TOS IS
• Adjust daily budgets to avoid top performing campaigns going out of budget
• Rely on automated bidding optimizations

Lead-out:

• Focus ad spend on Sponsored Display remarketing
• Review the DATA – look for trends and patterns that emerged during the event
• Pay attention to BSR and determine impact
• Lower the bids to remain efficient while trends normalize
• Eliminate ineffective KWs and audience segments to avoid wasting ad spend
• Implement Brand Tailored Promotions

“When talking DSP, we also must mention Amazon Marketing Cloud, or AMC. This is a cloud-based, clean room solution where advertisers can perform analytics and build audiences, while making sure those signals remain private. Brands can then use those signals along with outside input from PPC and D2C efforts to create that true path to purchase for specific individual shoppers. From here you can measure campaign effectiveness and refine strategies, optimize marketing efforts, and maximize ROI.” - Dave Vermeulen, Director of Advertising Growth & Strategy

Walmart Holiday Advertising

Walmart offers businesses a powerful platform to reach a substantial, targeted audience aligned with specific demographics and interests. Its high daily traffic provides increased visibility, enhancing brand exposure and connecting with new potential customers. With flexible budget options, businesses of all sizes can set daily or campaign budgets that align with their financial goals. Detailed tracking and analytics offer measurable ROI, allowing for effective campaign optimization. This combination of benefits helps products stand out against competitors, especially during seasonal or promotional events.

• Targeting: Leverage keywords to reach relevant audiences, focusing on high-intent shoppers through Sponsored Products and Brand Ads. ‍
• Placement: Use Walmart’s placement modifier to adjust bids for top-performing placements, optimizing ad visibility on high-converting spots like the search grid. ‍
• Bidding: Employe dynamic bidding to automatically adjust bids based on real-time shopper behavior, maximizing ad performance during peak shopping periods.

Target Holiday Advertising

Maximize your holiday success with Target’s Criteo network and extensive audience reach, connecting your brand to a large and diverse shopper base. Utilize advanced targeting algorithms to deliver highly relevant ads to high-intent consumers. Target offers precise budget management at the line-item level—daily or monthly—allowing for greater control compared to other marketplaces. Dynamic bidding based on clicks, revenue, and conversions helps optimize ad performance, while precise bid adjustments enhance visibility and effectiveness, setting Target apart from other channels.

• Performance based budget allocation per line-item i.e., Daily/Monthly.
• Goals based bidding optimizations i.e., Clicks, Conversions, Revenue
• Product level bid setup. Prioritizing the promotional items specifically for holiday events.
• Adjusting placement modifiers to capitalize on the performance. I.e., Increase/Decrease.
• Attribution setting to same product or same product/same category or same brand
• Analytic reports to identify top performing keywords and items.

Ecommerce Advertising Enhancements for the Holiday

Upon implementing these advertising strategies for the upcoming season, it’s critical to consider two questions: what metrics you’ll gather to measure success, and how you plan on organizing strategies in a way that you can easily track and pivot, as necessary.

ROAS vs. TACOS

When it comes to advertising metrics, ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) and TACOS (Total Advertising Cost of Sales) serve distinct purposes. ROAS measures the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising, providing insights into campaign effectiveness. In contrast, TACOS offers a broader perspective by evaluating the total advertising spend as a percentage of total sales, including both organic and paid revenue. Understanding the differences between these metrics is crucial for brands looking to optimize their advertising strategies and improve overall profitability.

“When understanding metrics, brands with strong organic rankings reference TACOS as it reflects both ad spending and overall sales impact. Conversely, brands heavily reliant on PPC, due to high average selling prices or new market entry, should also consider ROAS for targeted strategies. While both metrics have their place, focusing on TACOS during the holiday season can help drive sustained growth and visibility, making it the go-to metric for many brands.” - Asad Waheed, Advertising Team Manager

Utilizing SaSS

SaaS platforms for ecommerce advertising offer brands unparalleled flexibility, efficiency, and scalability. These cloud-based solutions simplify campaign management by integrating various tools and data sources into one accessible platform. With features like advanced targeting, real-time analytics, and automated optimization, SaaS platforms empower businesses to execute effective advertising strategies, reach their ideal audience, and maximize ROI—all without the need for extensive in-house resources.

• Budgeting: Allocate budgets dynamically based on performance data, prioritizing high-performing campaigns and adjust spending to maximize return on investment during peak holiday periods. ‍
• Bidding: Implement flexible bidding rules to automatically adjust bids based on performance metrics, ensuring competitive positioning throughout the holiday season. ‍
• Dayparting: Utilize dayparting to schedule ads during peak shopping hours, optimizing visibility and engagement when consumers are most active.
• ‍Placement: Apply placement modifiers to increase bids for top- performing ad placements, enhancing visibility and conversion rates in high- traffic areas. ‍
• Analytics: Regularly review detailed analytic reports to track campaign performance, adjust strategies in real-time, and capitalize on insights for maximizing holiday sales. We recommend using: Search term Impression Share Reports, Attributed Purchases Reports, Keyword and Item Recommendation Reports, Keyword and Item Performance Reports, and Placement Performance Reports.

As the holiday season unfolds, it’s clear that this is a critical time for ecommerce brands to make their mark. From capitalizing on key events to leveraging targeted advertising strategies on major marketplaces, preparation is essential to navigate this competitive landscape. By aligning efforts with the latest trends and using the insights shared in this guide, brands can maximize their visibility, connect with customers, and drive significant growth. With the right strategies in place, this season can set the stage for a prosperous new year and long-term success.

Looking for more insights on mastering Walmart Flash Deals or leveraging DSP? Check out our LinkedIn Virtual LIVE Event for in-depth discussions on these topics and more.  

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