Only two days separated Super Bowl Sunday on February 12 and Valentine's Day on February 14 this year. These days carry a lot of meaning for some people and very little for others, but as business owners in the ecommerce space, we understand that every holiday and important date year-round can have a huge impact on Amazon traffic. And that every potential sale in 2023 is an opportunity to earn a lifetime customer on Amazon.
With all of this in mind, I decided that this was a great time to create an ecommerce business calendar for the rest of 2023. This post will include key dates and holidays in 2023 to look ahead to, along with some notes on what these dates and events could mean for your business. Be sure to always be looking ahead on the calendar; planning and prepping months in advance will help you to avoid mistakes on Amazon and to put yourself in the best position to succeed!
February 2023: Valentine's Day
Holidays in February 2023
· February 1 – Black History Month
· February 2 – Groundhog Day
· February 14 – Valentine's Day
· February 20 – President's Day
Other Key Dates in February 2023
· February 12 – Super Bowl Sunday
Ecommerce Notes for February 2023
Ecommerce businesses in sports and party-related spaces always get a nice boost in interest and sales from the Super Bowl, which is the biggest annual sporting event in the United States. But there are other potential windfall opportunities here as well based on which commercials generate the most interest. It's never a bad idea to keep an eye on products and shopping trends in the days and weeks after the Super Bowl that may receive a lot of exposure from the big game.
Valentine's Day is best known for all of the romantic gifts like flowers, jewelry and chocolate. With that said, gifts among loved ones come in all shapes and sizes and cross many different niches, so don't be surprised to see an uptick in sales on some items that aren't considered conventional Valentine's Day favorites.
March 2023: St. Patrick's Day
Holidays in March 2023
· March 17 – St. Patrick's Day
Other Key Dates in March 2023
· March 12 – Daylight saving time begins
· March 20 – First day of spring
Ecommerce Notes for March 2023
St. Patrick's Day is the only major holiday in March, and it's impact is fairly limited for most businesses. The season changing to spring, on the other hand, can have a major impact on a lot of different markets.
As the calendars turn to March, the weather is starting to warm up in many states around the country. People who have been stuck bundled up inside during the winter months may finally be returning to the outdoors, and they'll have plenty of interest in products that can help them enjoy these endeavors.
April 2023: Easter
Holidays in April 2023
· April 1 – April Fools' Day
· April 2-8 – Holy Week
· April 7 – Good Friday
· April 9 – Easter Sunday
· April 22 – Earth Day
Other Key Dates in April 2023
· April 1 – Second quarter begins
· April 18 – Federal and state tax deadline for most taxpayers in the United States
Ecommerce Notes for April 2023
Baskets filled with plastic eggs, chocolate bunnies and marshmallow chicks can be found in just about every retail store around the nation in celebration of Easter. The holiday's reach goes far beyond these common gift items though; Easter gives many families the chance to get together and bring in spring with family gatherings and gifts for children and adults alike.
April Fools Day will mostly only affect businesses that sell gag gifts. Earth Day meanwhile can bring awareness to earth-friendly brand regardless of the products that they sell. Here's everything you need to know about Amazon's climate pledge friendly badge.
Also keep in mind that April is the month when taxes are due for most taxpayers. This is obviously important to know as a business owner filing taxes, but it is also another potential sales booster. Americans generally receive their tax refunds within 21 days of filing their taxes, and this money back will spark an increase in online shopping.
May 2023: Mother's Day
Holidays in May 2023
· May 5 – Cinco de Mayo
· May 14 – Mother's Day
· May 20 – Armed Forces Day
· May 29 – Memorial Day
Other Key Dates in May 2023
· None
Ecommerce Notes for May 2023
Mother's Day is right up there with Valentine's Day when it comes to a big spike in sales for products like cards, flowers and chocolates. And just like Valentine's Day, it's important to remember that not all moms out there are interested in fuzzy socks or balloons. Plenty of other niches outside of the standard "mom gifts" will also see additional traffic and sales around this time of year.
The stretch of patriotic holidays in America kicks off in May as well with Armed Forces Day and Memorial Day. While these aren't the most traditional gift-giving days, they (as well as Cinco de Mayo) will be causes for plenty of get-togethers around the country.
June 2023: Father's Day
Holidays in June 2023
· June 14 – Flag Day
· June 18 – Father's Day
Other Key Dates in June 2023
· June 21 – First day of summer
Ecommerce Notes for June 2023
Unlike Valentine's Day and Mother's Day, Father's Day isn't highlighted by gifts like stuffed animals and greeting cards. There are some dad-friendly spaces that do see a nice boost in sales including sports memorabilia, tools and clothes. But fathers are a versatile bunch with a wide array of interests, and any holiday that promotes gift-giving is a welcome event for business owners regardless of the products they specialize in.
June also marks the official start of the summer. Business owners who specialize in outdoor products will have likely already seen things trending in the right direction since March, but thing really ramp up in June and July with the temperature rising and kids getting out of school for the summer.
July 2023: Independence Day
Holidays in July 2023
· July 4 – Independence Day
Other Key Dates in July 2023
· July 1 – Third quarter begins
· July 11-12* – Predicted days of Amazon Prime Day 2023
Ecommerce Notes for July 2023
With the exception of 2020 when Prime Day was pushed back to October due to the Pandemic, the Amazon-exclusive sales event has consistently taken place in July every year since 2015. And the event has been a massive success, most recently generating a staggering $12 billion in total sales in 2022.
This is an event that all ecommerce sellers need to have circled on their calendars with a game plan in place months in advance. Make sure that you are in position to show Prime Day who's boss.
August 2023: Back to School
Holidays in August 2023
· None
Other Key Dates in August 2023
· August 14 – First day of school for many public schools around the United States
Ecommerce Notes for August 2023
August is a relatively quiet month for Amazon sellers outside of the back-to-school space. This period serves as an excellent opportunity to regroup after Prime Day and to prepare for the upcoming fourth quarter, which is suddenly right around the corner.
It is worth noting that back-to-school supplies have a much larger reach than they used to. As opposed to just the usual items people think of in the industry like notebooks and pencils, the boom in technology over the years has made computer, tablets, and electronic accessories much more common items in the classroom and the home.
September 2023: Labor Day
Holidays in September 2023
· September 4 – Labor Day
Other Key Dates in September 2023
· September 9 – NFL regular season begins
· September 23 – First day of fall
Ecommerce Notes for September 2023
In similar fashion to August, September serves as the calm before the fourth quarter storm for many ecommerce businesses. In addition to the third sales quarter coming to an end, the summer also comes to an end in September and gives way to fall. Kids have returned to school, the weather finally starts to cool down at the end of the month, and NFL football returns.
October 2023: Halloween
Holidays in October 2023
· October 31 – Halloween
Other Key Dates in October 2023
· October 1 – Fourth quarter begins
· October 11-12* – Potential days of Amazon Prime Early Access 2023
Ecommerce Notes for October 2023
Halloween is a big consumer holiday for seasonal sellers in the space. But October is really the month where most of the heavy lifting happens for the rest of the fourth quarter. Experienced Amazon sellers know how hectic that stocking and restocking FBA warehouses can get this time of year, so inventory and advertising planning in October will save a lot of headaches in November and December.
In 2022, Amazon had a second Prime Day that ran in October. It remains to be seen if Amazon will repeat the experiment again in 2023. The year's second Prime Day generated significantly less interest than the one in the summer did, perhaps because buyers were saving their big spending for the holiday season ahead. Still, with over 100 million products sold over the two day period, even an "underwhelming" Amazon sales event is still a very big opportunity.
November 2023: Thanksgiving
Holidays in November 2023
· November 11 – Veterans' Day
· November 23 – Thanksgiving
Other Key Dates in November 2023
· November 2 – Amazon's deadline to get inventory into their FBA warehouses for Black Friday and Cyber Monday
· November 5 – Daylight saving time ends
· November 24 – Black Friday
· November 25 – Small Business Saturday
· November 27 – Cyber Monday
Ecommerce Notes for November 2023
Thanksgiving is the most noteworthy holiday in November for most Americans, but for business owners, November is all about Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Black Friday has become the biggest shopping day in the United States on an annual basis, and online shopping has made it easier than ever for consumers to find great deals on the products that they are interested in.
In 2022, consumers spent over $9.12 billion on Black Friday. They followed that up with $11.3 billion in online spending on Cyber Monday. Regardless of the industry that your ecommerce business operates in, you can expect to see huge potential gains over this high-powered shopping weekend. Everything from your inventory to your PPC strategy to your pricing will have a big impact on your sales, so be sure to plan ahead accordingly.
December 2023: Christmas
Holidays in December 2023
· December 7-15 – Hanukkah
· December 24 – Christmas Eve
· December 24 – Christmas
· December 31 – New Year's Eve
Other Key Dates in December 2023
· December 1 – Amazon's deadline to get inventory into their FBA warehouses for Christmas
· December 21 – First day of winter
Ecommerce Notes for December 2023
Nothing compares to the Christmas season for so many ecommerce businesses around the globe. Black Friday and Cyber Monday serve as the perfect kick-off to a flurry of sales that for many businesses lasts through the entire month of December. The holiday season serves as an excellent opportunity to not only thrive with your best products, but also to potentially liquidate some of your less popular products with big sales or virtual bundles.
There is still plenty of fine-tuning to be done in December on things like pricing and ad spending. But the end of the calendar year also serves as a great time to take a deep breath and enjoy the holiday season with your friends and family. If you've planned and prepared correctly, all of the hardest work should already be behind you. This is an opportunity to enjoy the fruits of your labor. After all, we'll be right back at the top of this calendar in 2024 before you know it.
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