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Now that Labor Day is over, it’s time to plan holiday marketing. That’s right—we are glossing right over Halloween to concentrate on the upcoming winter holidays.

The six “shopping holidays” in November and December, starting with Thanksgiving and ending with Super Saturday (the last Saturday before Christmas) account for an increasing percentage of holiday sales. Online Thanksgiving holidays spending increased 16% from 2015 to 2017.

46% of Internet users in North America finished most of their holiday shopping after Cyber Monday. And many start their holiday shopping early:

• 12% start in the summer

• 25% start before October

• 45% start before November

• 59% of women start before Thanksgiving weekend

• 48% of men start before Thanksgiving weekend

We will run through the most important information you should have to prepare for the upcoming six shopping holidays, which are Thanksgiving/Gray Thursday, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday and Super Saturday.

Thanksgiving/Gray Thursday

When: Thursday, November 22, 2018

2017 Sales: $2.87 billion in 2017, an 18.3% increase from 2016

2017 Online Shoppers: 5% increase from 2016 to 2017

Promotional Activity: Most Thanksgiving emails sent in 2017 were about celebrations, not driving sales. 80% of Thanksgiving emails didn’t include an offer in their subject lines but rather emphasized value-added content or holiday greetings (meal prep, recipes, table setting, giving). Thanksgiving emails that were opened the most and had the highest click rates were went on Wednesdays and focused on one of these three topics: flash sales/stock up for upcoming holiday dinner sent 2 weeks in advance, last-minute prep tips or previews for Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales. Thanksgiving emails sent with $ or % off in the subject lines tended to have low open rates but high conversation rates.

Black Friday

When: Friday, November 23, 2018

2017 Sales: $7.9 billion in 2017, an 18% increase from 2016

Average Order Value: The average shopper spent $135 on Black Friday, a 1% increase from 2016

Promotional Activity: Most Black Friday emails were sent the day of Black Friday and messages without an offer in the subject line had the highest open rates of all Black Friday emails. The new trend in 2017 was to promote limited-quantity of pre-Black Friday sales. Those emails were sent the Tuesday before Black Friday.

Small Business Saturday

When: Saturday, November 24, 2018

2017 Sales: $12.9 billion in 2017, a 14% decrease from 2016

2017 Shoppers: 108 million shoppers patronized independently-owned businesses in 2017, a 4% decrease from 2016

Promotional Activity: 90% of consumers said that Small Business Saturday had a positive impact on their communities.

Cyber Monday

When: Monday, November 26, 2018

2017 Sales: $6.5 billion in 2017, a 16.8% increase from 2016

Average Order Value: The average shopper spent $133 in 2017, which was the same as 2016

Promotional Activity: About half of all Cyber Monday emails were sent on the day of the shopping holiday. Messages that emphasized the one-day, limited timeframe or offered % discounts had the highest conversation rate. The trend in 2017 was to send Cyber Monday emails the Tuesday after extending the sale for another day, but those emails had low open and conversion rates.

Green Monday

When: Monday, December 10, 2018

2017 Sales: increased 26% in 5 years, a $346 million increase from 2012 to 2016

Promotional Activity: Green Monday was the least utilized of the six shopping holidays in 2017 but generated the third highest engagement and conversation rates among all emails sent during the Q4 holiday season. Adoption of Green Monday increased 18% from 2016 to 2017. The Green Monday emails with the highest open rates lacked an offer in the subject line.

Super Saturday

When: Saturday, December 22, 2018

2017 Sales: 20% increase from 2016 to 2017

Shoppers: 126 million shoppers planned to shop on Super Saturday in 2017

Promotional Activity: Super Saturday is one of the 10 busiest shopping days of the entire year.

The Holidays

When: November and December

2017 Retail Sales: 5.5% increase in total retail sales from 2016 to 2017

2017 Ecommerce Sales: 17.8% increase in retail ecommerce sales from 2016 to 2017

Promotional Activity: 47% of marketers sent out general holiday campaigns without referencing a specific holiday like Christmas. These emails had low conversion rates overall but had the highest conversion rates when sent on a Sunday with time-sensitive language such as “ends tonight.”