Domestic brands and retailers have undoubtedly planned all year long for the biggest U.S. shopping holidays of the year: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. But for those focused on global e-commerce expansion, other local holidays centered around gift-giving are just as important. By tuning in to regional gift-giving holidays, international businesses can create more opportunities to sell online. Attention to cultural detail in your target regions is part of providing a localized experience, year round.
Here are some upcoming gift-giving holidays, organized by calendar date and region, to help with planning your global e-commerce strategy.
Diwali (November 7)
India’s biggest holiday for shopping is Diwali, a five-day celebration known in Indian culture as “the festival of light,” marked by firework displays and the exchange gifts and wishes between families and friends.
Traditional gifts include small statues of Indian gods and goddesses, candles, jewelry and watches, spiritual DVDs and gift baskets with candies and other sweets. Mobile e-commerce sales have increased greatly in recent years during the festival, with 84% of Indians between 18 and 44 years of age reporting they planned to shop using their smartphones during this time, hoping to take advantage of the huge discounts offered by retailers for Diwali.
Singles Day (November 11)
Singles Day is China’s version of Valentine’s Day for people without romantic partners. Chinese college students in the 1990s were inspired by the date of November 11 – which, when written numerically (11/11), represents four single people. It is a holiday for singles to treat each other (and themselves) to dinners and gifts bought online. For brands and retailers, the opportunity to capitalize on this “lonely hearts” holiday is massive: according to The Guardian, Chinese singles spent a record $25 billion in 2017 – bigger than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. According to CNBC, the interest in Singles Day is now growing outside of China: Thailand and Singapore also seem to have an abundance of “lonely hearts.” Some retailers in the U.S. have also begun capitalizing on Singles Day in recent years.
According to Channel Advisor, Singles Day gifts trend towards high-end items such as electronics, beauty goods, and designer shoes and accessories.
Black Friday (November 23)
Once considered the official start of the Christmas shopping season in the U.S., Black Friday is the retail name for the day after Thanksgiving. Once upon a time, U.S. consumers would camp out all night and storm the doors of department stores to be the first to grab deep discounts on Christmas gifts. These days, consumers expect holiday sales to begin much earlier, and online shoppers don’t have to leave their homes. Retailers should be ready to offer Black Friday- level discounts on Thanksgiving Day at the latest. Some businesses, like Walmart, start launching early deals at the beginning of November.
Adobe notes that appliances, jewelry, and electronics such as tablets and high-definition televisions are in highest demand on Black Friday.
Cyber Monday (November 26)
Last year, the Monday after Thanksgiving now dedicated to exclusive online deals broke records, bringing in $6.6 Billion in U.S. sales. In comparison, Black Friday and Thanksgiving Day 2017 brought in $5.03 billion and $2.87 billion in revenue, respectively. According to Adobe’s post holiday 2017 report, e-commerce brands saw an overall website traffic increase of 11.9 percent on Cyber Monday, with the season average at 5.7 percent. Top sellers on Cyber Monday include electronics, especially video game consoles and tablets, as well as toys.
Hanukkah (December 2-10)
Celebrated in the U.S. Canada, Israel, and Western Europe, Hanukkah is the eight-day Jewish festival of rededication, also known as the "festival of lights." Traditionally, gift-giving was not a significant part of this holiday, but today, many families observe the lighting of the menorah and the giving of small gifts to young children. In some regions, Jewish families turn to online shopping for the basics of Hanukkah celebrations: candles, menorahs, small toys, crayons, and nonperishable food items.
Christmas Day (December 25 or January 7)
More than 2 billion people around the globe observe Christmas. While the day originated as a religious Christian holiday, the tradition of gift-giving on this date can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon celebration of the winter solstice, or Yule.
Note that in Russia, Serbia and Greece, followers of the Orthodox churches generally celebrate Christmas Day thirteen days later, on January 7. Christmas in Mexico begins on December 12th and lasts until January 6th.
Since the early 20th century, Christmas has also become a secular family holiday, observed by Christians and non-Christians alike, marked by an increasingly elaborate exchange of gifts.
Because of the gift-giving nature of the holiday, retailers must be very attentive to properly communicating the shipping cut-offs, the dates by which a gift must be purchased in order to be delivered in time for Christmas.
Boxing Day (December 26)
In the British Commonwealth and Canada, Boxing Day is a national Bank Holiday, as well as a day to spend with family and friends feasting on Christmas leftovers. In recent years, Boxing Day, much like the day after Christmas in the U.S., has become a wildly popular shopping day in the U.K. For consumers who received gift cards or vouchers for Christmas, Boxing Day is their first chance to redeem them.
While online sales have surpassed in-store sales on Boxing Day in the UK, Canadian shoppers are still heading to brick-and-mortar stores, according to Global News. To entice Canadian audiences to stay home and click, brands and retailers must present localized offerings in English and French.
The global e-commerce experts at Flow have compiled a handy guide that provides tips of for getting the most out of various global gift-selling holidays. Download the guide today and keep it as a handy reference for the future.
To be ready for global e-commerce in time for these holidays, request a demo from Flow and see how becoming an international business has never been easier.
