While the the end-of-year holidays are the most talked about selling time for brands, there’s another period that offers some important marketing dates: summertime. This selling season is upon us, with a range of holidays and events to capitalize on.
Key Summer Selling Dates
May
- Summer Sports: The first of May marks the unofficial start of summer sports and the product sales that accompany them. Golf, hiking, biking, swimming, baseball, soccer and so many other athletic and recreational pursuits begin now.
- National Teachers Day: A weeklong celebration honoring teachers, whose gifts range from coffee to sweets and decorative accessories.
- Mother’s Day: Mother’s Day is one of the biggest spending holidays of the year. Because it’s not just about buying a gift for your mom. There are grandmas, aunts, nieces, friends, co-workers and friends who are moms or mom-like figures who deserve to be showered with gifts.
- Prom: Dresses: Shoes, accessories, gifts, flowers and cosmetics sales spike during high school dances.
- Memorial Day: It’s picnic, camping, gardening and fun in the summer time and your last chance to make big inroads in summer product sales.
- Travel Season: When school lets out, travel season begins. Sales of everything from swim attire to travel electronics start to ramp up.
- Cinco de Mayo: From decor to drinks and the best in Mexican food, this holiday is all about cultural celebration. Relevant brands should capitalize.
June
- Graduation. Grade school, middle-school, high-school, college and technical college – sales of graduation gifts increase in May and June. And don’t forget the little ones! Pre-school graduation parties are all the rage.
- Father’s Day. Dad doesn’t fare quite as well as mom when it comes to Father’s Day spending but gift shoppers will be out in full force.
- Summer Solstice: No, this isn’t a formal purchase-prompting holiday, but it represents the longest days of the year which means more daylight, gardening, yard work and kids playing until dark.
- Weddings. Yup, time to buy Junior his first sport coat and a party dress for your grumpy teenage daughter. And the teenager will want new cool sandals, of course.
- Home Improvement. How many couples have had this conversation during the month of June: “honey, we need a new deck”?
- Outdoor Living. Furthering that conversation, once the deck gets being built: “honey, we need new outdoor furniture”.
July
- 4th of July. Not much to be said here other than there will be just about everything you can imagine outdoors: clothing, coolers, camping gear, sunblock…and the list goes on. Remember the majority of product sales happen in advance of the holiday.
- July 24th. This Mormon holiday celebrating Brigham Young coming into the Great Salt Lake valley is celebrated by all Mormons across the country and the world. Outdoor summer gear and clothing are key components for the BBQs, parades and fireworks.
- Outdoor Everything. This transcends many categories and if you are a brand in outdoor clothing, summer footwear, outdoor equipment, outdoor recreation (from mountain bikes to kiddie pools) sales continue to climb.
August (And so summer demand for products continue.)
September
- Labor Day. After July, the heat of summer is in full swing and things slow down until Labor Day, which is the unofficial end of summer.
- Back to School. This is big and getting bigger. Junior can’t go back to school wearing the same shoes as last school year. And by the way, he has a school supplies list a mile long. Oh, and don’t forget a gift for your teacher when you walk through the door to get things kicked off in the right direction.
Big Sales Have Big Meaning for Customer Experience Measurement
Product Reviews not only follow sales, they lead to more sales. By this we mean consumers write reviews on product performance after they purchase. Future shoppers also read those reviews to inform a purchase.
When brands take the step in the middle of this cycle to measure the customer experience via product reviews, they are able to inform where and what to engage, improve and leverage. These improvements have a great impact on the brand’s ROI.
Product reviews will follow marketing calendars, which represent when people buy. And so it goes, they buy, they experience, they write reviews, and they reach a huge audience.
And here’s the Channel Signal plug. If you know that people will be buying your products in a certain month, wouldn’t you want to be measuring their experiences during and after those months? Why? Because thousands of prospects are reading them, and it’s an opportunity to make informed improvements based on what they’re reading.
What’s important to the consumer should be important to the brand. And timing is everything.