As summer emerges, shoppers look for ways to enjoy the season through outdoor activities and festivities. This seasonal shift brings a wave of opportunities for ecommerce stores to cater to shopper’s evolving needs and preferences.
Whether it’s gearing up for backyard barbecues, preparing for music festivals, or getting ready for beach vacations, consumers are on the lookout for products that enhance their summer experiences.
Ecommerce stores can capitalize on this enthusiasm by tailoring their marketing to align with summer activities. By understanding the unique demands of the season and embracing seasonal marketing, stores can provide shoppers with everything they need to make the most out of the summer.
Why is Seasonal Marketing Important?
The lives of shoppers are constantly changing, often in ways that marketers have no reliable way of predicting. Since it’s impossible to market to every shopper’s unique experiences, seasonal marketing offers a powerful way to speak to shoppers in real time.
A full, in-depth analysis of summer marketing is available in our Summer Marketing Guide. However, we also wanted to offer you a few of these strategies at a glance, to give you a peek into the Summer Guide’s value. Here’s a few holidays that benefit from diving into summer marketing strategies.
Independence Day
If you’ve ever questioned the efficacy of an Independence Day marketing campaign, it’s worth noting that consumers spent over $9.5 billion in 2023 to celebrate July 4th.
Barbeque and fireworks celebrations are popular ways to celebrate, so anything someone might need to wear, use, or have outdoors is a potential marketing opportunity.
In addition, since many brick-and-mortar businesses are closed, Independence Day has become a major shopping day for online retailers. It’s the perfect time to promote summer inventory and create the sense that summer has arrived.
Top of Mind Remarketing
July 4th is a great time to revamp your email remarketing strategies. Summer is synonymous with fun, and nobody wants to miss out. Invoking urgency can be a powerful way to encourage purchases. Whenever possible, make sure your messaging indicates that deals and incentives are time sensitive.
By combining incentives, urgency, and seasonality in your remarketing emails, you drive shoppers to purchase with little friction. Here are a few examples of email subject lines that do all three.
“Beat the Heat with Summer Deals: Save 10% While Supplies Last”
“We’re Turning Up the Heat: Get Free Shipping for a Limited Time”
“Too Hot to Miss: Get a Free Gift When You Shop Our Summer Sale”
Festival Season
Festivals have come a long way since Woodstock. Once considered a somewhat niche activity, the popularity of art and music festivals has expanded rapidly, with over 800 held in the U.S. every year. Music festivals are now a popular summer activity, with a survey conducted in 2023 finding that one third of adults have attended one or more music festivals.
The popularity of festivals means more marketing opportunities for brands and businesses. Since attendees tend to treat festivals like an experience or vacation, they’re often willing to spend on products or services that will make it their event of the year.
Festival Recommendations
For shoppers, attending a festival means seeking out lots of new products. Since shoppers are often unsure of what to bring, businesses have an opportunity to fill in those knowledge gaps with product recommendations.
By leveraging customer purchase patterns and browsing behavior, you can create a highly personalized ‘Festival Checklist’ for your shoppers. Recommendations and essentials can include:
- Shorts, t-shirts, tank tops, and other lightweight clothing
- Hats, sunglasses, jewelry, and other accessories
- Tents, sleeping bags, backpacks, and camping supplies
- Camel backpacks, reusable bottles, and other water storage
- Wireless electronics, portable chargers, and battery-powered lighting
Implementing a series of product recommendations that highlight completed looks is also a great way to increase average order values.
Back-to-College Season
Between mid July and mid August, college students prepare to start and resume school again. This season opens up opportunities for ecommerce stores to provide students with what they need for college.
In 2023, the seasonal event with the most average spending per consumer was back-to-college season. In 2023, consumers spent $94 billion dollars on college shopping.
As college students move into dorms or new apartments and get ready to start class, they need to pick up items to prepare. Home and decor furnishings for apartments and dorms, school supplies, and clothing are industries that can cash in on back-to-college marketing.
Back-to-College Recs and Guides
Offering customizable bundles and personalized shopping experiences caters to the specific needs of students. This can help remind them of items they might need in addition to what they’re getting.
One strategy is to encourage students to create shareable wishlists of their desired items, which serve as a powerful lead capture tool that brings shoppers back later.
Additionally, an on-site Back-to-College Guide featuring frequently bought-together items and trending products can help guide students and anticipate their needs. Focus on a range of items, including home and decor furnishings for dorms and apartments, school supplies, and clothing, ensuring a variety of price points to meet different budgets.
Wedding Season
Although weddings occur year-round, wedding season begins in late May and peaks in August and September. Weddings are a marketable event with consumers willing to spend money to make their day memorable. The global wedding industry is expected to reach $74.1 billion by 2025.
With 2.5 million weddings taking place every year in the U.S. alone, wedding season creates a huge opportunity for ecommerce businesses. Wedding related services such as event planning, venues, catering, and photography contributed to the average $35,000 spent on weddings in the US in 2023. Aside from hosting and planning a wedding, weddings generate sales through registry gifts, travel, and apparel for guests.
Wedding Wishlist Strategy
Traditionally, couples-to-be register at a particular store, creating a large wishlist.
Even if your site doesn’t offer a traditional wedding registry, wedding season is an ideal time to utilize a wishlist strategy.
Giving couples the option to create a wishlist serves as a powerful lead capture tool and ensures purchases are made through your store.
Product recommendations personalized wishlists by suggesting products that have been “favorited” by other shoppers. Such tactics boost shopper confidence as they search for the perfect gift for the occasion.
Wishlists should be shareable so couples can send their list to guests, who can then directly purchase from your site. Consider adding an on-site Wedding Gift Guide that actively suggests products others are purchasing together or frequently.
Most products are fair game, as couples are usually building a new home together. Just be sure to keep suggestions in the $50 – $300 range, as that tends to be the gift-giving sweet spot.
Optimize Your Summer Strategy
Looking for more tips? These strategies and many others are included in Upsellit’s Summer Marketing Guide. It’s packed with new insights and ideas to optimize your marketing strategy for the season. Get the guide to explore how your products can provide customers with the perfect summer experience.
