Last year, SmartConsign shipping logistics software enabled the delivery of over 600,000+ parcels, generating millions of labels and helping our clients achieve real cost efficiencies in their shipping logistics. With more and more shipping logistics professionals recognising the benefits of our cloud-based multi-carrier management software, we are poised for yet another busy year. To help you get organised for this year’s sales opportunities, the SmartConsign team have compiled a list of all the key sales days you should be planning for to make sure your shipping logistics go smoothly.
As for SmartConsign, we are getting ready to launch SmartConsign version three. It’s designed to further improve your overall parcel shipping efficiencies so that you can truly maximise the potential of all those selling opportunities. Save the date!
Blue Monday
Some claim that the third Monday in January is the most miserable day of the year. Whether or not this is true, retailers use Blue Monday as a way to encourage people to shop away their misery.
Valentines Day
Globally celebrated, Valentine’s Day finds people showing their love by purchasing gifts for their significant others. Typically, both offline and online retailers discount their products with Valentine’s deals and sales. Last year, people across the UK spent an estimated £987m ($1.23bn) on gifts and cards, according to GlobalData Retail.
Mothers Day
As the name implies, this day typically involves gifting mums. Mother’s Day is celebrated exactly three weeks before Easter Sunday and five weeks after Valentine’s Day. The purchases made for our mums are typically offline.
Last year, Mother’s Day spending was estimated to reach a record-high $23.6 billion in the US and £1.4 billion in the UK. The research also found that Londoners spend more on their mums than on their dads (poor dads!)
Labour Day
A bank holiday, Labour Day marks the day when workers earned rights they didn’t have previously (like the eight hour work day). It’s associated with the start of spring as well. People tend to relax or go on holiday, which makes it a great time for retailers to focus on travel and leisure items, among others.
Easter Sunday
Easter Sunday is one of the most festive events among Christians worldwide. This year, Easter Sunday falls on the 1st of April, closer to payday, which gives people an incentive to spend more money towards Easter goodies like chocolate eggs and candy bunnies. Customers also tend to buy new clothes to fit the turn of the season.
Fathers Day
You guessed it. Father’s Day is dedicated to honour dear ol’ dad. About a third of all Father’s Day gifts were bought online in 2017. The dads in the UK are less lucky than the mums; Brits spend 15% less on Father’s Day than they do on Mother’s Day. In 2017, it was estimated that the spending on Father’s Day in the US would reach a record $15.5 billion, according to the National Retail Foundation (NRF). In the UK this will be around £700 million, barely any difference from last year.
Amazon Prime Day
The shopping holiday ‘Amazon Prime Day’, was launched by Amazon in 2015 to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The day is similar to Black Friday and has become one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. As the name would suggest, it’s exclusive to Amazon.
Amazon does not release sales figures, but the company stated it had a record revenue in 2017 and Prime Day was the biggest sales day in the company’s history–busier than Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Prime Day 2016. It’s estimated that Prime Day brought in between $1.8 billion and $2.8 billion dollars for Amazon.
Halloween
Halloween comes from the American celebration, but nowadays it’s observed in a number of countries. The UK is among these countries, and it was estimated that Brits will spend an extraordinary £320 million ($418 million) on Halloween. Most of the sales come from the Millenials and is spent on pumpkins and fancy dress.
Singles Day
This Chinese event, where people celebrate being single and gift themselves, is also referred to as the Chinese version of Black Friday. Alibaba reported that sales in 2017 from Singles’ Day amounted to $25.3 billion, a 40 percent jump from 2016 figures and hitting a new record. In the same year, Singles Day beat both Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Grey Thursday/Thanksgiving
Grey Thursday refers to the day before Black Friday. It consists of preview deals ahead of the Friday Frenzy that marks the start of the holiday shopping period. As expected, Thanksgiving, or Grey Thursday, is an especially popular holiday in America. Online shoppers in the US spent $2.9 billion on Thanksgiving, with mobile phone and tablet purchases accounting for nearly half of those sales.
Black Friday
This is a global online sales event that typically has deeply discounted deals, both offline and online. British shoppers are estimated to spend £10.1bn in the week of Black Friday, nearly 4% higher than last year, as more retailers take part in the US-inspired promotional day. Online spending was predicted to reach £7.42bn in the week of November 20-27 in 2017. The figure, from retail trade association IMRG, is up 15% on the £6.45bn in comparison to the same time last year. This includes a £1.35bn that’s expected to change hands online on Black Friday alone. That’s 9% more than last year.
Cyber Monday
The Monday after Thanksgiving is a day when people are encouraged to shop online, hence the name ‘Cyber Monday’. Consumers in the UK spent a total of £1.1billion shopping online on Cyber Monday.
It was the biggest sales day ever for online and mobile in the US. Online sales brought in $6.59 billion in total, while sales on mobile broke a new record by reaching $2 billion.
Small Business Saturday
The exact date of Small Business Saturday for this year will likely be the 1st of December in the UK. This global online sales event typically sees deals of 50% off or more, offline and online. The campaign celebrated its fifth birthday in the UK last year. It comes a week after two big Christmas shopping days – Black Friday and Cyber Monday – that traditionally favour larger businesses. On Small Business Saturday, customers are encouraged to visit independent retailers in their communities, many of whom mark the event with deals and discounts.
Retargeting Tuesday
This is mainly a noteworthy day for marketers. The aim of Retargeting Tuesday is to retarget customers who were previously engaged on Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Green Monday
Green Monday is Ebay’s busiest online shopping day, which comes from consumers doing last minute shopping to avoid higher delivery charges. Green Monday is seen as the online version of Super Saturday. Green Monday has become the biggest online shopping day in December, and one of the biggest of the year. In 2016, online sales on Green Monday were their highest ever at $1.6 billion.
Free Shipping
As the name suggests, participating merchants and retailers offer free shipping with guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. Hundreds of retailers in America offer free shipping on this day, helping consumers to save some money. The Free Shipping Day hasn’t taken off in the UK (yet).
Super Saturday
The last Saturday before Christmas targets last-minute shoppers. Shoppers were predicted to spend £1.6bn on last-minute presents on this Saturday in 2017. It was set to be one of the biggest trading days of the year in the UK. Around 14 million people in the UK headed to the high street to spend £1.4bn in store, up 49% on in-store spend on the same date in 2016. Online spend was also set to rise, up 46% in comparison to 2016, to a staggering £220m. This particular day is a big opportunity for retailers.
SmartConsign has the vision to simplify shipping operations and create collaboration within the logistics industry. From order through to delivery, a parcel has a long list of checkpoints before it reaches its final destination and we aim to make the journey as seamless as possible. Designed in 2008, SmartConsign is the first true cloud SaaS delivery management solution. SmartConsign is used at over 300 companies across the nation including retailers, distribution warehouses, resellers, couriers and carriers. Our parcel delivery software offers full visibility of shipping operations and seamless integration with in-house system without hardware installations.
Contact us now to get started simplifying your shipping process!