Push the Right Products at the Right Time

Today marks the first official day of the world-famous Glastonbury festival. These days, there is so much more to the festival than music; as a festival of contemporary performing arts, attendees can enjoy dance recitals, alongside comedy, theatre, circus acts and much more. However, there is another element that springs to mind when Brits think of Glastonbury: festival fashion.

At Glastonbury, and indeed at the many other British festivals, there is a certain dress code: festival chic, which incorporates boho elements with western. Therefore, clothing retailers should make sure they highlight these products with a dedicated festival tag in the lead up to these summer events. Festival season is important for fashion retailers, but it can be hard to keep a track of when to push certain clothing items. As a result, we thought it would be useful to set it out for you, so you can maximise profit. (NB: these dates are for the Northern Hemisphere).

January

This is a great opportunity for you to get rid of all your leftover winter stock in the January sales. Indeed, Statista’s figures state that 63% of UK consumers intend to purchase clothing and accessories in January sales, and more and more people are heading online to avoid the sales mayhem in physical stores.

February

Valentine’s Day falls in this month, and it is estimated that at least £1.6 billion is spent on gifts for this occasion. According to a Georgetown study, 59% of consumers will shop online during this holiday, so it is a great time to push lingerie and jewellery.

To read: Valentine’s Day: Increase your Visibility on Social Networks

March

With St Patrick’s Day falling on the 17th, think green, green, green! It is popular not just in the British Isles, but all over the world: 51.2% of Americans celebrate the day, with over 80% wearing green. As a result, you should make sure to create a dedicated St Patrick’s Day section on your website for all your green items.

April

April is synonymous with Spring, so make sure you are displaying all of your Spring stock. Spring stock does not simply mean lighter cardigans and pastel colours, but also raincoats, wellies and umbrellas.

May

People are starting to buy for their summer holidays, so start selling items accordingly: sundresses, shorts, swimsuits, trunks, sun-hats, sandals…

June

Festival fever is at an all time high (hello, Glastonbury!), so dedicate a part of your website to boho/western clothing to remain competitive. According to fashion analytics firm Edited, 33% more fringed items were added to the e-commerce market in the run up to festival season. Festivals are not just about the fashion, but also staying dry in the unpredictable British weather, so be sure to stock wellington boots and anoraks.

July

Schools break up for summer in July, so parents will be on the look-out for children’s holiday clothes. If you sell children’s clothes, now is the perfect time to run a summer promotion.

August

August is all about the ‘Back to School’ promotion. With school starting next month, parents will try to plan ahead and buy the relevant clothing items, from traditional school uniform, to shoes and backpacks, and many short-on-time parents will opt to shop online for these items, making it the second largest time of year for retail sales, behind only the winter holiday period. However, keep shipping costs as low as possible as 57% of parents said high delivery fees could turn them away from shopping online during this period. Also, be sure to keep pushing this promotion all month, as research from Mastercard revealed that August 29th was the most popular shopping day of the Back to School period.

September

September marks the transition from Summer to Autumn, so you should be displaying all of your Autumn products by now.

October

With Halloween at the end of the month, you should consider setting up a relevant promotion with products that could be used for fancy dress, as 41% of Halloween shoppers buy Halloween-related goods online, making it the 4th biggest holiday for eCommerce.

November

As the nights get longer, and the days get colder, customers will be looking for winter clothing; not only coats and jumpers, but also hats, gloves and scarves.

December

Christmas is the word of the month in December. Why not dedicate a section of your site to christmas jumpers, or to nice dresses for office parties/family dinners? People will also be looking to buy gifts for loved ones, with UK online spending reaching £24billion over the 2015 Christmas period, so you should consider setting up appropriate and attractive offers.

If you want to know more about key e-commerce dates,

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