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Biggest sales of the year: 10 tips to maximize success

Reading Time: 8 minutes

As an ecommerce store owner, any contender for the biggest sale of the year is likely marked in big, bold letters in your calendar. However, with so much profit to be made and competition to face up to, these sales can feel overwhelming.

Here, we have provided 10 tips for you to use to maximize your success in the upcoming year. From running giveaways to crafting interest-grabbing teaser campaigns, we’ll cover every base.

We’ll also provide a chronological view of the biggest sale days of the year to ensure you don’t miss out on generating maximum profit.

Get started with Omnisend today and revolutionize your email and SMS marketing

When is the biggest sale of the year?

When it comes to the biggest sale of the year, there are three contenders outside of regional or industry-specific events: 

Black Friday and Cyber Monday

In online retail, Black Friday and Cyber Monday have become the two most important days of the year. Black Friday sales start the day after Thanksgiving, which falls on the fourth Thursday of November, with Cyber Monday being the first Monday after Thanksgiving.

In 2024, US shoppers spent a record $10.8 billion on Black Friday, with Cyber Monday sales pushing the overall total beyond $20 billion.

Amazon Prime Day

It’s safe to say Amazon is the biggest fish in the online retail pond, so when it has a site-wide sale, it doesn’t go unnoticed. 2024’s Amazon Prime Day was the largest in the company’s history in terms of sales, as the retail giant generated $14.2 billion

End-of-year clearance sales

Once the Christmas rush has come to an end, stores will generally slice the prices of items to make way for next year’s stock. These sales are huge for retail and ecommerce businesses as they attempt to bring in their final revenue for the year.

Biggest sale days of the year

The biggest sale days of the year fall around the major milestones in the calendar, from New Year’s Day to Thanksgiving and Christmas. Here is a chronological list of all the largest sale days in the US:

  • New Year’s Day: Retailers will have New Year’s Day sales to try and clear stock before refreshing their inventory for the upcoming year
  • Valentine’s Day promotions: Valentine’s Day is an excellent opportunity for companies to slash prices on items given as gifts to customers’ significant others
  • President’s Day sales: A week after Valentine’s Day is the President’s Day sales, where shoppers can expect to find deals on general items such as electronics and clothing
  • Memorial Day Weekend: The next big sale day is Memorial Day Weekend, a sale that takes place over the weekend leading up to the last Monday of May
  • Back-to-school sales: Clothing, electronics, and stationery companies make the most of the back-to-school rush, putting on sales from late July to September
  • Black Friday and Cyber Monday: The two standout sale days in the calendar are Black Friday and Cyber Monday, which take place the Friday and Monday after Thanksgiving and usually mark the start of people’s Christmas shopping
  • Holiday sales (Christmas and New Year’s Eve): The major sales days of the year conclude with the holiday sales taking place in late December, which are general sales put on by a range of companies aiming to squeeze out final profits of the year
weekend sale

In retail, big sales are always coming up, no matter what time of year it is. That’s why, as a store owner, you should be prepared if you want to maximize your profits. Here are 10 tips for leveraging the biggest sales events.

10 tips for leveraging the biggest sales events

1. Create teaser campaigns

A large part of big sales success comes from an excited and engaged audience. This is something you can manufacture by creating email or SMS campaigns that tease the discounts that are about to come.

To create a successful teaser campaign, you’ll have to be prepared in advance, as the main aim is to create excitement among your subscriber base. Don’t give too much away — instead, opt to reveal a date or offer an early discount on a single product.

Here’s an example of an effective teaser email from oat milk chocolate brand Happi:

2. Offer early access to VIP customers

Your loyal customers are the lifeblood of your business, so it’s important to keep them onside with exclusive discounts and special treatment. One of the most effective methods of this is offering them early access to the sale — essentially giving them first pick.

By offering early access to your VIP customers, you’re not only increasing your chances of generating sales, but you’re also making them feel valued. Building up this sort of relationship with customers who value your store will likely result in return purchases further down the line.

4knines email
Image via Really Good Emails

3. Run a social media giveaway

Social media giveaways are ideal for increasing brand engagement and awareness before a big sale. The traditional giveaway format is straightforward, too — set aside a handful of products and encourage people to follow you and leave a comment.

Most companies will require followers to tag a friend in the comments section to register their entry. This is an efficient way of expanding your brand to a wider audience before announcing the details of your next big sale. 

glossier giveaway
Image via Instagram

4. Add flash deals within the event

Flash sales are when you slash the prices of certain products for a short window of time, creating a sense of urgency among your customers. They’re excellent for parting ways with unwanted stock and clearing inventories.

meundies flash sale
Image via Really Good Emails

As you can see, MeUndies offered a 20% discount on everything in its store for just 48 hours, creating urgency and demand.

5. Use retargeting ads

Sometimes, you can get within inches of making a sale before the customer abandons their cart out of nowhere. This is frustrating, but there are steps you can take to try and win the customer back, such as by using retargeting ads

These adverts will gather information about the customer and the products they once had in their cart, allowing you to create personalized ads. The customer will then see these ads popping up when they browse the internet. 

This will jog their memory of the products they left behind and can prompt them to return to your store. 

rael email
Image via Really Good Emails

6. Bundle products

A surefire way to increase order value and overall sales is to bundle relevant products together and offer a discount on the order. For example, if you run a shaving company, you could throw in some shaving gel and a brush alongside a razor blade.

As the products are linked, the customer will be tempted to buy the extra products for a cheaper price, increasing the amount of money spent. 

Product bundling is also a method of clearing stock, as you can include products that aren’t selling particularly well in the bundle.

ritual bundle
Image via Really Good Emails

7. Promote a “mystery discount”

If you want to boost customer engagement around your sale, you can promote a mystery discount, which can be presented in multiple forms. 

You could opt for a “spin and win” system, which involves the customer spinning a wheel with various offers up for grabs. Spinning wheel prizes can be made available daily, keeping customers returning to your store to try and bag themselves a great offer.

You could also offer a random discount code, which is made available when the customer signs up for your email list, as shown below.

mystery discount
Image via Liberty in Love

8. Use SMS to send last-minute reminders

Sending last-minute SMS reminders can help sweep up any remaining subscribers who may not be aware of your sale. SMS messages have an extremely high open rate compared to emails, broadening your outreach. For example:

Our biggest-ever Black Friday sale ends at midnight tonight. Don’t miss out.

You can also send SMS messages to warn customers that certain products are low in stock, prompting interested customers to take action, such as:

Just a few items remain in our Valentine’s Day sale. Grab a bargain while you can!

However, building your SMS list may take a bit more work than building up an email list. People are generally less willing to offer you their phone number than they are their email address.

9. Highlight social proof

The best way to increase customer trust in your product is by showing social proof in the form of customer reviews. If people are aware of how satisfied your customers are, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase themselves. 

This is because if prospective buyers feel reassured that something is of great quality, it lowers the risk of the purchase. People don’t want to take chances when shopping online, especially if the product costs more than $30. 

Here is an example of how you can include social proof in a marketing email:

social proof everlane email
Image via Really Good Emails

10. Follow up after the sale

Your work shouldn’t end the moment a sale is made. In fact, this is a great time to carry on momentum as the customer will have your brand at the front and center of their mind. 

There are multiple ways in which you can follow up after making a sale. The first option is to send a thank you email. These emails let the customer know you’re truly grateful for their purchase and will help you build a relationship with them.

You could also give your sales charm another spin and try to cross-sell them other products in a follow-up email

ilia email
Image via Really Good Emails

How to use Omnisend for sales event marketing

Omnisend has all the features you need to ensure your email and SMS marketing is effective, including:

  • Email and SMS automation: Automating your email and SMS ensures you always send the right message to the right person at the right time
  • Personalization: Keep your emails and SMS messages personal to make the customer feel valued and increase conversions
  • Countdown timers: Add countdown timers to your marketing to add urgency to your offer
  • Segmentation and targeting: Segment your audience depending on factors such as their demographics and purchase history
segmentation
  • Analytics: Browse your marketing analytics to find out what’s working and what’s not working
  • Cart abandonment emails: If a customer leaves your store without buying the products they added to their cart, entice them back with cart abandonment reminders

With Omnisend’s help, your store’s big sale experience won’t cause any sleepless nights or frantic days. Instead, you can focus on what really matters — curating the very best sale to generate maximum profits.

Wrap up

Creating an effective, profitable sale for your business doesn’t have to be complicated. With simple techniques such as product bundling and effective messaging, you can generate more sales without adding stress.

Omnisend will also help you retain your customers with follow-up emails so that you can begin to generate more profit outside of sale time.

The biggest sale of the year is not something to be feared but rather something to look forward to. 

Get started with Omnisend today & drive sales on autopilot with pre-built automation workflows
Karolina Petraškienė
Article by

Karolina is a content project manager and team lead at Omnisend, where she blends creative strategy with a keen focus on competitive intelligence. Outside of work, Karolina finds balance through her love of gardening, exploring new hiking trails, biking, and raising a bunch of boys.