Pre-Coachella shopping: festival fans start shopping for the event in January, as soon as they buy their tickets

Every year around 250,000 people attend the Coachella music festival. This year the festival will be held on April 12-14 and April 19-21. 

The latest study by ecommerce marketing company Omnisend shows that attendees start to shop for the event online three months in advance, in January. 

This trend is quite consistent for the third year in a row, with Coachella-related item search volumes growing five times in January ( 351,250 compared to 65,677 in December) and reaching their peak in April (1,172,208 last year). 

Most of the festival fans look for Coachella outfits and clothes (around 40,000 searches since January 2024), camping gear (13,000), and merch (4,000).

“Many big brands (like Adidas, Revolve, and American Express) participate in Coachella with extravagant brand activations, like popup stores in festival areas, after-parties, and mini-festivals. However, for many attendees the festival starts much earlier than when they arrive in Indio,” says Greg Zakowicz, senior ecommerce marketing expert at Omnisend. “People start to prepare for the festival as soon as they  buy their tickets in January by looking for outfit ideas online and shopping for their Coachella looks.”

The data was gathered using the third-party tool Ahrefs.

Lana del Rey fans are the most active in looking for her merch online

Coachella has a unique aesthetic that is appealing not only to those lucky enough to visit the event but also to those who enjoy the “Coachella look”. That’s why most Google searches associated with the event involve keywords like “outfits,” “merch” and “fashion”. 

Omnisend also looked into the merch searches for this year’s festival headliners: No Doubt, Lana Del Rey, Tyler the Creator, and Doja Cat. The research showed that Lana del Rey fans googled her merch at least 75,000 times since the beginning of the year, while fans of Tyler the Creator were less active with 23,000 searches, and Doja Cat merch was googled around 4,000 times. Fans of No Doubt were the least active, with search volumes under 1,000 searches this year. 

Why should ecommerce brands care about Coachella?

“Our study found that many people prepare for their time at the festivals by shopping online, so ecommerce businesses shouldn’t lose this opportunity to offer their clients some Coachella-themed discounts,” says Greg Zakowicz, ecommerce expert at Omnisend. “Especially if a brand is in the Fashion & apparel or Beauty & cosmetics industry.”

Here are some Coachella marketing tips from Zakowicz:

• Start your campaign in advance. Remember: people start to look for Coachella-themed items as soon as they buy their tickets. This doesn’t mean that your campaign should necessarily start in January; however, you can start teasing the campaign long before April.
• Pick the right products to discount. The Coachella look is all about glitter, bohemian accessories, crop tops, and fringe, so make sure you promote products that are the most relevant to the event. Consider adding limited-edition products to your store at the time of the campaign.
• Leverage influencer marketing. Social media is a perfect place for many people to find their Coachella outfit inspiration. Provide the influencers your potential clients follow with the clothes from your store so that they can style their Coachella outfits using your products.
• Launch an email marketing campaign. Email marketing is a cheap and effective way to connect with your clients. Use email marketing to tease your Coachella-themed campaign, offer exclusive discounts, and share content related to the festival.