32 Holiday Marketing Ideas for eCommerce Stores (2025 Update)

In 2024, over 38 days of holiday shopping madness, eCommerce spending went up to $3 billion. 

Categories such as toys, apparel, appliances and electronics garnered maximum consumer interest. 

As we enter the peak season window in 2025, it’s an opportunity for your eCommerce brand to maximize conversions—let’s get to the best holiday marketing tips!

Holiday Marketing Hacks To Increase Sales in 2025

We’ve identified 32 holiday marketing ideas having worked with numerous clients to up their sales game for the holiday season:

1. Reimagine those bundles as gifts

2. Finetune your homepage headline for the holidays

3. Focus on conveying "value"

4. Go for a BOGO flash sale for gifters

5. Set up an evergreen holiday marketing page

6. Offer your best discounts—EARLY

7. Entice last-minute shoppers with gift cards

8. Offer more savings for higher spends

9. Build anticipation for a product drop

10. Highlight those trust signals 

11. Use relatable copy in holiday marketing emails

12. Use “only here” discounts on Instagram

13. Sell through clever price comparisons

14. Start planning the “12 days of Christmas” campaign

15. Host a compelling giveaway

16. Plug gifting into every purchase

17. Upsell through “gift wrapping”

18. Bring out holiday experiences through UGC

19. Show loyalty program benefits in the cart page

20. Entice cart abandoners through free shipping

21. Win high value shoppers through exclusivity

22. Use “early access” for email opt-ins

23. Set up holiday-specific category pages

24. Consider setting up price matching 

25. Make gift returns & exchanges super easy

26. Pick only chosen days for free shipping

27. Leverage mystery upsells to beat generic discounts 

28. Build social engagement through a price promo

29. Highlight alternate payment options to draw Gen Z

30. Set up popular items as “free gifts”

31. Offer a seasonal incentive for reviews & feedback

32. Drive discount codes through influencer recommendations

1. Reimagine those bundles as gifts

To bundle effectively for the holiday season, you’ll have to step into the shopper’s shoes. 

One way to make your bundles come alive is to notice which expensive gifts customers have been buying and then pair them up with cheaper & complementary products. 

If you’re repurposing existing bundles as gifts, try naming them on a seasonal theme—for example, if you market a “traveler’s kit” during the non-holiday season, name it “Winter Wanderland Kit” to catch attention for the holidays. 

You could also show holiday bundle popups on product pages, based on what product a shopper is viewing—the minute they begin to scroll down on the product page, you can show something like:

Key Action: Create one bundle per segment to promote — this way you can pull them out of grouped offers and highlight them with more distinctive copy like “Beautifully boxed, ready to gift in seconds.”

2. Finetune your homepage headline for the holidays

Everybody talks about getting your website a holiday theme for the peak season.

But the part of your website that first needs this turnaround is your homepage header.

Set the tone, messaging and product options to match with what shoppers are looking for. 

Here’s an example from Sephora—the brand across the years has chosen to highlight gifts by price and category and also call attention to those who’re shopping for the holidays. 

Question to ask: "What's the #1 reason that visitors will land in our store this holiday season — is it to gift, to treat themselves or stock up?"

The answer to this will help you craft your homepage holiday headline, faster, better.

3. Focus on conveying "value"

Your shoppers need to see why your products are packing the punch this holiday season.

So consider using messaging like:  ”you pay X for products of 2X value” as one of your holiday marketing strategies. 

In the example below, check how acdsee offers information on both the slashed full price of the bundle as well as how much the market pegs it at. 

Key Action: Displaying a market comparison against what you're offering is a great way to make this holiday marketing strategy seem more believable. This is especially worthwhile on product pages where consideration & intent are usually higher.

4. Go for a BOGO flash sale for gifters

A simple message that says “Get more of what you’d like to give” could work really well. 

You can also run a BOGO offer on items that are already on sale.

However, this can be one of those stellar holiday marketing ideas only if you frame the perception well.

What we mean reframe the way shoppers look at BOGO this holiday season:

• One for them, one for you
• Buy a gift, get one to wrap for free

Key Action: Since BOGO fatigue is super real in 2025, keep the flash sale window tight: Tomorrow only: our fastest BOGO ever!

5. Set up an evergreen holiday marketing page

eCommerce holiday marketing strategies are as much about SEO as they're about actual audience interest.

And somewhere along the way, we all know how the two are tied together on the internet.

Something that Gymshark leans into is the evergreen holiday marketing page — where they feature new content and build anticipation around big seasonal sale events.

But that's not what's most interesting.

What takes the cake is how they list products here and create real-time urgency that shoppers pay heed to:

Question to ask: Will the marketing page serve multiple holidays (Christmas, New Year, Diwali, Valentine’s) or be tailored to one season and reused yearly?

The answer will guide you to understand how and when to update it.

Planning your holiday marketing sales? Watch top brand examples to inspire your Christmas campaign!

6. Offer your best discounts—EARLY

You could position it as a pre-sale with the deepest discounts—in this case, you’ll have to state that you’re doing it before anyone else.

The other way to do it is through early access—introduce pop-ups, send emails and make sure to drive the urgency of it “ending soon!”

Or, announce a flash sale of a few hours on two consecutive weekends but don’t give both the dates away at one go—for the second, address “those of you who missed that massive sale, here’s another chance!”

Target those who’ve repeatedly bought from you for the past year for maximum effect. 

Here’s an example of what you can communicate: 

Key Action: This kind of holiday-themed marketing will work only if you don't announce the discounts everywhere at once. Start with audiences that are highly engaged with your brand: repeat purchasers and active email subscribers.

7. Entice last-minute shoppers with gift cards

If you’re giving out discounts early in the season (see last point,) consider offering a deep discount on gift cards too. In this case, just give them the freedom to buy with it anytime during the holiday season. 

For last-minute shoppers, if you can launch gift cards for a limited time and pair them with wishlists they can share, that can work well too. 

It is also worthwhile for you to feature gift cards that shoppers can gift to someone else or themselves — just like Sephora does:

Key Action: The best way to promote gift cards after holiday shipping has closed is to use the notification bar to call it out "There's still time to gift!"

8. Offer more savings for higher spends

Tiered discounts work really during the holidays because most shoppers are looking to buy multiple items at the same time. 

Question to ask: Which tier structure best aligns with how shoppers are buying at the moment?

So, if most customers already buying 1–2 units, start the first reward tier at 2+ to gently nudge behavior.

9. Build anticipation for a product drop

Just for the holidays, you can look at creating:

A product drop exclusive for members. 

Exclusive versions of your best selling products. 

A virtual waiting room during the entire duration of the product drop. 

This is the kind of teaser you can use as part of your holiday marketing ideas for 2025:

Key Action: Launch an early access waitlist first, so that you can build further holiday marketing content to create hype later.

10. Highlight those trust signals 

Not just on your product pages, but also on pages that drive early stages of the purchase decision: homepage and category pages. 

In a sea of holiday marketing offers, placing trust signals early on can become a significant conversion driver: 

Question to ask: Does our long form holiday copy include trust-anchoring language like “over 100,000 gifts delivered last year” or “loved by families across 50 states” beyond badges and logos?

This kind of language reinforces brand-level trust, which is essential for holiday marketing strategies to work, especially among first-time visitors and buyers.

11. Use relatable copy in holiday marketing emails

And that’s not just about using words like “warm,” “family” and “holidays.”

Speak to shoppers about the problems they could be facing in real-time while buying in the season—just like Everlane does: 

Key Action: Make this holiday marketing tip work smarter by featuring a "real human voice". For example, a subject line like “A quick holiday note from Emma, our founder” likely to be noticed in the middle of all the inbox noise.

 12. Use “only here” discounts on Instagram

Instagram has finally almost caught up with Facebook in terms of how many shoppers will buy on the platform in 2025—it stands at 35% (against FB’s 37%.)

To extend your holiday season discounts to your audiences there, along with “Use code ABCD at checkout” you’ll also have to highlight “when you buy using the link below” or “when you buy using the link in bio.” 

“Only here” discounts also typically help shoppers finish their purchases faster and abandon carts less. 

Key Action: Tune the language in the way platform users relate best — something like "secret story discount" or "only for our Insta fam" can have stronger emotional impact.

13. Sell through clever price comparisons

When everyone’s highlighting discounts, you’ll have to bring in recommendations and also introduce a price spin to it—it’s one way you’ll get people to add to your holiday sales, just like this: 

‍

Question to ask: Have we structured recommendations around a clear decision path (“Best for gifting,” “Best value,” “Best under $50”)?

This can be the starting point to know which customer segments you want to target through this holiday marketing strategy.

14. Start planning the “12 days of Christmas” campaign

Giving a great time to your email list during the holiday season will send word out. 

One underrated way of doing this is to come up with your brand’s own version of “12 days of Christmas.”

Create an unbeatable mix of deals, recommendations & value-add content and you’ll be good to go!

Here’s how Tom’s does it:

Key Action: Build a story arc across all the days, so that building emotional anticipation becomes easier every single day.

15. Host a compelling giveaway

Social media giveaways work especially well when eCommerce brands want a spike in holiday sales. 

They need to be simple, non-time consuming and have the capacity to become truly viral because of the product waiting at the end of the process. 

To make it more compelling, ask participants to tag their friends in the comments so that visibility improves. 

Here’s an example from Velvet Caviar:

Key Action: Offer a prize that do all three of the following: add to emotional value, enrich the brand story, elevate the customer experience.

16. Plug gifting into every purchase

This is one of the best ways of reestablishing your brand during the holiday season—look at what Starbucks does without saying shoppers should buy some gifts:

Question to ask: Are we aiming to drive loyalty, increase order value, or enhance perceived care?

This is important to ask because the answer will tell you how to frame the gift messaging so that long term profit margins see a positive impact.

17. Upsell through “gift wrapping”

But make sure to highlight a free variant so that it does not seem too pushy—here’s how GAP does it and explains it all in sufficient detail:

Question to ask: What’s the perceived value of our gift wrapping to the customer?

So, in a way, you have to find out if shoppers will perceive it as valuable enough to pay extra for or if you should include it only with higher cart values.

18. Bring out holiday experiences through UGC

79% of shoppers anyway claim to depend on UGC to make sense of their purchases. 

In the holiday season, you can drive your marketing from this angle—and turn up the emotional quotient of the shopping experience. 

Truly Beauty takes this approach by using curated UGC to throw in holiday feelers much earlier than many brands:

Here are some ideas:

Ask mystery box shoppers to record their unboxing experience (to incentivize this, promise them a discount for their next purchase.)

Run a “before/after” photo campaign where you feature before/after photos of products first just unpacked and then later used in some form—choose the best photos from the entries and reward the best two or three entries. 

Key Action: To bring in the best UGC as part of holiday marketing strategies for your eCommerce store, create a clear UGC theme along with an appropriate season-specific hashtag.

19. Show loyalty program benefits in the cart page

No matter how useful your loyalty program is, to holiday shoppers in a hurry it won’t often appear as a to-do. 

This is why you’ll need to feature it where shoppers are most likely to notice it without fail: the cart page or the mini cart. 

And just saying “Join our loyalty program for free to get discounts” may not be enough, because eCommerce holiday marketing needs something more tactical.

Tie it to the current purchase, say something like: “Join our loyalty program and get your current order at $X instead of $Y - plus free gift wrapping.”

Key Action: Highlight holiday-only multipliers (“double points through Dec 31”) so that intent to buy increases.

20. Entice cart abandoners through free shipping

Cart abandonment rates quite obviously go up during the holiday season. 

And cart abandonment emails, while having more than 40% open rate, can’t bring back all your abandoners. 

That’s why you’ll need a slightly different holiday marketing idea:

For customers towards the bottom of the funnel, show up a limited time free shipping nudge in the cart page or just as they show exit intent trigger a limited time free shipping popup on the current purchase. 

Key Action: While emphasizing time sensitivity, ensure your language doesn't border on pushiness - Still want it by Christmas Eve? Your order ships free today only 🎁.

21. Win high value shoppers through exclusivity

To maximize conversions during the holiday season, you’ll have to wheel in those who buy repeatedly from you and also repeatedly spend more than others. 

Use exclusivity to appeal to this bunch by:

Sending them “pre book” emails on certain high worth products—you could even do this if you’ve announced that you’re making a new product launch during this season. 

Bringing in a category expert (let’s say you run a nutrition business and you bring in a recognized consultant or author) and promoting an invite-only Youtube live stream. 

Announcing an exclusive discount on products these individuals have browsed so far but haven’t bought—make it clear no one else will be enjoying this price slash!

Question to ask: What emotional or functional triggers make them buy from us (status, quality, rarity, story, craftsmanship)?

The answer will tell you what kind of value to create through the "exclusvity" hook in your holiday marketing.

22. Use “early access” for email opt-ins

Once the holiday season sets in, shoppers get tired of seeing “get 10% off when you sign up” messages across brands. 

You can instead give it a different twist: offer the discount but apply it on products that get over early. 

Make the CTA text read something like: “Get early access” and for good measure, introduce a countdown timer. 

Question to ask: How does this “early access” compare to other incentives (discount codes, loyalty perks) during the holiday season?

This will tell you how to qualify the early access offer in further clarifying terms.

Do check out: 18 Killer Examples Of eCommerce New Years Marketing

23. Set up holiday-specific category pages

Leave no room for confusion when they set foot on your site—mention “Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” or “Holiday Specials” as a separate category in your main navigation panel. 

Ensure there are helpful sub-categories branching out from this like “gifts for him”, “gifts for her”, “holiday gift guide” and “custom gifts.”

Question to ask: How will mobile shoppers experience these pages — can they scroll, filter, and convert easily?

24. Consider setting up price matching 

44% of shoppers have claimed that they hang out online during the holidays just to compare prices. 

This is reason enough for you to study competitor prices and set a pricing strategy competitive enough to use a “price match guarantee” label. 

This can be one of your worthwhile holiday marketing ideas if you sell slightly more expensive products. 

Check out Best Buy’s price match guarantee page to get some ideas on what would make sense to your business. 

Key Action: Decide if it applies only to identical SKUs or also to bundles, variants, or competitors’ equivalents.

25. Make gift returns & exchanges super easy

Make it easy for the gift recipient to control this process—without having to loop in the person who paid for the gift in the first place. 

To make this smooth, set up gift exchange options for every product—offer a few options that are like the original gift and some that are slightly different for the same price. 

Also, extend your returns window to allow shoppers some extra reaction time. 

Key Action: Clearly mark gift-ready items with an "Easy gift returns" badge to improve pre-purchase confidence considerably.

26. Pick only chosen days for free shipping

While most eCommerce brands offer a free shipping threshold during the holiday season, you can take it a level up. 

Announce that you’ll pick three to four days within the season, and all orders on those days will enjoy this benefit. 

Put this up on your website, feature it in your newsletter and even send it out as email reminders. 

Here’s how J. Crew did it for one of their seasonal campaigns to take their holiday marketing strategy to the next level:

Key Action: Consider picking repeatable patterns like “Free Shipping Fridays” or “Every 15th of the Month” because consistency builds recall.

27. Leverage mystery upsells to beat generic discounts 

Why say “50% sitewide off” when you can say “50% sitewide off plus a Mystery sample of a bestseller.”

You can also personalize this for repeat buyers and nudge them to add a “mystery item you’ve browsed before” in their shopping cart.

Question to ask: What’s the minimum purchase threshold that triggers the mystery offer?

It's important to answer this as part of your eCommerce holiday marketing plan because you don't want margins to suffer.

28. Build social engagement through a price promo

To pack a punch, ask a popular affiliate or influencer to talk about your upcoming seasonal sale—ask them to offer a condition like “if this post reaches X number of likes, I’ll drop a special promo code for an additional discount.”

This kind of nudge can make social posts more viral. 

Question to ask: How will this promo tie back to brand discovery, not just short-term sales?

Consider naming the event distinctly so that people who partake in the promo remember your brand.

29. Highlight alternate payment options to draw Gen Z

Because Gen Z represents the crowd that’s systematically avoiding the behemoths, smaller eCommerce businesses can really draw them in during the holiday season. 

To do this, highlight multiple alternate payment options, especially BNPL ones that allow them to make multiple purchases without having to worry about immediate cash crunches. 

Other ways to make most of this section of your shoppers? 

Highlight sustainable packaging at an extra cost. 

Donate a part of their spend on a sustainable cause. 

Question to ask: What drives their payment choice — flexibility, rewards, privacy, or speed?

In the end, your eCommerce holiday marketing plan has to incorporate BNPL options in a way that the sub-section of GenZ you're targeting feel compelled to buy.

30. Set up popular items as “free gifts”

You want shoppers to increase their spending through your holiday eCommerce strategy.

We’d suggest you look at the most popular search intent keywords to understand what is sitting high up on a shopper’s mind. 

Storq does this by featuring one of their bestsellers as a free gift — one of the best holiday marketing tips we can think of:

Question to ask: What type of purchase behavior are we trying to trigger?

Because depending upon whether it's repeat purchase, first-time purchase, higher-tier spend, or seasonal urgency, your free gift positioning will have to change.

31. Offer a seasonal incentive for reviews & feedback

Since iterating your offers and messaging early on in the holiday cycle is absolutely crucial, set up incentives for reviews and feedback. 

Instead of giving them a generic “20% off on your next order”, make it more specific by tying it into your seasonal styles and sales: “20% additional discount on current sale items just for you when you take this survey.”

Key Action: Frame the review request around shared moments of the season — from a holiday marketing perspective, this is also more likely to get them to engage more contextually.

32. Drive discount codes through influencer recommendations

So many brands send out discount codes through emails during the holiday season that yours are likely to be completely overlooked. 

The way around this is to promote the same codes through influencers on their social channels—this way you can gain access to a completely different customer base for conversions: the influencer’s network and followers. 

Key Action: Align with influencers who’re naturally aligned with what you sell and stand by—for example, if you’re a makeup brand, tie up with a makeup artist; if you’re into supplements, aim to collaborate with fitness trainers and teachers. 

4 Key Elements To Consider For Holiday Marketing In 2025

In helping clients clinch more conversions during the peak season we’ve identified 5 elements that will play a major role in influencing holiday sales in 2025:

1. Customer experience

During the holiday season, if you have to optimize customer experience you’ll have to especially focus on providing: 

Immediate responses (through live chat, increase problem solving within one customer call)

Self-help resources (enrich your FAQs, make your policies more easily understandable, highlight them in key places)

Consistent support across channels (support staff need to pick up on customer data without shoppers having to repeat queries/problems etc.)

2. Email marketing 

Another major factor that can make or break your holiday season conversions is the way you leverage email marketing. 

Here are a few key things you can infuse into your email marketing for this time of the year:

Scarcity. Exclusivity. Curiosity. Gift guidance. Gift cards. Updates on sale extensions. 

3. Copywriting

To appeal to shoppers during the holiday season through copywriting, you’ll have to:

Elaborate less on information and play more on emotion. 

Use words that your audience will directly connect with the season. 

Update your product descriptions to read more celebratory, in line with the holiday season. 

4. Video content

This is a time when more shoppers need visual validation to buy confidently.

To create the right kind of video content, we'd recommend holiday sales tips like:

- Unboxing experiences

- How-to product videos

- Expert tips and suggestions

- Storytelling around products 

How Do You Market During The Holidays?

Considering holiday sales have been growing at a rate of 4.4% year on year, it’s a great time to leverage your business strengths and market well—here are some important factors to remember:

1. Focus on personalizing experiences

The less generic you are in making your holiday sales, the better—personalize through dynamic content in your emails, introduce a holiday-specific quiz on the website, create gift guides based on the browsing & purchase history of a shopper for the whole year. 

2. Leverage UGC

Run giveaways, offer incentives for tagging your brand in pictures, and highlight reviews in emails. 

You must also read: How To Use "Giveaways" In eCommerce (Without Looking Desperate)

3. Optimize your site for experience & speed

Clear out your navigation to make gift finding easy. 

Highlight gifts by budget and category on the homepage itself.

Craft some nudges that’ll convince shoppers to buy faster (think special bundle pricing pop-ups, rewards buttons etc.)

Run A/B tests specifically on above the fold content to improve conversions. 

4. Make it easier to shop on mobile

Incorporate slide down cart views that shoppers can use to add/edit easily without having to leave the page. 

Bring in “add to cart” buttons to whatever recommendations you make on the homepage. 

Highlight social sharing buttons for more engagement. 

5. Create a strong cart abandonment strategy

This won’t just involve sending some great discounts along with cart abandonment emails but also looking into existing areas such as delivery timelines, free shipping policy and product quantity restrictions. 

You must also read: eCommerce Thanksgiving Marketing Strategies (and Brilliant Examples)

When Should You Start Marketing For The Holidays? 

Ideally between August and September, you should have planned around which audiences you’d want to target first, what kind of offers would make sense, when to announce the first early deal etc. 

Use most of October and then November to build up the buzz until Thanksgiving through teaser and sneak peek communication across email, social media and your website. 

Recommended reading:

Cyber Monday eCommerce: 12 *Last-Minute* Hacks to Boost Conversions

27 Black Friday Marketing Examples For 2024 (eCommerce)

Top 30 Christmas Marketing Examples in eCommerce

Be UX ready for the holidays!

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