The period between Boxing Day and the January sales is a golden opportunity for online marketplace sellers to boost their revenue and clear out stock. With post-Christmas shoppers eager to make the most of discounts and promotions, this window presents a critical time to capitalise on demand. 

Whether you’re selling on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, or other popular platforms, understanding the key selling dates, preparing your products, and optimising your strategy are essential for making the most of this peak season. 

In this blog post, we’ll dive into the important dates you need to watch, how to prepare your listings and stock for this high-traffic window, and how tools like ChannelUnity’s Velocity Repricer can give you a competitive edge. We’ll also look at which types of products tend to perform best during this period and explore marketplace-specific features that can help you increase sales in the January sales. 

If you’re ready to take full advantage of the post-Christmas shopping surge, read on to discover how to sell smarter, not harder, during the seasonal sales window.

What are the key selling dates for boxing day / January sales?

To maximise your sales during the post-Christmas window, it’s essential to identify the key selling dates and understand the types of products that perform best during this period. Here’s a breakdown of the key dates you should focus on:

1. Boxing Day (December 26th)
   Boxing Day marks the beginning of post-Christmas deals and often continues the momentum of Christmas sales. Shoppers are eager to snag clearance items and discounted goods, making it an ideal time to offer markdowns on excess stock or seasonal products.
2. New Year’s Sale (Typically from January 1st)
   New Year’s Day sales kick off the year with strong discounts, and some marketplaces may even begin promotions on December 31st. This sale period often shifts towards health, fitness, and wellbeing products, with shoppers looking for items like gym equipment, fitness trackers, and wellness accessories. Clearance items continue to be popular here as well.
3. Winter Sale (Ongoing throughout January)
   Winter sales focus more on seasonal products rather than Christmas gifts. This period is perfect for promoting winter-related goods such as cold-weather apparel, heating products, and adventure holiday gear like skiing and snowboarding equipment. As many consumers look ahead to winter travel, products related to these activities can see a spike in demand.
4. Valentine’s Day (Starting February 1st)
   While this isn’t technically within the January sale window, Valentine’s Day sales are an important follow-up promotion. Early promotions leading up to February 14th are key for sellers of gifts, jewellery, and personal items. Offering early bird discounts or limited-time offers can be a great way to capture early shoppers.

By aligning your products with these specific dates and promotions, you’ll be in a strong position to maximise your sales potential during this crucial seasonal window.

How can you prepare your products for this key selling window?

Being prepared for selling windows is half the battle when it comes to maximising sales during promotional windows. Now you know the key selling dates, you can strategise around them moving into the promotional windows. The following ideas are curated to as examples of effectively maximising product sales potential.

Setting up Promotional Prices

Many marketplaces allow you to set up start and end dates for promotional prices which you can use to your advantage. ChannelUnity’s integration has two fields that can be set up to map this: Special Price From Date and Special Price To Date; both of which allow you to specify a date in YYYY-MM-DDT00:00:00 format.

Remember that not all marketplaces offer start and end dates for sale prices so it’s important to check before setting this up. If you’re unsure you can reach out to ChannelUnity’s fantastic support team for advice. 

Think about what would sell well in this period in advance

When preparing for the post-Christmas and January sales window, it’s crucial to anticipate what products are likely to resonate with customers and plan your promotions accordingly. Understanding customer psychology and shopping habits during this period can help you strategically align your offerings with their needs and desires.

For example, the New Year’s sale period is synonymous with fresh starts, making it an ideal time to promote products related to fitness, health, and personal wellbeing. Many consumers set New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, get fit, or improve their health, which drives demand for items like fitness equipment, workout apparel, supplements, and wellness gadgets. Whether your customers are looking to shed the pounds from holiday indulgence or invest in long-term health goals, tapping into these motivations can help you target the right products and connect emotionally with your audience.

Additionally, after the Christmas season, shoppers often shift their focus from gifts for family to personal goals. This is the time when products related to self-improvement, home organisation, and even home fitness equipment tend to see a spike in interest. Understanding these trends and stocking accordingly can position your brand to capture a larger share of post-holiday spending. By anticipating these seasonal shifts in consumer behaviour, you can tailor your promotions to match the specific needs and desires of shoppers in the New Year.

Take advantage of selling tools to stay competitive

Understanding the marketplace landscape, you’ll likely be aware your competitors are always looking at ways to get one up on you. Whether you’re competing for the elusive Amazon buy box or just want to tilt the scales towards your product, using competitive selling tools can elevate your sales one step further than you could do otherwise. 

Utilising third party tools to automate pricing can be a fantastic option for maximising your products competitiveness during peak selling periods. Repricers are commonly applied to marketplaces, usually an algorithmic solution that looks at competitors and prices based on those sellers, our amazon repricer is an example of this. 

There are also variations of this, including ChannelUnity’s Velocity Repricer which prices your product based on volume of sales. Familiarising yourself implementing repricer tools can be a great asset building up to peak periods, allowing you to focus on other areas of your business whilst remaining competitive. 

Remember to always be aware of marketplace policy when it comes to using 3rd party tools however. Some operators can be more strict than others and if you’re unsure be sure to seek further advice. ChannelUnity’s marketplace experts can help guide you through this. 

Opt in to marketplace event criteria and communications

The strategies identified so far could be implemented across many marketplaces in the ecommerce landscape or could be more useful in one platform than another. However perhaps the most important focus for you to consider when maximising sales, is to identify what each marketplace provider is telling you to do as a seller. 

Marketplaces have many ways to communicate this with you as a seller; directly through mailers, notifications via your seller dashboards or through press releases on social media, to name a few. Keeping on top of the latest communications can be the best way to strategise for your business’s individual needs. Some marketplaces will give you access to a promotional calendar, outlining their plans for events throughout the year. Gaining access to this is usually as simple as reaching out to the seller support on the platform and asking for it. 

Wrapping up

Moving out of December into the New Year need not be the end of the sales momentum you’ve generated over the past days and weeks, and utilising the above tips you can ensure that your January and beyond is just as lucrative.