Small business holiday trends to watch in 2024

Holiday shopping is a symbiotic relationship between sellers and buyers. The seasonal increase in customer spending is vital for a business’s long-term growth, and in return, small businesses can offer unique gift alternatives compared to those found in web guides and search results.

According to our 2024 Business Owner Success Survey (BOSS) Report™, nearly one in four small business owners expected to grow their revenue by half or more this year,¹ and an outsize share of that growth relies on November and December—the holiday season. Yet only one-third of shoppers believe that buying from a small business significantly affects its ability to sustain itself.² 

To help your business make the most of this year’s holiday season, we compiled insights from a variety of customer analytics studies that you can apply to boost your growth, refine your marketing, and create lifelong customers. Our sources are linked at the bottom of this page.

Customer spending statistics from the 2023 holiday season

Here’s what last year’s analytics tell us about when and where customers like to holiday-shop:

Summer and fall

It may seem overeager to make end-of-year plans in summer, but from 2019 to 2022, the percentage of people who started holiday shopping by August more than doubled—from 9% to 19%.³ This increase has remained steady, with 16% of this year’s customers reporting they already began holiday shopping by June 2024.³

Early November

While its first actual holiday may be Thanksgiving, the holiday season starts November 1, when more than 60% of shoppers are already looking for deals.⁴ Many of them turn to social media in search of product testimonials and gift ideas. 

This is partially reflected in traffic changes—in November 2023, Facebook and Instagram’s traffic share declined while TikTok’s surged, increasing 93% from November 1 to December 31.² In 2023, 69% of social media users consulted Reddit posts and comments when deciding on gift ideas, more than any other social media platform. In fact, 85% of people who’ve done this have made a purchase based on a Reddit testimonial.⁵

Cyber Week

2023 saw higher year-over-year growth in November (6%) than December (3.7%),² driven by the more reliable and substantial sales offered during Cyber Week, which lasts from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday each year:

These five days alone generated 17.1% of last year’s total holiday season revenue.² More than 82% of Americans shopped on Black Friday or Cyber Monday, and more than 70% of them planned to buy Christmas gifts.⁴

But while Black Friday was the most popular day for in-store shopping, 78% of Saturday’s customers specifically went out because it was Small Business Saturday.⁶ In fact, while online traffic hugely outweighed in-store traffic during Cyber Week 2023, only Small Business Saturday drew more customers in store than online (though only by a small amount):

December and Christmas

Customers expect Christmas decorations and website theming to appear after Cyber Week. And while customers who don’t celebrate Christmas may buy gifts for other December holidays, sales trends after Cyber Monday continue to orbit around December 25.

For example, curbside pickup and ‘buy online, pick up in store’ purchases continue to increase until peaking on December 23rd, and customers appreciate these options as a way of saving on express shipping costs.²

After Christmas

Christmas Day and the following week continue bringing increased sales for a few reasons:

• Gift cards are redeemed
• Gifted products may be returned or exchanged
• Some gifts require customer support
• Some gifts beget other purchases, like the recipient of an e-reader purchasing a case for it
• Competitors may host post-holiday or New Year’s sales to clear out leftover inventory

6 strategies to maximize holiday sales in 2024

1. Start your campaigns early

Two major factors affect this year’s holiday season:

• Presidential elections are often surrounded by economic and political uncertainty which causes small business owners to brace for regulatory changes⁷ and psychologically preoccupied customers to reduce their spending.
• A late Thanksgiving will shorten the peak shopping period this year—only 26 shopping days separate Thanksgiving from Christmas, the smallest possible span (the maximum is 32 days).

Starting your holiday season marketing at the start of November will allow you to get ahead of both of these currents and collect enough data to cover the whole period.

2. Offer competitive discounts

Economic and political issues make up all four of the top customer concerns in 2024, with inflation at number one.⁴ To manage, customers look for big deals, especially during Cyber Week. 

Most retailers incentivize spending with double-digit discounts ranging from 10%–30%,² but customers looking for a strong Black Friday deal expect at least 30% off, regardless of category or industry.⁴ In 2023, prospective shoppers regarded “X% off everything” sales more highly than flash sales and bundles.⁴

3. Use multiple marketing channels

According to one survey of business owners in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia,⁷ the most used marketing channels of Q1 2024 were as follows:

• Social media (60%) – Buy ads on the platforms your customers are most likely to seek ideas or affirmation—usually Pinterest, Reddit, or TikTok. Share holiday-themed posts, giveaways, and announcements on other platforms to increase visibility. 
• Email (53%) – Increase newsletter adoption by offering codes and discounts or sharing previews of upcoming deals. Tailor your holiday campaigns to different email segments. 
• Website (49%) – Decorate your homepage with holiday banners and other visuals. Create a landing page that showcases your seasonal offers. Make sure that browsing and checkout are responsive and intuitive on both desktop and mobile devices.
• Text/SMS (20%) – Incentivize SMS adoption with discounts and unique alerts, like for flash sales or new products. Consider sending personalized messages to different segments.
• Events (19%) – Don’t shy away from celebratory offers, longer hours, and in-person events on Small Business Saturday. These will help you foster community and keep revenue up over the weekend.

Respondents to this survey were overwhelmingly unconfident that they were using the right channels, but those who responded that they were confident were most likely to use SMS and event marketing,⁷ which indicates that these less crowded channels provide the most immediate feedback and customer retention potential.

4. Evolve your advertising with the changing season

Differentiating your marketing will always be an advantage, but it can be a challenge when your competitors are also running seasonal campaigns. The best way to stand out is to adapt as the season unfolds:

• Showcase your products in a way that relates them to the next major holiday—Reddit ads that mention the holidays, gifts or gifting, or the word ‘sale’ result in more purchases.⁵
• Push products that correspond with seasonal changes to customer behavior. For example, while your customers may travel less during the holidays, they’re more likely to decorate their homes, share gifts, and host guests.⁵
• Nostalgia-based ads were a powerful driver of holiday sales last year.⁵ Appeal to holiday traditions, family and community, physical items, simplicity, and nature.
• As Christmas approaches, adjust your messaging to encourage last-minute shopping with incentives like curbside pickup, ‘buy online, pick up in store’ purchases, and shipping options.

5. Provide shipping and gift options for mobile and last-minute orders

Ensure your mobile site is working and makes it easy to complete a purchase. In 2023, holiday shoppers spent a record $113.5 billion on orders made through a mobile device, representing 14.3% growth over 2022 and the first time mobile shoppers outspent desktop shoppers.² Use your social media, email, and SMS channels to funnel mobile users to your online store. 

Offer a free shipping option to all customers and use your SMS and email channels to provide shipping updates on online orders. You can also offer options for standard or express shipping, or allow customers to choose their carrier. 

Last-minute shoppers will need curbside pickup and ‘buy online, pick up in store’ options, and may also choose services like gift-wrapping and note/card-writing to save time and money. 

6. Create brand ambassadors to feed next year’s holiday sales

Potential customers do a lot of their research on social media, where they believe they’ll read honest testimonials about your business. Great products, responsive customer service, and a strong brand voice will turn your customers into brand ambassadors whose advocacy increases your future sales. 

Encourage this year’s customers to review your business and products honestly, so their opinions will encourage next year’s shoppers as they search for gift ideas.

Crafting your small business holiday campaign

As a small business owner, understanding these national trends will help you craft your holiday campaign, but it’s even more important to understand your local market or customer segment. Your business’s small size grants you the flexibility to try some different targeted approaches, such as:

• Tap into niche or highly local trends with a seasonal guerilla campaign.
• Tap into trends that most people overlook or dismiss, including those that seem irrelevant to your products or the holidays.
• Organize in-person events that connect to local holiday traditions.
• Subvert expectations with an “anti-campaign” that appeals to your customers—for example, anti-consumerist, anti-nostalgia or anti-holiday messaging.

To read more about the research cited above, check out the following sources:

1. “The 2024 BOSS Report” – As part of our Business Owner Success Survey™ (BOSS), we surveyed 1,197 small businesses nationwide on their management strategies in 2023, and the decisions and investments they expected to make in 2024. The survey was issued from December 2023 to January 2024.

2. “Unboxing the 2023 Holiday Shopping Results” – Adobe Analytics tracked U.S. consumer transactions directly, including “over 1 Trillion visits to U.S. retail websites” and “100 million product SKUs.” The report compares customer spending in November-December 2023 to the same period in 2022.

3. “Holiday Shopping Preview: Shoppers Planning to Start Even Earlier This Year” – Customer analytics firm Civic Science asked general customers “When will you begin your holiday shopping?” and divided respondents into different segments. Data was collected each summer from 2021 to 2024.

4. “Black Friday Consumer Sentiment 2023—What to expect” – In October 2023, management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group issued the “BCG Black Friday Consumer Sentiment Survey” to 7,066 customers across seven markets spanning North America, Europe, and Australia. The survey aimed to track customer feelings toward Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Single’s Day across similar countries. Where applicable, we cite statistics for the 1,008 U.S. respondents.

5. “Discover the power of gifting through community” and “Holiday 2024 Preview: What Communities Are Telling Us About the Festive Season” – The team at Reddit for Business conducted several surveys of Reddit users, users of other social media, and general customers, and reported on their insights with two blog articles. The surveys were conducted December 2022 to December 2023, some of them alongside market/consumer research companies Attest, Luth Research, and Suzy.

6. “Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend Sees Record Number of Shoppers” – In 2023, the National Retail Federation, a trade association, partners with customer research company Prosper Insights & Analytics to conduct an annual survey of Cyber Week shopping in the United States. This year they surveyed 3,498 adult consumers from November 22–26.
7. “Small Business Now: The Current State of SMB Marketing” – Using an online questionnaire, marketing company Constant Contact and B2B research firm Ascend2 surveyed 1,335 small business owners in the United States (38%), United Kingdom (23%), Canada (23%), and Australia (16%). Surveys were conducted February 23, 2024 to March 5, 2024.