Spring into Shopping Mode!
With the end of Winter and the beginning of Spring, consumers will start buying for the new season, including a new wardrobe, new outdoor furniture, and gardening supplies. One holiday that marks the beginning of spring is Easter.
Easter falls on April 12th in 2009, which is nearly a month later than when it fell in 2008. This means consumers will have more time to shop, and we encourage you to take advantage of this increased demand. In addition, spring signals the start of outdoor activities, such as gardening and picnics. Lawn and garden Advertisers and Publishers should focus on pushing out these types of offers to entice consumers to buy!
Total sales during the 2008 Easter Season:
As you can see in the chart above, food is a very important part of Easter and accounted for nearly $4.4 billion (!) in sales last year, even when candy was counted as a separate category. Be prepared to push out your perishable Easter dinner items in the week right before the holiday. The next highest category for sales was clothing, which fell remarkably short of food in overall sales. However, look for this gap to be narrowed in 2009 when Easter lands nearly a month later than 2008, pushing it closer to the warmer spring days!
“Easter is typically seen as the official kick-off to spring, when retailers debut new clothes and consumers are in the mood to buy for warmer weather.” – National Retail Federation President and CEO Tracy Mullin (Source: National Retail Federation, “2008 Easter Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey”)
Despite the slow-down in the economy this year, the LinkShare Network sales trends during the Valentine’s Day season remained consistently higher than 2008 sales. In fact, network statistics show that sales were up an average of 26% YOY during the 2 weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day. This success proves that although we are in the midst of an economic recession, online sales are still continuing to see steady growth, and we expect this trend to carry over into the Easter season.
Leslie Pazan, Sr Marketing Communication Specialist
A very interesting chart and article. Now could you do a follow up with the dentists if Easter increses their business after Easter?
Online growth on special days are up. What about everyday Sales?
Sonny