Retail holiday calendar: Key global shopping events

Retail holidays and events are a great opportunity to engage shoppers and help drive product sales.

We’ll help you plan your global ad strategy with a calendar where you can search for key sales opportunities by country, or by event. Try using seasonality to help grow your business, no matter where in the world you are.

Retail holidays in 2024

Calendar
Lunar New Year

This is the start of an annual 15-day festival to mark the end of winter and the beginning of the spring season. For many Asian countries, the Lunar New Year is the most important holiday of the year. It is celebrated by spending time with family, decorating the house, preparing festive meals and exchanging gifts.

Relevant countries: Singapore

Date: 10 February

Valentine’s Day

A celebration of love and appreciation. Typically, gifts such as candy, flowers and other presents are exchanged between loved ones.

Relevant countries: Worldwide, Brazil

Date(s): Worldwide – 14 February
Brazil – 12 June

Easter

Easter is often celebrated with colourful Easter eggs, chocolate, sweets and gifts.

Relevant countries: Worldwide

Date: 31 March

Ramadan

Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection and growth, to help those in need, and to spend time with loved ones. It's also a time when Muslims around the world fast during daylight hours for the whole month of Ramadan.

Relevant countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Türkiye, India

Date(s): 10 March – 9 April

Eid Al Fitr

A religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide, marking the end of the month-long dawn-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan. Celebrations include charitable givings, gift giving, gatherings with family and friends, and festive meals.

Relevant countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Turkey, India

Date(s): 9 – 10 April

Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is a celebration of mothers, as well as motherhood, maternal bonds and the influence of mothers in society. It is celebrated on different days in many parts of the world, most commonly in the months of March or May. Gift-giving is customary and shoppers typically start looking for a gift for their loved ones in the weeks leading up to the event.

Relevant countries and date(s)

  • United Kingdom (10 March)
  • Spain (5 May)
  • Mexico (10 May)
  • Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, United States, Turkey, Japan (12 May)
  • France, Poland (26 May)
  • Sweden (2 May)
Children’s Day

Children’s Day is celebrated annually in honour of children and raises awareness about the education and welfare of children.

Relevant countries and date(s)

  • Turkey (23 April)
  • Mexico (30 April)
  • Japan (5 May)
  • United Kingdom (14 May)
  • United States (9 June)
  • Germany (20 September)
  • Netherlands (25 September)
  • Singapore (4 October)
  • India (14 November)
  • United Arab Emirates, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Canada, France, Italy, Spain (20 November)
Father’s Day

Father’s Day is a special day to honour fathers and celebrate fatherhood and paternal bonds, as well as the influence of fathers in society. Gift-giving is customary and shoppers typically start looking for gifts for their loved ones in the weeks leading up to the event.

Relevant countries and date(s)

  • Italy, Spain (19 March)
  • Germany (9 May)
  • Canada, India, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Türkiye, United Kingdom, United States, France (16 June)
  • Poland (23 June)
  • Brazil (13 August)
  • Australia (1 September)
  • Sweden (10 November)
Back to School

In the lead-up to students returning to school, shopping for school supplies and apparel peaks.

Relevant countries and date(s)

  • Singapore, Australia (January)
  • Brazil (February)
  • Japan (March – April)
  • India (June)
  • Canada, Mexico, United States, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, United Kingdom (July – September)
Singles’ Day

11.11 (representing the event taking place on 11 November), also known as “Singles’ Day”, is an unofficial holiday and shopping day that celebrates people who are not in romantic relationships.

Relevant countries and date(s): Singapore, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt

Date(s): 11 November

Diwali

Diwali is a religious festival celebrated by people of different faiths from the Indian subcontinent, including Hindus, Jains and Sikhs. It is traditionally celebrated by decorating houses, lighting oil lamps, wearing new clothes, preparing large festive meals and exchanging gifts.

Relevant countries: India

Date: 1 November

Halloween/Día de Muertos

A celebration observed on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day. Traditionally, people dress up, go trick-or-treating and host costume parties. Day of the Dead (Día de Muertos) is a two-day holiday in Mexico (1–2 November), in which families remember those who have passed.

Relevant countries and date(s)

  • United States, Canada, Japan, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Australia (31 October)
  • Mexico (1–2 November)
Thanksgiving

Families and friends celebrate what they are thankful for, usually with a large gathering and meal.

Relevant countries and date(s)

  • Canada (9 October, second Monday in October)
  • United States, Brazil (28 November, last Thursday in November)
  • Australia (29 November, last Wednesday in November)
Black Friday and Cyber Monday

A four-day-long sales event that typically follows Thanksgiving in the United States (usually the fourth Friday in November). It can mark the start of the Christmas shopping season. Some countries refer to the name of the event differently, and extend it for longer than four days. Black Friday is also known as White Friday in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, and Smiling Friday in Turkey.

Relevant countries: Worldwide

Black Friday: 29 November

Cyber Monday: 2 December

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated the day after Christmas Day (26 Dec). Though it originated as a holiday to give gifts to the poor, today Boxing Day is primarily known as a shopping holiday.

Relevant countries: United Kingdom, Australia

Date: 26 December

End of Year Holiday

The end of the calendar year (in late December) and the beginning of a new year (in January), come with many celebrations. Typically, this holiday period is made up of the following key events: Hanukkah (7–15 December), Christmas Eve (24 December), Christmas Day (25 December), Boxing Day (26 December), New Year’s Day (1 January). These events are marked by shopping sales, gift giving, and celebrations with family and friends.

Relevant countries: Worldwide

Date(s): December – January

  • A few key considerations

    Plan and execute advertising campaigns throughout the year so that you can make the most of increased traffic and interest in Amazon stores during seasonal events and shopping trends.

    Starting as early as possible:

    • Identify all key sales events, holidays and trends that are relevant to your brand and products in the countries where you’re advertising.
    • Map out what you’d like to achieve on each key date to help you reach your seasonal goals.
    • Set a budget that can help you support an always-on campaign during peak shopping events.

    There are important considerations when it comes to local advertising, including the following:

    • Shopping habits, trends and preferences can be different across each country, in every culture, and in different languages, so keep this in mind when setting up your advertising campaign.
    • The quality of your product information and product detail pages can have a meaningful impact on your performance, so invest time and effort in making sure your products are set up for success. A few things to keep in mind:
    • – Create a strong product title
      – Have at least four high-quality product images
      – Ensure your product detail page contains keywords that highlight the unique selling points of your product

    • Recommendations and regulations are different in each country, so remember to adjust your budget and review the sponsored ads acceptance policy to comply with all applicable guidelines.

    Sources:

    1 Amazon internal data, US, 2022
    2
    Kantar, “Top 10 drivers of advertising profitability” June 2021
    3
    Amazon Internal Data – US – Jan 2022 to Dec 2022

    Spend index = Avg spend of Persona consumers who purchased / avg spend of US Amazon consumers who purchased

    Stream numbers represent time spent relative to average Amazon customer