When to Start Preparing Your E-shop for Christmas and What Not to Underestimate

The Christmas season is an annual "graduation exam" for e-shops. Competition rises sharply, customers are more demanding, and every detail can determine who ultimately gets the orders in their cart. If you want to be sure that your e-shop will truly withstand the December rush, start preparing everything before the first leaves start to fall.

Start in the Summer? Yes. Christmas Doesn't Wait.

For new e-shops or those who have never dealt with Christmas campaigns, a simple rule applies: start as early as July. Preparation takes a lot of time, and there is no room for improvisation.

If you already have campaigns, data, and know how your audience responds from the past, you can start a little later – August is a safe limit that you shouldn't go beyond.

First Step: Christmas Strategy

Before you start creating ads or photographing gift sets, you need to be clear on where the entire Christmas communication is heading.

What to clarify at the beginning:

1. What is the main goal? Sales? Acquiring new customers? Strengthening the brand?
2. How big do you want your budget to be? Keep in mind that advertising will be significantly more expensive in winter.
3. What will be the core of the campaign? Specific products, gift packages, limited editions?
4. Where do you want to be seen? PPC, social networks, e-mailing, influencers?
5. Who will create the materials? Graphics, texts, photos, videos — all of this needs to be prepared in advance.

Only when you have a completed campaign framework does it make sense to address the details.

Advertising Campaigns: Collecting Data in Time is Key

Performance campaigns are not something you turn on on November 1st and expect miracles. Meta Ads and other platforms need time to "learn" what works.

Why start advertising earlier:

1. algorithms must collect enough data, otherwise they will not deliver efficiently
2. thanks to the time advantage, you can test graphics, texts, and products
3. you can do A/B tests and eliminate non-functional variants
4. in September, the ad can already run stably and cheaper

Summer = preparation of accounts, pixels, catalogs, and first campaigns.

September = data collection.

October = full start.

Influencers: first come, first served

Before Christmas, the influencer scene is the busiest of the entire year. An influencer you call in November will already have a full calendar.

Benefits of starting to address it early:

1. you secure space in their schedule
2. you can get a better price and easily arrange long-term cooperation
3. you have time to prepare a brief and align the communication style

Content That Sells: Prepared = Effective

Content Plan

The holiday season is extremely busy. Without a plan, you'll be adding posts under stress and at the last minute. Prepare in advance:

1. social media posts
2. advent calendar (if you plan one)
3. competitions and interactive content
4. gift tips and thematic articles

Planning in advance frees you up to handle customers and orders during the season.

Photos and Videos

Quality visuals play a huge role at Christmas. Ideally, have photos taken of:

1. main products and bestsellers
2. Christmas set-up (branches, lights, wrapping paper)
3. short videos for Reels or TikTok

Graphics

Winter banners, Christmas motifs, gift pictograms, promotional visuals… all of this needs to be prepared in advance. In December, a graphic designer will often just write to you: "I don't have capacity."

Also prepare a unified Christmas visual identity — profile pictures, packaging, templates.

Copywriting

Don't forget about:

1. Christmas slogans
2. texts for ads
3. product descriptions with regard to SEO
4. articles with inspiration and gift tips

If you want to be visible in search results even before the season, you need to publish articles and new categories well in advance.

October: "Full Throttle" Phase

Autumn is the time when campaigns must start to be displayed in full. More than 40% of people buy gifts as early as September — and you don't want the competition to take customers just because they started a few weeks earlier.

In October, run:

1. full advertising communication
2. Christmas posts
3. email campaigns
4. promotion of gift packages

From this moment on, everything runs on performance.

When to Do What – Clearly