Reviewed by Christmas is the peak of the shopping calendar. However, it has one feature no other sale shares: most buyers aren’t shopping for themselves. That simple fact completely changes how you should plan your Christmas marketing campaign.
Shoppers spent a record $241.4 billion online during the 2024 holiday season, up 8.7% year over year, per Adobe Analytics. A big share of that was gifts. So win Christmas by making gift-buying easy.
The wishlist is tailor-made for this. People build lists of what they want and share them with whoever’s buying. Gift-givers then arrive at your store with a ready shopping list. Your job is to capture those lists early and make them easy to share.
I’ve watched this play out with SaveTo Wishlist. The gift angle is what sets Christmas apart from every other sale. Here’s how to run it well.
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What Makes A Great Christmas Sale?
A great Christmas sale makes it effortless for two people to buy. There’s the person who wants the product, and the person buying it for them. Most holiday sales focus only on the first. The winners serve both.
That means capturing what shoppers want and helping them share it. It also means keeping popular items available, or alerting people when they return. Get those right and you ride the season’s gift demand instead of fighting for attention.
Why Wishlists Are Your Secret Weapon For Christmas
During the rest of the year, shoppers use wishlists to save items they want to buy for themselves. But at Christmas, a wishlist does something completely different: it becomes a shareable gift registry.
Here’s why pushing wishlists before the holidays is a total game-changer for your store:
- It stops the guessing game: Relatives and friends are desperately looking for hints. When a customer builds a wishlist on your site, they’re doing the hard work for their family. They get exactly what they want, and the gift-giver gets a stress-free shopping experience.
- It brings in brand-new buyers: When a loyal customer shares their wishlist with their mom, their uncle, or their best friend, they are sending new, highly motivated buyers straight to your store. You didn’t have to pay for those clicks—your customer just did the marketing for you!
- It prevents duplicate gifts and returns: When families use a shared list to coordinate, it stops two people from buying the exact same sweater. This saves the buyer from embarrassment and saves you from dealing with a massive headache of post-Christmas returns.
6 Steps To A Highly Successful Christmas Sale
Christmas is the biggest shopping season of the whole year, but it comes with a twist: most people on your website are looking for gifts for someone else. This means the tactics that work in July won’t automatically work for a Christmas marketing campaign.
To win big during the holidays, you have to make gift-buying as easy and stress-free as possible. Instead of just launching a big discount in December, the smartest move is to start early, help shoppers share their ideas, and guide gift-givers straight to checkout.
Here are six practical steps to turn the holiday rush into festive sales for your store.
1. Capture Christmas gift demand early
Shoppers start building gift ideas weeks before December. Add a wishlist button with the free WooCommerce wishlist plugin, and allow guest saving. Then prompt visitors to build their Christmas wishlist early.
Each saved item is a gift idea you can market to. That’s either the shopper or whoever they share it with. The earlier you start collecting, the bigger your gift-season audience.
2. Make gift lists easy to share
This is the Christmas-specific superpower. When a shopper shares their wishlist, your products reach family and friends who are actively looking for gift ideas. Wishlist sharing gives every list a shareable link and social options. A saved list becomes a gift guide your customers distribute for you.
🔍️ What we’ve seen: Stores treat the wishlist as a private tool and miss the gift angle entirely. At Christmas, the sharing is the marketing. A single shared list often brings several new gift-buyers to your store, none of whom you paid to acquire.
3. Automate your alerts and keep gift-givers engaged
Christmas is the one sale you can’t run on autopilot. However, you can certainly automate parts of it to maintain sanity. Gift-givers are busy, and if they see a favorite item is sold out, they won’t wait. Instead of manually emailing people, let automation do the work.
Using SaveTo Wishlist Pro, you can set up a system that keeps these shoppers engaged, even when you aren’t at your desk.
- Back-in-stock notifications: This is crucial during the holiday rush. If a popular gift sells out, a simple restock notification can bring a buyer right back the moment it’s available. You’re giving them hope that their search is over, and that often turns into a stress-free sale.
- Price-drop alerts: Let’s say a family member has saved a specific item for their relative’s gift. On a big sale day like Black Friday (which is part of the long Christmas season), they’ll get an email letting them know the price just dropped. It’s an automatic nudge that doesn’t feel like a pushy sales pitch.
4. Create a safety net for last-minute gift-buyers
Let’s face it: some shoppers just run out of time. They’ll wait until the very last second to buy a gift, and if they’re worried it won’t arrive on time, they might just leave your store. You have to give them a backup plan. This helps them feel less stressed and ensures you still get the sale.
To win over these last-minute shoppers, your operations need to be as clear as possible.
- Make shipping deadlines crystal clear: Don’t hide this crucial information! Put your Christmas shipping cut-off dates everywhere: on your homepage, in a banner, and on the checkout screen. A shopper who knows exactly when they need to order will feel much more confident. Plus, knowing that time is running out creates a gentle sense of urgency that gets them to buy now instead of waiting.
- Promote digital gift cards as the ultimate backup: Once the shipping dates have passed, a digital gift card is the only option. Don’t hide them on a category page. Showcase them on your homepage as the perfect “Last-Minute Solution.” A digital gift card requires zero shipping time, meaning a buyer can get it instantly on Christmas morning, saving the day for them and saving the sale for you.
5. Promote and schedule your deals (and protect your free time)
Christmas isn’t a single day of sales; it’s an entire season of promotions. You can’t rely on being awake at midnight on Christmas Eve to manually launch your last-minute gift card push. Remember: the most profitable holiday marketing campaigns are planned and scheduled well in advance, giving you a successful sale and time to enjoy your own holiday.
Relying on a detailed promotion plan is essential for your sanity.
- Schedule your sales months in advance: Don’t wait until December to figure out your discounts. Decide on your strategy now (like the “12-Days-of-Deals” sequence we mentioned) and then use a tool like Advanced Coupons to schedule the launch of those coupons and dynamic deals automatically. This ensures your promotions roll out smoothly without you needing to do a single thing on the day.
- Tie promotions back to your early wishlist data: Remember Step 1? You captured early interest. Now, use that knowledge! Plan discounts on the exact items that many users saved as gifts. It makes those users feel like you’ve read their minds, increasing the chance they’ll buy.
- Update your Google Shopping feed: Gift-hunters don’t just shop on your site; they use Google to compare. Make sure your WooCommerce Google Shopping product feed is accurate and set to update frequently. This guarantees that shoppers searching for a popular gift—and comparing prices—will find your products and your competitive holiday pricing.
6. Recover the hesitant gift-buyers
When people are gift-shopping, they’re almost never looking at just one store. They’re comparing your prices against others, checking with spouses to make sure they haven’t already bought the item, and often waiting for their next paycheck before they pull the trigger. This means lots of abandoned carts. In fact, roughly 70% of online carts are abandoned before a purchase happens.
Instead of letting those sales disappear, you need to follow up. And because holiday shopping is emotional and deadline-driven, your recovery strategy should reflect that.
- Offer the wishlist as the easy “save for later” option: When a gift-giver seems hesitant on your checkout page, gently remind them they can move items from their cart directly to a wishlist. This is crucial for Christmas. If they have to talk to their partner about the gift, or wait for payday, this keeps your product right in front of them without forcing a premature decision.
- Create urgency in your reminder emails: Send a friendly reminder email to those who’ve saved items. A subject line like “Don’t let them miss out!” or “Shipping deadlines are closing soon!” works incredibly well. You aren’t being annoying; you’re being helpful by reminding them that they’re about to miss the window for that perfect gift.
Curious about the best strategies for recovering abandoned carts? Then check out the following guide:
Christmas Marketing Ideas That Work
Christmas is the longest gifting run of the year. The stores that win know that a highly successful Christmas marketing campaign requires planning a sequence of moments rather than just throwing a single sale.
- Publish gift guides by recipient: “for him,” “for kids,” and “under $50” guides help overwhelmed buyers decide fast.
- Offer free gift wrapping or messaging: a small add-on that makes your store the easier choice for a gift.
- Show a shipping-deadline countdown: a visible order-by date reassures buyers and builds urgency as it nears.
- Run a 12-days-of-deals sequence: daily or themed offers keep shoppers coming back across December.
- Promote gift cards for last-minute buyers: once shipping cutoffs pass, gift cards keep the sale instead of losing it.
Encourage shoppers to build gift lists early so you can re-engage them at each stage of the season.
Your Christmas Sale Checklist
- Capture gift demand early with a visible, guest-friendly wishlist.
- Make sharing easy so lists become gift guides.
- Set up back-in-stock and price-drop alerts.
- Show gift cards and shipping cut-offs for last-minute buyers.
- Schedule deals and plan a wishlist recovery email.
Make This Christmas Your Best Yet
Christmas rewards the store that makes gift-buying simple. Capture what shoppers want, help them share it, and keep popular items within reach. Do that and you turn the season’s gift demand into sales without outspending anyone.
- Capture gift demand early with a wishlist.
- Make gift lists easy to share and reach new buyers.
- Automate alerts and serve last-minute shoppers.
- Create a safety net for last-minute gift buyers.
- Promote and schedule your deals.
- Recover abandoned carts.
Ready for the gift season? Start capturing Christmas demand. Get SaveTo Wishlist for free today! And when you’re read for more power, upgrade to SaveTo Wishlist Pro!
Frequently Asked Questions: Christmas Marketing
When should I start Christmas marketing?
Start by late autumn. Shoppers begin building gift ideas weeks ahead. A wishlist live and promoted early captures demand before the December rush, with time to nurture it.
Why are wishlists especially useful at Christmas?
Simply put, because Christmas is about gifts. Shoppers build lists of what they want and share them with gift-givers, putting your products in front of new buyers. In essence, wishlists turn the gift-giving dynamic into a marketing channel.
How do I handle last-minute Christmas shoppers?
First, make gift cards and shipping cut-off dates highly visible. Second, use back-in-stock alerts for popular items. Ultimately, shoppers who miss a delivery window will often buy a gift card instead when it’s easy to find.
Do I need a paid plugin for Christmas sales?
You can capture and share wishlists with the free plugin. However, automated back-in-stock and price-drop alerts are part of SaveTo Wishlist Pro. That keeps your follow-up hands-off through the busiest season.
What makes holiday marketing different from everyday sales?
Unlike the rest of the year when customers shop for themselves, the holiday season revolves around gift-givers. This means your holiday marketing needs to shift toward shareable wishlists, gift guides, and clear shipping deadlines to help shoppers buy for others with confidence.
