10+ Christmas Marketing Ideas for Small Businesses [2025 Edition]

For Christmas marketing ideas, start with limited-edition holiday drops and themed bundles (plus gift wrapping) to make buying feel effortless. Then run a countdown series in “X days to go” style to create urgency, and publish gift guides that help shoppers pick faster. Support it all with festive visuals across your site and social channels, and add personalized email sends based on browsing or past purchases. Keep engagement high with contests, behind-the-scenes content, and feel-good charity drives. After Christmas, go straight into a post-holiday promotion to keep sales rolling in.

Festivals bring joy to our lives, and so do the gifts! This is the time of year when people express their love with gifts.

According to Statista, 57% of buyers prefer to buy gifts online in the US. For Shopify online stores, it is a golden opportunity to drive sales.

In this blog, we will discuss Christmas marketing ideas to promote your Shopify e-commerce store and learn how Shopify upsell apps can help you earn more.

Best Holiday Marketing Ideas

The following are the Xmas marketing ideas that you should implement in your online Shopify store:

Pro tip before you implement: Start Early: Thousands of brands across the US engage in marketing during the festive season. If you delay it, your brand may not get heard hence, you need to start early.

Wait, starting early does not mean you should start screaming in September. Mid-November is the best time to start the best Christmas marketing campaign.

Christmasify Your Website

Decorate our e-commerce website and landing pages with a Christmas theme. This little tweaking can greatly affect your holiday sales.

We will recommend you decorate your Shopify e-commerce store in a Christmas theme by late October or early November and extend it to post-new year.

To instill Christmas spirit in your store, use Santa’s hat, candles, Christmas tree, and effects such as snow falling. Use red and green colors as much as possible.

In our experience as Shopify experts, these ideas are tried and tested in thousands of Shopify stores.

Sell Christmas-Themed Gift Cards

Leverage the opportunity of festivals to sell more gift cards because not everybody will buy Christmas gifts. Allow holiday shoppers to craft personalized gift cards with custom background images and text. Selling gift cards is an alternative way to earn revenue.

Entice existing customers by offering discounts on gift cards of higher value. This is how you can increase the revenue of your e-commerce store.

Create an Advent Calendar

Run a digital advent calendar that reveals offers, product drops, or bonus perks, and add each day’s offer on the same page so late visitors still see value. Pair it with email and social reminders so people return daily.

Use Email Marketing

Send targeted holiday emails based on what people viewed or bought, and put shipping deadlines and cutoffs at the very top of campaigns so nobody misses them.

Add real-time tracking links in transactional messages to reduce “where’s my order?” tickets.

Video Content for Christmas

Use quick, helpful videos that match holiday intent: giftable product demos, “how to use” tutorials, unboxings, and packing-day behind-the-scenes.

Keep the length short and add direct product links wherever the platform allows.

Tap Their FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out is an effective way to drive sales and avoid abandoned carts. The fear that a product may not be available later creates urgency and does not give chance to online customers for second thoughts as a result they end up making a purchase.

This strategy works best on expensive products when coupled with a discount offer however, you can implement the same on moderately-priced products. Make sure you implement it this festive season.

Tap Into Social Media

Plan a mix of gift guide posts, countdown content, and stories that push viewers to specific collections or bundles.

If you run contests, follow Meta’s promotion rules: include the required disclaimers and avoid using personal timelines or friend connections as the entry mechanic (for example, “share to enter” or “tag friends to enter”).

Host A Christmas-Themed Contest

One way to boost engagement with your brand is to host a contest encircling the festival of Christmas. Or else ask your audience to play games by visiting your store. And, as a present, offer eGift cards, gift hampers or feature them on your socials.

Another way could be, to ask your audience to update a post relating to Christmas on social media with a particular hashtag (of your brand) and the winner will be the one who gets the maximum engagement.

Implement Upselling With Discounts & Bundles

During the festive season, people are in a ‘state of spending’ because the festival is about celebration, and there is no celebration without gifts.

Thus, it is a chance for brands to upsell with discounts and bundles. In order to upsell intelligently, we recommend you install iCart, the best Shopify upsell app.

Give Freebies

Offer a simple perk that feels tangible: free gift wrap, a free mini add-on with a spend threshold, or free shipping above a minimum.

If you want it to apply without codes, automatic discounts can handle free shipping and other promo types right in the cart and checkout.

Countdown Sales

Build momentum with daily or weekly drops in different categories instead of discounting everything at once. Add the urgency to real cutoffs (shipping or limited stock) and reinforce it via an announcement bar, cart messaging, and email.

Add Personalization

Highlight “recommended with this” and “complete the set” suggestions so gifting feels curated, not random.

Shopify themes can show complementary and related products, and you can fine-tune recommendations using Shopify Search & Discovery.

Interactive Elements

Add a quick “find the perfect gift” quiz or a mini game that ends with a tailored collection and a small incentive.

Keep it frictionless: 3 to 5 questions, then let the customers pick the products.

An AI Chatbot Helps with Sales

Set up a holiday-themed chat experience that answers the top questions fast: shipping deadlines, delivery estimates, returns, and gift options.

Shopify Inbox supports automated messages and AI-assisted replies, which help you respond quickly when traffic spikes.

Show Employees in Posts

Feature staff picks with reels and shortz on “why I love this gift” clips to add human trust, especially for newer brands.

Rotate different team members so the content stays fresh and doesn’t feel scripted.

Charity Drives

Run a simple holiday give-back campaign with clear goals: donate $X per order, match customer donations, or contribute a product for every gift set sold.

Keep the message transparent and show progress updates so people feel the impact.

Sponsor Events

Support a local holiday drive, school fundraiser, or community market where your buyers already spend time.

Promote it on your website and in email, and capture leads with a QR code to a holiday collection or gift guide.

Themed Decor for Physical Store

If you have a physical store, make it photo-friendly with consistent colors, lighting, and a few signature “moment” spots for UGC.

Mirror the same look on your site banners so shoppers feel like they are part of one holiday brand.

Custom Packaging

Upgrade the unboxing with small, brandable touches like tissue paper, stickers, and simple inserts (care cards, thank-you notes, reorder codes). Even low-cost packaging tweaks can make gifts feel premium and share-worthy.

Pop-Ups on Websites

Use pop-ups to create urgency and a real-world experience, but plan for the hidden costs: staffing, insurance, permits, and visual merchandising.

List the address everywhere, add Google Maps directions, and push a “shop the pop-up online” collection for people who discover you late.

After-Christmas Sales

Shift your message from “gift now” to “treat yourself” and “new year refresh,” and include easy ways for exchanges and returns.

Highlight bundles for value and clearance sections to move seasonal inventory fast.

Thank You Campaigns

Send a post-purchase thank-you note that feels personal: a short note, an order-care tip, and a quick survey link to learn what held them back or what they loved.

This is also the perfect moment to offer a next-order incentive that brings them back in January.

In Conclusion, Have a Merry & Profitable Christmas!

So this is how you can leverage the holiday season to mint money out of your business.

We hope after reading this blog you will implement some of the tactics discussed here for your benefit.

If you are thinking of implementing any strategy and are confused about where to start, let us help you. Consider implementing iCart - upsell app. It will elevate the AOV of your online store. For information about it, visit our website.

Christmas Marketing Ideas FAQs

1. Which products sell the most during the holiday season?

Online holiday best-sellers are usually in electronics, apparel, home/furniture, and toys, with beauty/personal care also strong. For gifting specifically, apparel and gift cards consistently rank at the top, followed by toys and books/media.

2. What is the meaning of the 12 days of Christmas marketing?

It’s a countdown-style campaign where you reveal a new deal, drop, perk, or piece of content each day for 12 days. It works because it builds anticipation and repeat visits since customers come back daily to see what’s new.

3. Which is the best promotional strategy for the holiday season?

The most reliable mix is gift guides + bundles as your core offer, then a short countdown series (like “12 Days”) to create urgency.

4. How to promote my store on Christmas?

Switch your homepage to a holiday theme, run an automatic discount/bundle offer, and pin shipping cutoffs in an announcement bar so shoppers see them instantly. Send segmented emails and social ads that push to gift guides, plus gift cards for last-minute shoppers.

5. How to design a Christmas email?

Build the email around one clear message (gift guide, bundle, or shipping deadline), with a strong subject line + preview text, a hero section, and one primary CTA.

6. What are some tips to customize my Shopify store for Christmas?

In the theme editor, swap in festive banners/colors, add a rotating announcement bar for promos and shipping cutoffs, and create holiday collections or gift-guide pages linked from the header. Enable gift cards and set up automatic discounts like free shipping thresholds or Buy X Get Y, then test the full flow on mobile before sending traffic.

About the author

Mehul Jagwani

Mehul is a content writer with a heart of nomad. He is currently working with Identixweb as a content writer and he is passionate about Quantum Mechanics, Christopher Nolan's movie and Traveling. His weekends are well spent with his Golden Retriever recharging him with cuddles and strolls.