Along with goals and resolutions, brands take the new year to plan out their retail and marketing calendars for holidays, sales, and promotional events. But one thing we’ve seen is that international holidays and events are easy to miss, especially in markets that are new to your brand. So we’ve outlined the ecommerce days to be familiar with in 2022. Many of us know Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and even recognizing Singles’ Day is becoming more common as an international commercial holiday. Want a cheat sheet? Download our 2022 International Retail Holidays by Month 1-Pager.

Major 2022 International Retail Holidays by Country

Australia

• Click Frenzy Mayhem, March 22, 2022
• EOFY Sales (End of financial year), June 2022
• Black Friday, Nov. 25, 2022

Click Frenzy is a 53-hour sales event that connects the Australia consumer base with the best deals and exclusive offers from retail and brings them to the online marketplace. The End of Financial Year sales (EOFY Sales) happen in June. And of course, Black Friday is becoming a bigger and bigger sales event in the AU.

China

• Chinese New Year, Feb. 1, 2022
• National Day, Golden Week, Oct. 1-7, 2022
• Singles’ Day or Double 11, Nov. 11, 2022

Singles’ Day in China is the world’s largest shopping event by far. The holiday was originally intended to celebrate those who are not in relationships, but in ecommerce Single’ Day is known worldwide for its record-smashing revenue numbers. In 2020 Singles’ Day was extended to span 11 days and in 2021 the two week shopping festival amounted to $139 billion USD, setting a new record. In comparison, Cyber Weekend 2021 drove $33.9 billion USD in online spend.

France

• Les Soldes, Winter: Jan. 12-Feb. 8, 2022
• Les Soldes, Summer: June 22-July 19, 2022

Les Soldes is France’s biggest sales event of the year, and happens twice: in winter and then in summer. However, Les Soldes is limited to 6 weeks and dates differ by region.

Germany

• Winter Sales Period, January 2022
• Summer Sales Period, July 2022
• Father’s Day (falls on a different day than the US), May 26, 2022
• Nikolaustag, Dec. 6, 2022

For Germany, there are no solid dates for sales events. However, similar to France, they have seasonal promotions that happen in both the winter and the summer. A few holidays that stand out include Father’s Day falling in May with Mother’s Day, and Nikolaustag, a holiday where children clean their shoes and leave them outside the door to find them filled with treats the next morning. In both cases brands need to think through promotions that reach consumers earlier than they normally would for Father’s day or general Christmas shopping.

India

• Onam, Aug. 30-Sept. 8, 2022
• Ganesh Charturthi, Aug. 31, 2022
• Flipkart Big Billion Festival, Oct. 3-10, 2022
• Diwali (Also Nepal, Sri Lanka, and others), Cct. 24th, 2022

Diwali is a major event celebrated in India and other nearby countries, and consequently, is also a time of year when retail spending surges in the region, thus the FlipKart Big Billion Festival at the same time. Ecommerce revenue during the festive season around Diwali in 2021 totalled $4.6 billion USD, with home furnishings and food topping the list of most popular shopping categorie in the days leading up to Diwali.

Japan

• New Year (Shogatsu), Jan. 1, 2022
• Ochugen, July 2022
• Oseibo, December 2022

Although the Japanese New Year falls on the same day as the U.S. celebration, Japan celebrates this holiday with large family gatherings, similar to a western Thanksgiving or Christmas Day. Ochugen and Oseibo are the traditional gift-giving seasons in Japan. This gift-giving tradition extends to ecommerce as well, with some businesses offering discounts or even giving their employees bonuses.

Latin America

• El Día Del Niño (México), June 12, 2022
• El Buen Fin (México), Nov. 18-21, 2022
• Children’s Day (Brazil), Nov. 20, 2022

El Buen Fin is a retail event created in 2011 that is always held on the weekend before Mexican Revolution day, which is always the third Monday in November. The event was created in order to stimulate the economy and functions very similarly to Black Friday in the U.S. Children’s Day in Brazil is a great example of a commercial holiday, as it was created for the sole purpose of selling kids toys. Children’s Day has grown to become a traditional day to give presents to children of not just toys, but electronics, apparel, and other gifts as well. Revenue data is not widely shared for Children’s day as with the other commercial holidays, however, Children’s day is considered one of Brazil’s most important commercial holidays.

Russia

• New Year, Jan. 1, 2022
• Christmas, Jan. 7, 2022
• Defender of the Fatherland Day, Feb. 23, 2022
• International Women’s Day, March 8, 2022

Russia’s New Years and Christmas celebrations are opposite what you find in western countries—New Years kicks off the festive season, is the largest celebrated/gifted holiday, and is even when residents put up their Christmas tree! Christmas is then celebrated on Jan. 7th. On Defender of the Fatherland Day, or Men’s Day, it’s traditional for women to give small gifts to their husbands, brothers, male co-workers, etc. Hence, this is a great time for the small electronic categories. In 2020 alone, Ozon, a Russian marketplace, reported a 325% increase in fitness tracker sales and sport watches. However, electronic toothbrushes blew competition out of the water, with a 517% increase in sales.

Middle East

• Ramadan, April 2-May 2, 2022
• Eid al-Fitr, May 2-May 3, 2022
• Eid al-Adha, July 9-10, 2022
• White Friday, Nov. 27, 2022

During Ramadan in 2020, online retail sales started increasing 10 days prior to the event and reached a 47% increase at the peak sales period. Sales were 17% above the baseline during the day of Ramadan. Plus, in one study, 61% of respondents in the KSA and 58% in the UAE said they planned to buy gifts during the holiday. White Friday, the Middle East equivalent of Black Friday, is also held at the end of November and represents a major percentage of overall sales. Some analysts even estimate 2021 White Friday profits at $48.8B. If your brand is in the Middle East, White Friday is definitely a holiday to take advantage of just like you would Black Friday in the U.S.

South Korea

• Seollal (Korean New Year), Feb. 1, 2022
• Parents’ Day, May 8, 2022
• Chuseok, Sept. 9-12, 2022

Parents’ Day is similar to Mothers Day and Fathers Day, it just combines the two. Chuseok is a fall harvest, similar to an American Thanksgiving, but is also a large gifting holiday. South Koreans will present gifts to family, friends, and coworkers as a sign of gratitude and appreciation.

United Kingdom

• Mother’s Day, March 27, 2022
• Black Friday, Nov. 25, 2022
• Cyber Monday, Nov. 28, 2022
• Christmas Period, December 2022

The United Kingdom is the top-ranking country in Europe in terms of retail sales during the November/December holiday season, also referred to as “golden quarter” or peak trading.

United States

• Memorial Day, May 30, 2022
• Prime Day, July 2022
• Labor Day, Sept. 5, 2022
• Black Friday, Nov. 25, 2022
• Cyber Monday, Nov. 28, 2022

After a year of ecommerce shifting around the pandemic, Prime Day moved back to it’s regular mid-summer time in 2021. Unfortunately, Prime Day didn’t see the same surge in growth in 2021 that it saw in 2020. A key factor in this comes from continued supply chain issues. Luckily, these issues are only improving the more time that passes, indicating Prime day 2022 will be back on track for a strong performance.

General

These holidays are celebrated across multiple regions and promote similar spending and gifting traditions in each country.

• Valentines Day, Feb. 14, 2022
• Easter, April 17, 2022
• Mothers Day, May 8, 2022
• Fathers Day, June 19, 2022
• Christmas, Dec. 25, 2022

While many of these events fall on a specific day or weekend, the shopping season surrounding them is typically much longer. And even more important, many ecommerce marketplaces will require that promotions be set up far in advance, and inventory planning must begin long before the holiday hits in order to be prepared for the increase in traffic and purchases. Want a cheat sheet? Download our 2022 International Retail Holidays by Month 1-Pager.

If you’d like Pattern’s global marketplace management team to assist you in cultivating an international ecommerce strategy, let’s start the conversation today.