Ecommerce Marketing Calendar for Shopify: 12 Months
An ecommerce marketing calendar lists the dates your customers buy for (Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Black Friday, Christmas) together with the day you need to start preparing each campaign, which is usually four to eight weeks earlier. The table below covers 2027 for stores selling in the US and UK, with the lead time and the Shopify task behind each date: a sale collection, a discount, a Messaging campaign, a theme banner. Pick the five or six dates that fit your products and ignore the rest.
Dates are calculated from each holiday’s fixed rule (for example, US Mother’s Day is the second Sunday of May). Shopify facts come from the Help Center page on seasonal sale periods and the Shopify Messaging email guidance, read on October 23, 2026.
The lead-time rule
Work backwards from each date in three steps. This is our planning rule, not an industry standard:
- Six weeks before: decide the offer, order stock, and brief anyone who makes photos or video.
- Three weeks before: build the sale collection, create the discount, write the emails, schedule social posts.
- One week before: test the discount on a real checkout, send the first email, switch on the theme banner.
Physical gifts need the longest lead time, because the last shipping day before the holiday is earlier than the holiday itself. Put your own last-order-date for each gift holiday in the calendar too, based on your carriers’ delivery times.
Still ahead in 2026
If you are reading this in late 2026, the biggest dates of the year are weeks away, and the lead times below are already short:
| Date (2026) | Occasion | Region | What to do now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 27 (Fri) | Black Friday, the day after US Thanksgiving on Nov 26 | US, UK | Sale collection and discounts ready, abandoned checkout recovery on, policies updated |
| Nov 28 (Sat) | Small Business Saturday | US | One email to local and loyal customers |
| Nov 30 (Mon) | Cyber Monday | US, UK | Extend or change the Black Friday offer |
| Early to mid December | Last shipping days before Christmas | US, UK | Banner and email with your last order date |
| Dec 25 (Fri) | Christmas | US, UK | Gift cards for late buyers |
| Dec 26 (Sat) | Boxing Day sales | UK | Sale collection scheduled for the 26th |
Month by month for 2027
| Date (2027) | Occasion | Region | Start preparing | Shopify task |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 1 onward | New Year, January sales | US, UK | Early December | Clearance collection; automatic discount with an end date |
| Feb 14 (Sun) | Valentine’s Day | US, UK | Early January | Gift collection; gift cards; email to past gift buyers |
| Mar 7 (Sun) | Mothering Sunday | UK | Late January | Gift collection with UK shipping cut-off in the banner |
| Mar 17 (Wed) | St. Patrick’s Day | US, IE | Early February | Only if your products fit; themed collection |
| Mar 28 (Sun) | Easter Sunday | US, UK | Mid February | Spring collection; Easter weekend shipping notice |
| May 9 (Sun) | Mother’s Day | US | Late March | Gift collection; gift cards; Messaging campaign two weeks before |
| Jun 20 (Sun) | Father’s Day | US, UK | Early May | Gift collection; gift guide blog post |
| July to August | Back to school | US, UK | June | Bundles of school items; collection by age |
| Oct 31 (Sun) | Halloween | US, UK | Mid September | Themed collection; costume or decor products |
| Nov 26 (Fri) | Black Friday | US, UK | Early October | Sale collection, discounts, abandoned checkout emails, policies |
| Nov 27 (Sat) | Small Business Saturday | US | Early October | Email to local or loyal customers |
| Nov 29 (Mon) | Cyber Monday | US, UK | Early October | Extend or change the Black Friday offer |
| Early to mid December | Last shipping days before Christmas | US, UK | November | Banner and email with your last order date |
| Dec 25 (Sat) | Christmas | US, UK | September to October | Gift guide, gift cards for late buyers |
| Dec 26 (Sun) | Boxing Day sales | UK | November | Sale collection scheduled for the 26th |
Fill the gaps between these dates with your own: the anniversary of your store, a product launch, the start of your product’s season (gardening in spring, swimwear in May). Our guide to Shopify product launches has a four-week checklist that fits into this calendar.
Turn each date into Shopify tasks
Shopify’s own checklist for seasonal sale periods like Black Friday and Cyber Monday works for any date in the table. Split it into three groups:
Plan the promotion. Create a sale or gift collection, set up an automatic discount or a discount code with start and end dates, check that abandoned checkout recovery is on, and review last year’s marketing reports for the same period.
Prepare the customer experience. Update store policies (returns over the holidays, shipping cut-offs), turn on accelerated checkouts, add customer reviews to the products in the campaign, and set up Shopify Inbox if you expect questions.
Process orders efficiently. Hide out-of-stock products, plan bulk fulfillment for busy days, and use the order timeline to keep staff notes in one place.
Then schedule the emails. Shopify’s email guidance suggests emailing subscribers at least once a month and using a calendar to plan what you send, while warning that emailing too often makes subscribers lose interest. One campaign per date in the table, plus one reminder for the big ones (Black Friday, the Christmas cut-off), keeps you inside that range. Our list of email campaign ideas covers what to write, our social media content calendar covers posting, and the holiday season checklist goes deeper into November and December. Related guides sit in our marketing and SEO hub.
Frequently asked questions
When is Black Friday 2027? Friday, November 26, 2027, the day after US Thanksgiving on November 25. Cyber Monday is November 29, 2027.
When is Mother’s Day 2027? In the US, Sunday, May 9, 2027 (the second Sunday of May). In the UK, Mothering Sunday is March 7, 2027, three weeks before Easter Sunday on March 28.
How far ahead should I plan a holiday campaign? About six weeks for the offer and stock, three weeks for the collection, discount and emails, and one week for testing and the first send. Physical gifts need extra time for the last shipping day.