If you work in retail or ecommerce, you already know that the golden quarter (October to December) is the biggest, busiest, and boldest time of year. But let’s be honest, standing out during peak season is getting harder every year.
We recently asked 500 UK marketers about their current approach to seasonal ecommerce events and the real-life strategies they use. The insights they shared have helped to inform this guide. To find out more, download the ecommerce trends report.
In this guide, we explore how brands can make the most of seasonal ecommerce sales like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and Christmas by understanding the opportunities and challenges of the golden quarter. We look at determining whether discounting is good or bad for business, how to manage rising costs, how to look after your team at this incredibly busy time and how short-term sales can be turned into long-term loyalty,
The golden quarter retail opportunity
From Black Friday marketing madness to the last-minute Christmas rush, the golden quarter is a window full of opportunity in online retail. Brands can:
- Build awareness when consumers are most active
- Drive acquisition through increased search and spend
- Test campaigns at scale with high traffic volumes
But this period also brings pressure… Budgets are stretched, consumers are price-sensitive, and teams are often running on fumes.
The good news? You can turn every challenge into a strategic advantage, if you plan smartly.
Seasonal marketing: Promo pressure vs. brand value
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: discounting.
The instinct to slash prices in the run-up to Christmas can feel irresistible, especially when everyone else is doing it. But heavy discounting tends to attract one-time bargain hunters, not long-term customers. Worse, it can harm brand perception if it means customers start to perceive your product value or quality as being lower as a result.
Our research indicates that 47% of marketers say inflation and shifting behaviours have made these seasonal marketing periods more unpredictable.
So what’s the fix?
Reward value, not just a purchase
- Create offers: Reward loyalty and high-value behaviour, not just any and every purchase. Think along the lines of early access for email subscribers, exclusive bundles or VIP-only deals.
- Focus on storytelling: Your seasonal marketing should tell a story, not just sell a product. Use it to highlight your purpose, quality, or sustainability.
- Highlight value and USPs: When prices are under scrutiny, remind customers what makes you worth it, your craftsmanship, sustainability, or convenience.
Managing the rising costs of ecommerce sales
Every year, the competition for paid visibility naturally ramps up at the times of highest demand, and so do the costs.Â
Our research shows that more than half (53%) of marketers say rising ad costs make seasonal campaigns less lucrative.
Over-reliance on paid media during the golden quarter is a costly gamble, so how can you balance the mix?
Invest in owned and earned channels
- Boost your organic visibility: Strengthen SEO and Digital PR all year round, so your brand shows up naturally when search demand spikes seasonally.
- Build owned audiences: Email subscribers and loyalty programs give you a direct line to customers, no inflated CPMs required.Â
- Leverage creators and UGC: Real people > polished ads. Creator content builds authenticity, trust and usually costs less to scale. Carefully planned social marketing strategies can help you maximise engagement and ROI here.
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By prioritising ecommerce SEO and digital PR throughout the year and not just in the lead-up to seasonal peaks, you can get ahead of the game.. Your competitors will be paying for the same clicks later.
For deeper SEO insights, check out: Four reasons to build seasonal landing pages with SEO.
Helping staff deal with stressful seasonal ecommerce events
Let’s talk about the people behind the campaigns.
Peak season isn’t just hard on budgets, it can be brutal on marketing and operations teams. Our research found that half of ecommerce marketers feel more stressed and burned out during the golden quarter.
How can you mitigate this and help staff manage the increased workload and stress?
Plan earlier, automate more
- Repurpose, don’t reinvent: If possible, use your best-performing creative from earlier in the year with a seasonal refresh. This can save a LOT of time and energy compared to starting again from scratchÂ
- Build one core campaign: Adapt a single, strong idea across multiple channels rather than having totally separate channel strategies.
- Automate repetitive work: Utilise AI tools and other time-saving solutions to free up your team to focus on strategy, not admin.
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Map out campaigns and contingencies early, so you can respond calmly when chaos hits. Running through various scenarios with your team ahead of time will help everyone feel more confident about the upcoming event and can reduce the stress of the unknown. For example, what’s the plan if certain products sell out early? Make sure you have everyone on the same page and fully briefed, from ecommerce digital PR teams and social media staff, to those managing emails and customer service enquiries.
Avoiding post-ecommerce event slumps
The huge sales spike in November and December is great… until it vanishes by January.
Many brands focus so heavily on the big sale that they forget to build retention and long-term growth into their strategy. It’s no surprise that 45% of marketers say peak campaigns often fail to meet long-term expectations.
How can you avoid the post-event slump when it comes to Black Friday marketing and other seasonal ecommerce sales?
Treat the golden quarter retail period as a research lab
- Build a retention bridge in advance: Keep customers engaged post-purchase with helpful follow-up content, loyalty rewards or exclusive offers.
- Track LTV, not just sales: Redefine success by focusing on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV), not just short-term revenue.
- Test and learn: Use the golden quarter’s high traffic to experiment with creative, messaging and different kinds of offers, then apply those insights throughout the year.
- Align campaigns with your year-round story: Your Christmas or Black Friday marketing campaign shouldn’t feel like a different brand. It should extend your long-term narrative and stay true to your tone of voice and brand guidelines.
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Every website engagement and transaction during this period gives you insight into customer behaviour and what your audience really want. Use that data to segment and refine next year’s strategy.
More than Black Friday marketing: Win the year
The golden quarter can be a year-defining moment for ecommerce brands, but only if you play it strategically.
Yes, it’s noisy and competitive, but it’s also an incredible testing ground for innovation, creativity and connection.
At No Brainer, we help brands Be Found, Be Famous, and Be First. Our team of ecommerce marketing specialists can help you transform seasonal chaos into lasting business growth and brand impact.Â
Ready to dive deeper?
Download our full report for more data and insights on top UK ecommerce trends and approaches, or get in touch using the form below to chat about how we can help with your content marketing and SEO strategy.
