Retail Calendar: Important Dates + 4-5-4 Template

Learn key dates in the retail holiday calendar to focus on, both globally and in specific countries.

Retail holidays are days of peak shopping activity, usually driven by an approaching calendar holiday or a local event. A retail calendar helps you prepare your store, staff, products, and marketing on time—and helps maximize sales at key moments throughout the year. 

Holiday sales in the retail industry grew by 4.9% last year—consumers spent a record-breaking $221 billion during the US holiday season of November and December alone. 

Whether your business is primarily online or in store, this guide reveals which key dates to focus on in the retail holiday calendar, both globally and in specific countries.

Global retail calendar

These are the retail holidays to keep in mind (almost) wherever you are in the world. We’ve organized them by month, and included the year if they don’t always fall on the same date. 

January

New Year’s Day: January 1

The first day of the year is a fresh start for people around the world. It’s a great time to run marketing campaigns and promotions focused on New Year’s resolutions, self care, and yearly planning or goals. For example, brands that sell travel wear or planners can create messaging around getting a jump start on the year to plan your next vacation.

Blue Monday

The third Monday of January has earned the title "Blue Monday", supposedly the most depressing day of the year. 

This concept emerged in 2005 when UK travel company Sky Travel, collaborating with psychologist Cliff Arnall, claimed to have pinpointed this date using a formula considering factors like gloomy weather, post-holiday debt, and waning motivation. 

Although lacking scientific credibility, the idea has captured the public imagination. Blue Monday marks the start of the lull between the festive season and spring's arrival. Smart businesses can use this concept, lifting customers' spirits with well-timed discounts and promotions.

February

Black History Month

Black History Month starts on February 1 and runs the entire month. Use this month to show your support and promote products you stock from Black-owned businesses. If you don’t currently stock products from Black-owned brands, you can still engage your customers by sharing stories and resources that celebrate Black culture and history in your community. 

Galentine’s (February 13) and Valentine’s Day: February 14

Galentine’s Day is the day before Valentine’s Day, when women come together to celebrate each other and their friendships. The way they celebrate ranges from dinner and drinks to shopping and a spa day. This can be a great day to host an event at your retail shop. Tell your customers to round up their friends, give them a space to gather, and run special promotions on woman-owned brands to encourage purchases.

Around the world, love is celebrated on February 14. It’s a day when romantic gifts are exchanged, but you can also remind your customers that it’s a great day to celebrate family, friends, and other important relationships.

March

International Women’s Day: March 8

International Women’s Day celebrates women’s equality and their cultural, political, and socioeconomic achievements. Share a special offer, run a campaign to raise money for a local women’s organization, or use it as an opportunity to remind your audience about your brand story and achievements you’re proud of.

First day of spring: March 20

In the Northern Hemisphere, the first day of spring is a great time to highlight seasonal products. Depending on your region, your customers might be missing the sun and looking forward to warmer and longer days. You can offer a first day of spring discount on select items.

April

April Fool’s Day: April 1

This day of pranks and jokes isn’t only reserved for friends and family. Use this day to share your sense of humor via social media campaigns or in person. You can post a funny meme, GIF, or video to engage with your audience and grow brand awareness.

Easter weekend: April 18–20 (2025)

If you sell children’s products, you could also host an Easter-hemed in-store event with an Easter egg hunt and reward the winners with a discount or free item. And in some cases, adults may also be interested in the fun.

Earth Day: April 22

Sustainability in retail is a trend that’s here to stay, and Earth Day is a great day to remind consumers of your commitment to sustainable business practices like recyclable product packaging or eco-friendly manufacturing processes. You can share your story on social media and through email marketing or create a campaign to raise money or awareness for an environmental organization.

May–July

Mother’s Day

Many countries (aside from the UK, where it happens in March) celebrate Mother’s Day in May. If you sell products for moms or moms to be, create a marketing campaign to celebrate them and their importance in our lives. For example, you can run a promotion on Mother’s Day gift bundles or offer special discounts in store for women to also treat themselves as they’re picking up gifts for their moms or friends and family.

Pride Month

Pride Month is celebrated globally in June. Depending on the region, you may see signs in local shop windows, rainbow flags, and special events to celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community. Depending on your brand values and mission, this is a great time to focus on diversity and inclusivity campaigns to show your support.

Father’s Day

Father’s Day is celebrated across a range of dates, depending on the country, but it happens globally, which is why we’re including it in this section. One way to help your customers find the right gifts is to create a Father’s Day gift guide and promote it via social media and email.

First day of summer

In the Northern Hemisphere, June 21 is the first day of summer, and it’s the time when retailers run summer promotions on warm weather clothing and accessories, like swimwear, summer dresses, beach gear, and sandals. 

Depending on the region, it’s also a time when people take a summer holiday or entertain guests in their backyards. So if you sell travel or entertainment-related products, consider running a first day of summer campaign to kick off the season. 

Keep in mind though, in the Southern Hemisphere, June 21st is the start of winter.

August–September

First day of school (varies)

The start of the school year sees parents, students, and teachers prepare for the academic year ahead by buying new supplies, clothes, and backpacks. Help make this back-to-school season exciting (and in some cases less stressful) by running special back-to-school promotions. 

For example, if you sell clothing, shoes, and other accessories, you could create a back-to-school deal where shoppers get 10% off when they purchase two pieces of clothing, a pair of shoes, and a backpack. You could even create bundles with pre-selected items to make the decision-making process easier.

First day of fall: September 22 

With the start of a new school year in the Northern Hemisphere comes the transition from summer to fall. Many retailers use this time to highlight warm and cozy products like chunky sweaters, boots, throw blankets, candles, and other decorations for the home. If you sell these products, you could use this day to run a flash sale on your new arrivals for fall.

October

World Mental Health Day: October 10

World Mental Health Day is recognized globally to celebrate mental health education, awareness, and advocacy against social stigma. If it makes sense for your brand, you can reshare campaigns or posts from organizations you follow on social media, share a personal story, or donate profits from purchases made on the day to mental health organizations.

Halloween: October 31

Halloween marks the start of the holiday season in the US and in many countries around the world. This is a great time to prepare your store for this first holiday shopping spike. Customer spending is expected to go up for product categories like costumes, decorations, candy, and greeting cards compared to recent years.

November

Singles’ Day: November 11

Singles’ Day, also called Double 11, is an unofficial holiday that celebrates people who aren’t in relationships. It originated in China and quickly became one of the biggest retail and online shopping days in the world. 

This is a great opportunity for your retail store if you cater to and celebrate single people with the products you sell, which can be anything from food, drinks, and fashion to self-care and sexual wellness products. 

International Men’s Day: November 19

It may not be commercialized like International Women’s Day, but International Men’s Day also exists, to celebrate men and boys and their achievements in work, school, family life, and other parts of their life. If you sell men’s products, you could do a flash sale on new arrivals or best-selling products.

Black Friday: Last Friday in November

Black Friday, the day after US Thanksgiving, needs no special introduction. In the US, 70% of people shop in-store on Black Friday—more than any other day of the Thanksgiving weekend. Buyers seek Black Friday deals both in brick-and-mortar stores and online—to truly capitalize on BFCM, merchants need to meet holiday consumers’ expectations for shopping experiences that marry online and physical touchpoints. 

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Small Business Saturday: Last Saturday in November

Small Business Saturday was started by American Express in 2010 with a mission to highlight small businesses and their owners and encourage shoppers to support local businesses.

Draw attention to the fact that you’re a small business owner by sharing the story of why and how you started your business and your mission or values. You can also run a Small Business Saturday special offer to drive foot traffic, awareness, and boost sales.

Cyber Monday: Monday after Thanksgiving 

Cyber Monday is Black Friday’s sister shopping holiday on the Monday after Thanksgiving in the United States. With attractive discounts and flexible shopping options, your store can scoop its portion of the huge global spend on Cyber Monday (in 2023, this amounted to $12.4 billion).

December

Super Saturday: Last Saturday before Christmas Day

On Super Saturday, shoppers are in a mid-Christmas rush, hunting for gift ideas, discounts, and gift wrapping—the convenience of getting everything done in one place instantly. This is the advantage Super Saturday gives brick-and-mortar stores over an ecommerce business, and a great date to plan for and prepare your staffing, store layout, and promotions.

Christmas Eve: December 24

Christmas Eve is the true last chance for Christmas shopping—gifts and groceries included. Whether you focus on just your store or also push online promotions for BOPIS shoppers, make sure your inventory can handle it.

Boxing Day: December 26

People shop for gifts for their loved ones up until Christmas Eve, but they often shop for gifts (and discounts) for themselves come Boxing Day. If you choose to open your store on December 26, use this opportunity to capture shoppers looking for post-holiday sales and clearances.

New Year’s Eve: December 31

New Year’s Eve is the day when many people do last-minute shopping for outfits, food, drinks, and party supplies. Many shoppers also want to take advantage of the final holiday discounts. Even if you don’t expect significant foot traffic on this day as people get ready for the night, online ordering is worth investing into and promoting on New Year’s Eve.

US retail calendar

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

This federal holiday in the US marks the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and celebrates his fight for racial justice in the United States and the civil rights movement. It’s the first holiday of the new year, and many retailers run MLK deals. You can use this day to boost January sales, but make sure to also recognize the importance by showing your support and celebrating inclusivity and equality.

Super Bowl Sunday

It’s not vital to sell football-related products for this event, but if you sell food, drinks, or anything else that’s fitting, you can run a promotion a few weeks before the big game to encourage shoppers to stock up on items to help entertain friends and family. And if you don’t have any related products, you can still offer a discount code, post about the team you’re rooting for on social media, or run a contest.

Presidents’ Day

In the US, this federal holiday marks the birthday of George Washington, the first US president. President Abraham Lincoln’s birthday (which is in February too) is also celebrated on this day. Most people have a day off from work and many retailers run Presidents’ Day promotions to increase sales.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a federal US holiday in remembrance of people who lost their lives while serving in the US military. While it’s not the official first day of summer, many people use this long weekend to kick off the season with outdoor activities, barbecues, and swimming. Most retailers run Memorial Day sales, but it’s important to make sure the tone of your marketing campaigns and promotions is aligned with the essence of this holiday.

Independence Day: July 4

Even if your products are not particularly US-themed, you can find ways to promote them for this holiday. For example, if you sell clothing, create a red, white, and blue assortment and advertise it in your window display, post it on social media, and share the collection via an email campaign. Or you can simply offer a percentage discount off all your products, or a select few.

Labor Day

The social and economic achievements of American workers are celebrated annually on Labor Day. It’s a federal holiday and many people see it as the end of summer and the start of the new school or work year. This also means consumers are looking for new seasonal products and outfits. 

Indigenous People’s Day or Columbus Day

The next long weekend in the US after Labor Day is known as Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples' Day. Consumers today are on the lookout for deals and fall sales during this three-day weekend, so as long as it makes sense for your business, promoting a special offer can help you stay competitive.

Veterans Day: November 11

For retailers, Veterans Day is the day to honor current and former military members and their families with offers like discounts and special offers. Brands like Kohl’s, Academy Sports, Columbia, Nike, Samsung, Under Armour, Nest Bedding, and many more offer veterans discounts up to 40% store-wide. Some stores also offer military discounts year-round.

Australian retail calendar

Labour Day 

In Australia, Labour Day celebrates the improved social and economic conditions of Australian employees and the general labor movement’s achievements. The most important milestone of the movement was the introduction of a working day limited to eight hours. The name of the day and date varies, as it’s set individually by each state or territory. Similar to the US, you can start planning promotions on Labour Day to entice customers to purchase.

Australia Day: January 26

The National Day of Australia (Australia Day) is a national public holiday that’s celebrated annually on January 26. On this day, Australians commemorate the arrival of the first fleet at Sydney Cove in 1788 and the proclamation of British sovereignty over Australia’s east coast. It’s also a day when Aussie retailers offer savings and discounts on all kinds of products. If it falls on a weekend, it’s celebrated the following Monday instead.

Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s famous horse race—and a solid opportunity for retailers to win. Suppliers see a surge in demand for materials for hats and headpieces as early as July and August, so it’s always good to prepare your store and inventory early ahead of the Melbourne Cup.

Sofa Sunday

In Australia, Sofa Sunday is one of the five retail shopping holidays that happen around Thanksgiving in the US. It falls on the Sunday after US Thanksgiving, and because most brick-and-mortar stores are closed on Sunday, it’s a popular online shopping day.

Whether your business is based in Australia or in the US (and you ship to Australia) it’s an opportunity to run Sofa Sunday promotions. For example, if you’re shipping from the US to Australia, you could offer free shipping for orders placed on this day.

Canadian retail calendar

Family Day: February 20 (2023)

In Canada, Family Day is a federal holiday that celebrates family bonds and their importance. Canadians who live in the provinces that observe this holiday have extra time to spend with family and friends, relax, and shop.

Canada Day: July 1

Canada Day falls annually on July 1 and celebrates the official confederation of the nation. It’s one of the most popular shopping days for Canadian consumers, mainly because many retailers run special sales events and promotions on Canada Day. Some retailers offer up to 50% or more off select products, so to stay competitive, you may want to consider doing the same.

Canadian Thanksgiving: October 14 (2024)

Thanksgiving is an annual Canadian holiday and festival that happens on the second Monday in October to celebrate the harvest and other blessings of the past year. And since Canadian Thanksgiving falls before the Black Friday Cyber Monday shopping weekend, it’s a great way to get ahead of your competition and catch customers who are starting their holiday shopping early. You could create a gift guide or promote special offers in store.

German retail calendar

Like many other European countries, in Germany, there are not many universal dates for sales events. Aside from following some of the global retail holiday calendar dates like Black Friday and Cyber Monday, it has seasonal campaigns that happen in both the winter (January) and the summer (July).

UK retail calendar

May Day: May 1

Typically celebrated on the first day of May, May Day is about singing, dancing, and eating cake. It’s an ancient festival that marked the first day of summer and is currently a traditional spring holiday in many European cultures.

Bonfire Night: November 5

Bonfire Night, also called Guy Fawkes Night or Fireworks Night, marks the anniversary of the failure of the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. On this day, there are celebrations across the UK, with fireworks, bonfires to cook sausages and marshmallows, a traditional Parkin Cake, pumpkin hunts, and toffee apples.

If your store sells either fresh or ambient foods, you’ll benefit from Bonfire Night–themed campaigns, window displays, and product bundles. You can find other unique angles to approach Bonfire Night. For example, fireworks cause many dogs anxiety, so pet stores could create campaigns with content and products that support pet safety.

How to use a retail marketing calendar

Thanks to the retail marketing calendar, you can map your marketing far in advance. You’ll be able to plan holiday marketing campaigns and create visual content, partner with influencers or other businesses, write emails, and prepare your website on time for maximum impact. 

If you choose to open a holiday pop-up shop in relevant fairs and markets, this will give you plenty of time to work out all the logistics.

Here are some questions you can use to optimize your store for the holiday shopping rush:

• How can we prepare our product offering and inventory?
• Do we need to hire temporary staff?
• How should we organize staff shift schedules?
• How can we incorporate experiential retail or store demos and sampling to improve foot traffic and customer satisfaction?
• Can we offer order fulfillment options like buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) or curbside pickup?
• Should we move our brick-and-mortar store online to serve customers who want to avoid the crowds that come with the holiday rush?

The more you use a retail calendar to plan future store activities, the easier it will be to reflect on your past sales data and understand what worked and what could be improved.

This is where analyzing your point of sale system’s data can help. Use reports and dashboards to spot trends faster, pinpoint peak sales periods, and quantify the impact your retail store has on sales, customer retention, and your brand’s overall growth.

Shopify POS takes this analysis to the next level. The platform makes it easy to manage and track your online and physical store performance, identify your best-selling or most profitable products, and assess how your holiday marketing strategy impacts your seasonal sales goals.

The 4-5-4 retail calendar (+ downloadable template)

The standard retail calendar has inconsistent time periods. Some months have 28 days; others have 31. The way these dates fall means certain months have extra weekends and holiday seasons, which makes reporting tricky. 

The 4-5-4 retail calendar organizes the year into comparable time periods. Instead of quarters with different days and weekends, the 4-5-4 calendar divides each quarter into:

• Four weeks: month 1
• Five weeks: month 2
• Four weeks: month 3

This approach to retail reporting allows you to make consistent comparisons since each quarter has the same structure. If Sundays are your busiest days of the week, the 4-5-4 calendar means each reporting cycle has the same number of Sundays. An increase in sales between January and April can be taken at face value, even if the actual dates in the month meant January had an extra Sunday. 

Mark these important retail dates

International holidays are way more than just Black Friday deals and holiday shopping in December. There are dozens of events, both online and off, you can prepare for and participate in to serve your current and future customers.

The key is getting your marketing strategy, inventory, and logistics ready on time. This way, when shoppers are in the mood to buy, your store will become an easy choice for them.

Retail calendar FAQ

What is the typical retail calendar?

The typical retail calendar uses a 4-5-4 model. This approach caters to busy months with uneven days by breaking the year into a series of 4-week, 5-week, and 5-week months for easier reporting.

What is the 4-4-5 retail calendar?

The 4-4-5 retail calendar breaks the year into four, four, and five week blocks. It makes sure that each month or reporting period has an equal number of weekends.

What is the retail fiscal calendar?

The retail fiscal calendar is a specialized calendar that breaks each quarter down into reporting periods of four weeks, five weeks, and four weeks. This repeating pattern means each reporting cycle has an equal amount of weekdays.