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How to Maximize Mother’s Day Sales


How to Maximize Mother's Day Sales

Mother’s Day is on the horizon—it’s time to start putting a winning strategy in place to make the most of this lucrative retail event. A Mother’s Day flash sale could make a huge impact on your revenue.


On average, Wix eCommerce merchants that ran a flash sale in 2020 increased their monthly sales by over 64,000%

And while we all know that Mother’s Day rolls around every year, the increase in spending around the holiday has seen a huge boost in recent years. In 2020, for the month leading up to Mother’s Day Wix stores saw impressive growth in three key categories:


  • Cosmetics and beauty—77% growth

  • Jewelry and watches—99% growth

  • Flowers—266% growth


Get organized and tap into this annual shopping event with our tips to maximize sales and grow your eCommerce business. In this article, we’ll focus on how to prepare your eCommerce store for a successful Mother’s Day. You’ll learn how to:




Plan and Launch Your Mother's Day Sale


The first thing you’ll need to do is define your goals and decide how you’ll promote your sale. Your goals will serve as a valuable measure of success and help you determine any areas to improve in the future.


Use the following three steps to help you set your goals and define your promotion.



01. Select your audience


Think about who your target audience is going to be for this sale. Who are you trying to reach, and what do you already know about them? Gather and use this strategic information to create targeted promotions.


Your target audience will impact the language you use in your promotions, your pricing, and even the visuals you use in your ad creative. Later we will talk about creating Facebook Ads with Wix, this demographic information will help you to strategically set your ad targeting and give you the best chance of smashing your sales targets.



02. Choose which products to feature and discount


If you’ve held a Mother’s Day sale in the past, this is a great starting point. Review your previous sale(s) data to see what worked and what didn’t during that sales period. Next, you should look into current shopping trends. Looking at both these sources will help you pick the best products to promote in your sale.


Increasingly, shoppers are interested in gifting a subscription box, so it’s worthwhile considering if you have relevant products to sell as a subscription. Here’s how to sell product subscriptions on your store.


Once you’ve decided which products to promote, think about what kind of discount to offer, e.g., will you offer a percentage discount, a whole dollar discount, buy one get one free, or something else? A flash sale within your promotional period will create a sense of urgency and excitement for your customers.



Flash sale screen shot from eCommerce site



03. Plan which channels to promote the sale


Now that you’re ready to think about promoting your planned sale, it’s best to split potential customers into two groups, new and existing customers, to optimize your targeting.


  • New Shoppers:

    • Consider using paid promotions like Facebook Ads or other social media and search ads to reach new customers.

    • Engaging micro-influencers who have clout with your target audience can also be another really effective way to reach new customers and increase consideration.


  • Existing Customers:

Your existing customers already know your brand and products, so these are usually the most effective audience to engage. Reach these customers through your existing channels like email, SMS, social media, or community groups. It’s also worthwhile to consider retargeting people who have already engaged with your brand. Check out our eCommerce Marketing School lesson for more tips on how to get repeat shoppers.



Example of Mothers Day Marketing Email for eCommerce


Now that you’ve decided how you want to run your sales campaign. You're ready to update your store to promote your Mother’s Day sale.



Update Your Online Store


Everyone loves a sale, so be sure to display your promotion loud and proud on your home page and throughout your customer’s journey. Some great ways of doing this include adding a Welcome Bar just like ReWax and Unwine have to the top of your website that will feature your promotion, discount code, or a countdown timer to the end of the sale. We also have handy tips to optimize your store with eCommerce SEO, this is especially important ahead of a big sale.



Example of Mother's Day promotion on eCommerce site


If you’d like to include a coupon code as part of your promotion, here’s how you can set one up and add it to your site:


  1. Go to the Wix dashboard

  2. Click on Marketing and SEO

  3. Choose Coupons

  4. Customize the coupon: choose the name, code, discount percentage, which product(s) it applies to, and the dates for when the coupon is valid

  5. Go to the Editor to check that the coupon and code appear on the site


Adding season updates to your store design for Mother’s Day can create a friendly atmosphere for shoppers when they’re browsing. However, we’ve noticed that less is more, and it’s usually more effective to prioritize displaying your promotion information and coupon codes. Once you’ve set up and displayed your coupon on the site, be sure to feature it on all of your assets and promotions for your holiday sale.



Promote Your Sale



Promote Your Sale to Existing Customers


Once you’ve incorporated the Mother’s Day sale into your site, it’s time to promote it to your existing customers. Since they are already familiar with your brand and products, it’s more likely that they’ll want to know about your special offers. To effectively engage your established customer base, promote the sale across the following channels:

  • Email marketing

  • Social posts

  • Video

For more details about how to use these channels to promote your holiday sales, check out our previous Fall Holiday Marketing Workshop.



Promote Your Sale to New Customers with Facebook Ads by Wix


Now that you’ve communicated your promotion to existing customers, it’s time to start reaching out to potential new customers. Social media is a great way to reach new audiences, and we recommend using Facebook Ads by Wix. This platform uses a smart algorithm that runs the ads for you. We take out all the guesswork, just answer a few simple questions to set it up, and then the platform keeps working and optimizing the ads for you.


“We have hundreds of online stores that have earned over 1000% return on their ad spend using Facebook and Instagram Ads by Wix. This is an unheard-of return on ad spend and a phenomenal result.” - Liat Karpel Gurwicz, Head of eCommerce Marketing at Wix.





2 Formats of Facebook Ads


While Facebook Ads by Wix does indeed do all the hard work, merchants can still customize some aspects. We have two types of Facebook Ads available. The first is our new format called Classic Ads, which allows for much more control over the ad creative than the original format, Dynamic Ads. Let’s take a brief look at the difference between the two formats:



Classic Ads


Classic Ads use a single image format, and you have the freedom to upload any image from your Media Manager. Amit Drenger, Product Lead, Facebook Ads by Wix, says one of the main benefits of this is that you can create an image and message that is specific and tailored for Mother’s Day. There are also single-image ad templates that you can use.


To reach new customers and retarget high potential customers, check out how to create a Classic Ad:

  1. Go to the Wix Wizard to create your ad

  2. Click on the new ad format called Classic

  3. Click on Preview to view the image. You can change the image and choose another image or graphics that you’ve created or personalized specifically for Mother’s Day

  4. Edit your caption, and be sure to make the CTA as enticing as possible

  5. Choose the headline that will appear on the ad

  6. Choose the link that you want to direct people to

  7. Choose one of 3 options for the CTA button that appears on the ad itself



Dynamic Ads


The Dynamic Ads format is more of a carousel ad that features multiple images. This format allows you to feature a few of your products in the same ad. “Our algorithm will show different products to different people based on their interests and interaction with the ad to make sure they see the products suitable for them,” explains Drenger.

To get more details about how the ad formats work, including retargeting, check out our previous Facebook Ads by Wix Workshop, which takes a deep dive into the algorithm. You’ll learn how it works and how it studies your audience and optimizes your ads.



Add Value to Your Site with Three Key Features


There are three key features to incorporate into your website that will help make your Mother’s Day sale a huge success. The following features will add value to your eCommerce site and boost your customer experience.



Feature 1: Gift Cards


Did you know that gift cards can increase the average order value on your site? “Based on data collected from Gifted, the gift card app in the Wix store, 59% of customers shopping with gift cards spent more than the value of the gift card itself,” says Karpel Gurwicz.


Here are even more reasons to sell gift cards as part of your Mother’s Day sale:

  • You can keep selling gift cards up to the holiday itself. This can help attract last-minute shoppers.

  • They’re easy to manage and distribute since there is no fulfillment

  • They improve cash flow because they generate immediate revenue, which you collect whether customers spend the gift card or not.

  • They promote brand awareness and reach new customers.

  • They can generate larger purchases since customers tend to spend more than the gift card value itself.



Example of Mother's Day online gift card


To encourage additional spend, it’s a good idea to sell gift cards for amounts just beyond your average order value.


You’ll have a dedicated gift card page on your store, keep in mind that you will have to drive traffic to this page through social networks or email marketing. Asaf Rothem, Head of Marketing, Wix Stores, adds, “selling gift cards is an easy way to bring value to your customers all the way up until and through Mother’s Day, not to mention any other holiday throughout the year.”




Feature 2: Buy Now, Pay Later


The next feature to consider incorporating into your website Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL). It’s a way for you to enable your customers to pay for their order(s) over time through a third-party financial provider listed on your site. Meanwhile, you get paid upfront.


BNPL is a win-win, as it helps you increase sales by making online purchases more affordable for more customers. Plus, since shoppers will be able to buy your products and pay for them over time, they’ll be more inclined to buy big-ticket items, like jewelry and watches which are favorites around Mother’s Day. Interestingly, in the two weeks before Mother’s Day in 2020, we saw a 148% uplift in sales for watches and Jewelry across US Wix Stores.



Example of product check out with Buy Now Pay Later Payment option


“Buy Now, Pay Later is a more convenient payment method for customers, especially around Mother’s Day, as it allows people to spend a little more,” says Karpel Gurwizc. “It’s a great option. It’s been a rough year for everyone, and as shoppers are more cautious in their purchases, this option helps everyone spread their budget further,” adds Karpel Gurwizc.


Check out more details about how to add a Buy Now, Pay Later option to your site.



Feature 3: Local Delivery


Offering a Local Delivery option to relevant customers is not only a convenient service, it’s also a great way to connect with your local customer base and become an integral part of the community.


Offering local delivery gives your online shoppers more options. “It also gives you more marketing angles,” says Rothem. You can go with ‘shop locally’ or ‘support your community.’ This is always a great way to incentivize the people around you to shop on your store as opposed to shopping on Amazon from someone they’ve never met before,” adds Rothem.


You can set up local delivery as an option in addition to shipping, local in-store, and curbside pickup. You have the freedom to select your local delivery region based on zip codes, so you’ll have exact control over delivery areas and rates.


When your shopper gets to their cart page, it will recognize their IP address and will then suggest the relevant options to them. For example, if a shopper in a different state cannot get local delivery, their cart will only show shipping options. However, if they are within the established local delivery zone based on zip codes, they will get the delivery option relevant to them or the local pick-up option.


Local delivery is a great marketing offer that brings a lot of value, as you can typically do it in a more affordable and faster way for your customers.




The Bottom Line


The tips discussed here will help you enhance your online store and business offering, especially around Mother’s Day. Start with gift cards. When you set the right price for your gift card, you can encourage shoppers to spend a bit more than the preset average order value. Also, consider adding the Buy Now, Pay Later option. Doing so will allow your customers to spread payments over time, meaning that they’ll be able to spend a little bit extra on the gifts they are buying for Mother’s Day or any other holiday. Lastly, give your customers the option of local delivery. When they have lots of options for getting their gifts, especially if the delivery is going to be local and therefore cheaper, they can spend more on the gifts themselves.


The bottom line is to take into account your customers’ needs and wants. They’ll appreciate it and spread love and gratitude for all that moms do, not just on Mother’s Day but throughout the rest of the year.




Brielle Gordon

Marketing Writer, Wix eCommerce


Brielle is a Colorado native with a passion for innovation and helping to mobilize entrepreneurs. Brielle is a marketing writer for Wix eCommerce, which powers over 700k online stores worldwide.

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