The dates you need to know for the year ahead.

Look inside for the essential retail dates, events, tips and topics you should be ready for in 2015. Use this calendar as a guide to keep you

organized and prepped for the coming year.

Your Essential 2015 E-Commerce Calendar

1 2 3

6 7 8 9 10

13 14 15 16 17

20 21 22 23 24

27 28

4 5

11 12

18 19

25 26 29 30 31

january 2015

Digital MarketingConsider bidding up on Valentine’s Day terms to give them greater visibility.

Digital MarketingAre your webstore and SEO ready for the new year?

Digital MarketingFinalize your Valentine’s Day marketing plans.

Digital MarketingAdd social sharing buttons to your product pages so shoppers can easily share favorite items with their networks.

MarketplacesMonitor your top sellers and Amazon Order Defect Rate (ODR).

MarketplacesConsider using Daily Deal programs to sell your extra products from the holidays.

Post-Holiday TipTake down holiday and holiday-delivery messaging.

New Year’s Day

Digital MarketingJanuary sales are starting, so make sure you have past and current price info available in your comparison shopping engine (CSE) feeds.

Event:Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Las Vegas

Event:Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Las Vegas

Event:Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Las Vegas

Event PrepEarly-bird price for Catalyst Americas 2015 ends today.

Event:Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Las Vegas

Post-Holiday TipFind out how to sell your excess holiday inventory — fast!

Digital MarketingPause holiday-themed keywords and bid on terms like “After Christmas Sale.” Use long tail search terms specific to the inventory you have extra stock in.

Digital Marketing / MarketplacesStill finalizing your 2015 budget, or want to make sure you didn’t forget anything? We can help!

Digital Marketing / MarketplacesYour consumers are mobile. Are you?

Digital MarketingPrepare Valentine’s Day keywords.

Digital MarketingFinalize your social media plan for 2015, if you haven’t already.

Digital MarketingSeasonal increases for most CSEs usually end now.

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Top Tips Have you seen ChannelAdvisor’s redesigned blog? Subscribe to get the latest posts delivered to your inbox.

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

6 7

10 11 12 13 14

17 18 19 20 21

24 25 26 27 28

8 9

3 4 51 2

15 16

22 23

Marketplaces Do you sell on Amazon? What about advertise on Amazon? Here’s how to do it. (Tip: You don’t have to sell there to advertise there.)

Event PrepDid you know? If you register three or more people from your company for Catalyst, you’ll get 25% off each registration.

Valentine’s Day

Digital MarketingLaunch Valentine’s Day campaign postings and photos on social.

Digital MarketingPause Valentine’s Day keywords.

WebstoresChange messaging on site from Valentine’s Day to spring.

Presidents Day

Digital MarketingLaunch Presidents Day campaign postings and photos.

Digital Marketing Use Google Merchant Promotions to highlight special offers on your PLAs at no extra cost!

Event:eTail West,Palm Springs, CA

Event:eTail West,Palm Springs, CA

Event:eTail West,Palm Springs, CA

Event:eTail West,Palm Springs, CA

Digital MarketingPrepare Presidents Day marketing plans, including campaigns, graphics, copy, etc.

Digital MarketingUse the Seasonal Bid Adjuster to find keywords that performed well in spring 2014 and bid them up.

Digital MarketingWhen it comes to paid search, you probably think of Google. But don’t overlook Bing, which has about 19% market share, according to comScore.

Digital MarketingTake a look at your social accounts: Are you using keywords in your About section? This will improve your standings in searches.

february 2015

Have you signed up for ECOMmunicator, ChannelAdvisor’s monthly e-newsletter? You’ll get the latest e-commerce news, tips, insights and more!

Top Tips

MarketplacesYour pricing formula should vary based on each channel. Consider demographics, shopping habits and competitors.

MarketplacesEBay typically announces its Seller Release details around this time. Watch for updates.

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

7

10 11 12 13 14

17 18 19 20 21

24 25 26 27 28

31

8 9

3 4 5 621

15 16

22 23

29 30

MarketplacesAre you responding to customers on weekends? If not, you could be hurting your metrics on marketplaces like Amazon.

MarketplacesSave yourself some time and stop adjusting prices manually! Automate with a tool like the ChannelAdvisor Repricer with Pricewatch.

First Day of Spring (Is your inventory ready?)

Digital MarketingUse long tail keywords to reach shoppers who know exactly what they’re looking for. Manage it all with ChannelAdvisor’s Inventory Driven Search feature.

Digital MarketingConsider bidding up on Spring Break—related items, such as bathing suits and warm-weather apparel and accessories.

Digital MarketingHow often are you sending your data feed to Google? Google gives preference to advertisers with accurate and up-to-date feeds.

Digital MarketingMake sure to include shipping rates with each product listing on comparison shopping engines.

MarketplacesAttention all sellers of used products! Amazon now features used products in the Buy Box, right below “Buy new.”

St. Patrick’s Day

MarketplacesAre you using Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA)? Amazon reports that 73% of sellers using FBA saw 20% growth since joining the program.

march 2015

Be on the lookout for ChannelAdvisor’s 2015 Spring Release! We’ll be announcing improvements to our software that will help you better manage and sell your products.

Top Tips

ChannelAdvisor Event:Catalyst Americas 2015, Las Vegas, NV

ChannelAdvisor Event:Catalyst Americas 2015, Las Vegas, NV

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

1 2 3 4

9 10 11

16 17 18

23 24 25

30

7 8

14 15

21 22

28

6

13

20

27

5

12

19

26 29

Digital MarketingFor Google PLAs, campaign structure is key. Tip: Organize your campaign hierarchy as you do on your website, e.g., start with brand then move to category type.

Digital MarketingConsider bidding up on Mother’s Day—related items to give them greater visibility.

Earth Day

Administrative Professionals Day

Digital MarketingHave you considered listing your products on visually focused social sites like Pinterest, Wanelo, Houzz or Polyvore?

MarketplacesOne of the fastest and easiest ways to break into a new region is to list on a popular marketplace there.

Digital MarketingPrepare Mother’s Day social marketing plans, including campaigns, graphics, copy, etc.

Easter Sunday

Digital Marketing Launch Easter campaign postings and photos on social.

Digital MarketingPrepare Mother’s Day keywords.

Webstores / MobileIs your website layout and navigation optimized for mobile shoppers? Browse your site from multiple devices and find areas for improvement.

april 2015

Top Tips If you’re looking for a deep dive into e-commerce topics, point your browser to the ChannelAdvisor Resource Library, where you’ll find an array of eBooks, white papers, tip sheets and more.

ChannelAdvisor Event:Catalyst Americas 2015, Las Vegas, NV

ChannelAdvisor Event:Catalyst Europe 2015, London, UK

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

21

5 6 7 8 9

12 13 14 15 16

19 20 21 22 23

26

3 4

10 11

17 18

24 25 29 3027 28

Digital MarketingPrepare Memorial Day keywords.

Digital MarketingPrepare Memorial Day marketing plans for social, including campaigns, graphics, copy, etc.

Digital MarketingIf you’ve put prices, promotions or specific features of a product or your business in ads, review them regularly to ensure they’re accurate.

MarketplacesUpdate your geographical location in eBay so that delivery can be calculated for customers.

Digital MarketingPrepare Father’s Day marketing plans for social, including campaigns, graphics, copy, etc.

Digital MarketingPrepare Father’s Day keywords.

Digital MarketingConsider bidding up on Father’s Day—related items on comparison shopping engines to give them greater visibility.

Memorial Day

Digital MarketingLaunch Memorial Day campaign postings and photos.

may 2015

Summer is (almost) in the air! It’s time to start promoting products like outdoor furniture, grills, bathing suits, sunglasses and more.

Top Tips

Mother’s Day

Digital MarketingLaunch Mother’s Day campaign postings and photos on social.

Cinco de Mayo

Event: SCOE,Philadelphia

Event: SCOE,Philadelphia

Event: SCOE,Philadelphia

31

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

1 4 5 6

12 13

16 17 18 19 20

23 24 25 26 27

30

2 3

14 15

9 10 117 8

21 22

28 29

Digital Marketing / Webstores Change spring messaging to summer on all promotions, as well as your website.

Digital Marketing / Webstores Don’t underestimate the power of free shipping! 66% of US shoppers consider it “very important,” says the National Retail Foundation.

june 2015

Need some e-commerce inspiration? Look to the successes of other online retailers on the ChannelAdvisor Customer Success page.

Top Tips

Event: IRCE,Chicago

Event: IRCE,Chicago

Event: IRCE,Chicago

Event: IRCE,Chicago

Marketplaces Regularly check for new Amazon File Templates for the categories you sell in so you’re not out of date.

Digital MarketingGive your SEO a boost with an XML sitemap to help search engines understand your website while they’re crawling it.

MarketplacesDon’t wait to process returns! Customers get impatient, and you run the risk of receiving negative feedback.

Digital MarketingSteer your past website visitors back to your site with retargeting ads. Often they just need a friendly reminder to complete their purchase.

MarketplacesEBay sellers, are you taking advantage of strike-through pricing (STP)? Let shoppers know how much you’ve reduced your prices!

MarketplacesSummer is a great time to think about diversification. How can you add to your products, marketplaces, channels — even your team’s expertise?

Father’s Day

First Day of Summer

Digital Marketing Launch Father’s Day campaign postings, graphics and photos on social.

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

1 2 3 4

7 8 9 10 11

14 15 16 17 18

21 22 23 24 25

28 29

5 6

12 13

19 20

26 27 30 31

july 2015

Digital MarketingGive your search campaigns a cleanse before the holidays. Revise and test ad copy, keyword combinations and bid adjustments.

Independence Day

Digital MarketingLaunch Independence Day campaign postings, graphics and photos on social.

Digital MarketingUse sitelinks in your Google ads to highlight featured promotions and offers.

MarketplacesUse search terms on Amazon (you get five) to help buyers locate your products.

Digital MarketingEdit ad copy and sitelinks to get rid of all Independence Day promotions.

Digital MarketingConsider bidding up on back-to-school-related items to give them greater visibility.

Marketplaces Now’s the time to get your product images looking their best before the holidays. The higher the resolution, the better.

Digital MarketingPrepare back-to-school keywords and ad copy.

Digital MarketingReview and refresh landing pages to make sure product info is correct and relevant — which improves your Google Quality Score.

Top Tips Don’t feel left out of the back-to-school loop! There’s plenty to learn once you’re out of school, too. Sharpen your pencils and sign up for an upcoming e-commerce webinar.

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

1

4 5 6 7 8

11 12 13 14 15

18 19 20 21 22

25 26

2 3

9 10

16 17

23 24 27 28 29

Digital MarketingPrepare to launch back-to-school campaign postings, graphics and photos.

Digital MarketingIf your products have UPCs and MPNs, make sure you’re including them in the data feed you send to comparison shopping engines.

Event: eTail East,Boston

Event: eTail East,Boston

Event: eTail East,Boston

Event: eTail East,Boston

Holiday Prep Start planning your holiday marketing promotions.

Holiday PrepTake time to analyze your Q4 2014 performance now. What did you do right/wrong last year? Start a plan to maximize the holiday season in 2015.

Holiday PrepCalculate advertising spending YTD and use those numbers to determine whether your planned holiday budget will be enough.

Holiday PrepMake sure all your social properties are set up for the holidays and that you’ve added social-sharing buttons to your product pages.

Digital MarketingPrep your paid search keywords for Labor Day.

Digital MarketingHave you tried out Google Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSAs)? They’re a great way to target shoppers with text ads, based on their prior actions on your webstore.

august 2015

30 31

Top Tips New customers can often seem like the “shiny objects” in e-commerce, but remember to reward your existing customers! Consider sending them a special promotion to show your gratitude.

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

5

8 9 10 11 12

15 16 17 18 19

22 23 24 25 26

29 30

6 7

1 2 3 4

13 14

20 21

27 28

Digital Marketing Re-examine your Shopping campaigns structure. Compare with past performance, align with how people search on your site and use campaign priorities.

Digital MarketingLock down products to be promoted on comparison shopping engines during the holidays.

Labor Day

Digital Marketing Launch Labor Day campaign postings and photos.

Grandparents Day

Digital MarketingEven though you have some time before the holiday rush, start good habits now. Check your metrics and review product listings for accuracy.

First Day of Autumn(Are your products ready?)

Event:SMX Expo East,New York City

Event:SMX Expo East,New York City

Holiday PrepUse ChannelAdvisor’s Prioritized Distribution Centers feature to ensure shoppers receive the fastest and least expensive shipping available this season.

Holiday PrepFinalize holiday Q4 planning.

september 2015

Look out for ChannelAdvisor’s 2015 Autumn Release, which will hit soon!

Top Tips

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

1 1 2 3

8 9 10

15 16 17

22 23 24

29 30 31

6 7

13 14

20 21

27

5

12

19

26

4

11

18

25 28

Holiday PrepStart communicating last delivery dates for Christmas.

Holiday PrepPlan a “week before Black Friday” sale.

Holiday PrepConsider putting together a holiday gift guide for shoppers this year.

Digital MarketingPrepare holiday keywords.

Holiday PrepDiscuss deadlines and timelines with your drop shipper before the holidays to avoid miscommunication and unwelcome surprises.

Holiday PrepEBay usually asks retailers to expand returns policies around this time to allow holiday gifts to be returned.

Boss’s Day

Halloween

Digital MarketingLaunch Halloween social campaigns.

Digital MarketingPrepare Halloween keywords and ad copy.

Event:SMX Expo East,New York City

Event:2015 Shop.org Digital Summit,Philadelphia

Event:2015 Shop.org Digital Summit,Philadelphia

Event:2015 Shop.org Digital Summit,Philadelphia

Columbus Day

Event:Luxury Interactive,New York

Event:Luxury Interactive,New York

Event:Luxury Interactive,New York

october 2015sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

10 11 12 13 14

17 18 19 20 21

24 25 26 27 28

8 9

3 4 5 6 71 2

15 16

22 23

29 30

Digital MarketingPause Halloween PPC keywords and ad copy.

Digital MarketingSend holiday data feeds to CSEs.

Digital MarketingPriceGrabber rate changes usually occur this week.

Digital MarketingEBay Commerce Network (formerly Shopping.com) and Shopzilla rate increases usually occur this week.

MarketplacesUpdate your geographical location in eBay so that delivery can be calculated for customers.

Digital MarketingShorten look-back window on bid rules. Best practice: Use a 7-day look-back in November before Thanks-giving. Don’t forget to move your triggers down as well.

Black Friday

Digital MarketingWatch your ad positions and competitor ads. Adjust yours as needed.

Digital MarketingUpload Black Friday ads as paused.

Digital MarketingAdjust look-back window on your bid rules to be 1-2 days, in order to quickly respond to seasonality. Move your triggers down as well.

Thanksgiving and first day of the Cyber Five

Cyber Monday And last day of the Cyber Five.

november 2015

Holiday shopping starts this month! Make sure to keep your eye on our blog, where we’ll be regularly updating our Same Store Sales data to reveal how retailers are faring this season.

Top Tips

Holiday PrepGet your social media plan in place for the Cyber Five. Drive followers to your website with product videos, photos and links.

Event: SEMA,Las Vegas

Event: SEMA,Las Vegas

Event: SEMA,Las Vegas

Event: SEMA,Las Vegas

Singles Day (China)

Veterans Day

Holiday PrepMake sure your shipping deadlines are visible on your homepage and other channels.

Digital MarketingStart bidding holiday keywords up slowly.

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday

3 4 5

11 12

15 16 17 18 19

22 23 24 25 26

29

1 2

13 14

8 9 106 7

20 21

27 28 30 31

december 2015

Hanukkah begins

Hanukkah ends

Digital MarketingLaunch “last ship date” ads/data feeds.

Year in Review Compare your final channel sales metrics to your 2015 goals and key performance indicators (KPIs) to see how you stacked up.

Post- Holiday PrepTo prepare for shoppers with gift cards to spend (and to sell your excess inventory), use ChannelAdvisor Bundles to group complementary products as one item. Christmas Day Boxing Day

New Year’s Eve

Copyright 2015 ChannelAdvisor Corporation. All rights reserved.

sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday saturday