But here's the reality check: amazing performance during the holidays doesn’t happen because you marked your promos on the calendar. It happens because you laid the groundwork months in advance, aligning strategy across channels, optimizing product discoverability, and ensuring your campaigns actually meet customers where they are.
At Code3, we live and breathe peak season. And our tips for success, built from our proven “90 Days to Peak Season Success” approach, will help you move from reactive to revenue-ready.
1. Know Your Hero Products (and Push Them Hard)
If you’re promoting everything, you’re promoting nothing. Your Q4 strategy should zero in on hero SKUs. These should be products that first and foremost align with your overall goals. These can be products with high margins, high conversion potential, or high relevance to holiday shopping.
Here’s what we recommend:
- Analyze last year’s Q4 performance to identify top sellers.
- Cross-reference with current sales and search trends to prioritize what's actually moving.
- Lock in creative assets and copy early for these key products - they should be front and center in your paid and organic campaigns.
2. Get Your Product Listings in Peak Shape
Your product pages should work as hard as your ads. Too often, brands spend big on media but miss the organic basics like optimized titles, compelling imagery, and clear value props. Don’t let discoverability or conversion fall through the cracks - these small wins can add up!
Put this on your holiday prep list (and check it twice!):
- Use seasonal keywords in titles and descriptions (think “gifts for her,” “holiday hosting,” “stocking stuffer”).
- Update product imagery to reflect gifting use cases, packaging, or lifestyle context.
- Ensure all listings include ratings, reviews, and FAQs. Social proof matters more when urgency is high.
3. Make Discovery Easy Across Channels
Even the best product won’t sell if it’s buried. Your Q4 strategy should make your catalog easy to find, no matter where your audience is browsing. That means leveling up your presence on retail media platforms, social commerce, and search.
Your brand should:
- Run Sponsored Product and Sponsored Brand campaigns on Amazon, Walmart, and Target.
- Ensure product feeds are optimized and live for Meta Shops, TikTok Shop, and Pinterest.
- Leverage keyword research and trend analysis to update search terms and campaign structure frequently throughout the season.
4. Use Promotions Strategically
Yes, promotions drive conversions. But they’re not your only lever. Smart brands are shifting to strategic offers, including bundles, BOGOs, tiered gifting, and exclusive early access to drive urgency and protect margins.
Be smart about it:
- Run A/B tests to understand which offer types resonate most with your audience.
- Use your CRM data to segment and personalize offers. What works for deal-seekers may not work for loyalists.
- Layer in messaging that highlights urgency (“Limited quantities,” “Last ship date”) to push conversions without race-to-the-bottom pricing.
5. Sync Your Media and Commerce Teams Early
This one’s non-negotiable: commerce and media need to be aligned before peak season hits. If your ad teams are flying blind, unaware of low-inventory SKUs or key margin priorities, you’re wasting dollars and missing opportunities.
Align on:
- Top SKUs to support across paid search, social, and display
- Creative direction that mirrors PDPs and brand pages
- Inventory status and fulfillment timelines (so you’re not pushing what’s out of stock)
6. Make Last-Mile Execution a Strength
When the season heats up, execution becomes everything. If your campaign launch is delayed, tracking breaks, or you miss a ship window, you lose ground (and sales). Build processes now to avoid bottlenecks later.
Don’t forget to:
- QA your product feeds weekly during peak.
- Automate promo and pricing updates across platforms, where possible.
- Monitor fulfillment timelines closely, and update messaging in real time if shipping cutoffs change.
Your Holiday Commerce Checklist
Here’s your step-by-step rundown:
- Identify and prioritize hero SKUs
- Optimize product listings with seasonal SEO and visuals
- Activate across key retail media and social commerce platforms
- Plan strategic, margin-conscious offers
- Align commerce and media efforts
- Streamline operations for smooth execution
Peak season is make-or-break, and you can’t afford to just “show up.” You need to be intentional, prepared, and performance-driven across every part of your commerce strategy. The brands that win Q4 are the ones that started planning in Q3.
Looking for an expert partner to bring it all together? Let’s build a holiday commerce strategy that drives results, not just impressions.