Plan 2027 with this ecommerce marketing calendar: the key US shopping dates, when to start prep, and what to test before each peak. Includes Black Friday and Mother's Day.
Yuvraj Singh9 min read
Run rigorous A/B tests and personalize every visit on Shopify or any storefront β no engineers required.
Most ecommerce teams plan their year around two or three big dates and then get caught out by the rest. A gifting holiday sneaks up. A long weekend arrives when the homepage still shows last month's offer. A big sale lands while the team is still arguing about the banner.
A calendar fixes most of that, and it only takes an afternoon to build. This guide gives you the key US shopping dates for 2027, the work to do before each one and a simple way to fit A/B testing around them.
One note on dates: those that depend on a weekday rule, such as "second Sunday of May," were calculated for 2027, and fixed dates were checked against the calendar. Confirm any date you build a campaign around, especially for holidays that move, like Easter.
For each date, ask three questions:
A good rule: finish tests two weeks before a peak, freeze big changes a week before, and spend the peak itself monitoring.
Read Also: Seasonal Demand Planning for Ecommerce
New Year and January sales (January 1 onward). Post-holiday clearance, resolutions and returns. Fitness, wellness, organization and home categories do well. It is a good time for tests, since traffic is calmer than November.
Martin Luther King Jr. Day (Monday, January 18). A long weekend. Some brands run sales, and it is a natural test window for promotions.
Valentine's Day (Sunday, February 14). Gift shopping starts in late January. Because it falls on a Sunday, shipping cutoffs matter, so decide what delivery dates you can honestly promise. Gift-focused collections, gift messaging and clear delivery dates do the work here.
Presidents' Day (Monday, February 15). A long weekend with sales in home, furniture, mattresses and apparel.
Easter (Sunday, March 28). Gifting, food and seasonal products. Dates move each year, so check.
Spring refresh (March). Home, garden, outdoor and spring apparel.
Tax season (through Tax Day, April 15). Some shoppers buy once refunds arrive. It is relevant for higher-ticket categories.
Mother's Day (Sunday, May 9). One of the biggest gifting events. NRF's 2026 survey projected a record $38 billion in spending, with an average of $284.25 per person. In that survey, 33% of shoppers named online as a leading destination for gifts, tied with department stores. Start gift collections by mid-April, and build clear delivery cutoffs well before the day.
Memorial Day (Monday, May 31). The unofficial start of summer, and a sale weekend for outdoor, home, mattresses and apparel.
Father's Day (Sunday, June 20). NRF's 2026 survey projected a record $27.9 billion, averaging $226.58 per consumer, with 38% of shoppers naming online as their top destination. Department stores were close behind at 37%. Tech, tools, apparel and experiences are popular.
Graduation and wedding season (May to June). Gifts, formalwear and travel items.
Fourth of July (Sunday, July 4; observed Monday, July 5). Summer sales, outdoor and grill products, patriotic apparel. With a Sunday date and a Monday off, expect a long weekend.
Summer clearance (July to August). A good time to clear seasonal stock before fall.
Back to school (July to September). NRF says many back-to-school shoppers start early in the season. Apparel, backpacks, tech and dorm items all matter, with college shopping starting later in the summer.
Labor Day (Monday, September 6). End-of-summer sales and the start of fall. It is often used as an early test of holiday demand.
Fall and Halloween (October 31, a Sunday). Costumes, decor and candy. It is a good time to check your site for holiday readiness.
October sales events. Marketplace-run sales in early October are changing the shape of the season, pulling some demand forward. Adobe's 2026 forecast notes that these events are reshaping the pre-holiday period, so watch your own October traffic.
Thanksgiving (Thursday, November 25). Early deals and a major mobile shopping day. Adobe expects a record 63% of Thanksgiving online spend to come from mobile in 2026.
Black Friday (November 26) and Small Business Saturday (November 27). The year's biggest sales weekend starts here. Independent and smaller brands often lean into Small Business Saturday messaging.
Cyber Monday (November 29). Adobe's 2025 data put Cyber Monday at a record $14.25 billion in online spend. The five days from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday are what Adobe calls Cyber Week.
Green Monday (December 13, informal). Sometimes used for a second-chance sale in the second week of December.
Holiday shipping cutoffs (mid-December). Set and publish them based on your carriers' actual deadlines.
Christmas (Saturday, December 25). Last-minute gifting, digital gift cards and store credit. A Saturday Christmas affects when last orders can ship.
Post-holiday sales and returns (December 26 onward). Plan for returns and gift card redemptions.
| Date | Event | Start prepping |
|---|---|---|
| Jan 18 | MLK Day weekend | Early January |
| Feb 14 | Valentine's Day (Sunday) | Mid-January |
| Feb 15 | Presidents' Day weekend | Late January |
| Mar 28 | Easter | Early March |
| Apr 15 | Tax Day | Late March |
| May 9 | Mother's Day | Early April |
| May 31 | Memorial Day weekend | Early May |
| Jun 20 | Father's Day | Mid-May |
| Jul 4 (observed Jul 5) | Independence Day weekend | Early June |
| Jul to Sep | Back to school | Late June |
| Sep 6 | Labor Day weekend | Mid-August |
| Oct 31 | Halloween | Early October |
| Nov 25 | Thanksgiving | October |
| Nov 26 | Black Friday | Early October |
| Nov 27 | Small Business Saturday | Early November |
| Nov 29 | Cyber Monday | Early October |
| Dec 25 | Christmas | October |
The calendar tells you when to test, and just as importantly, when not to.
Use quiet periods for experiments. January and February before Valentine's Day, late March to early April and the weeks between Father's Day and July 4 are usually calmer. The late summer stretch before Labor Day is another good window.
Avoid ending tests in peaks. Black Friday, Mother's Day and Valentine's Day shoppers behave differently from normal visitors, urgently and with gift intent. A test that ends in a peak may not hold afterward.
Test the things that peaks depend on. Before a gifting holiday, test your gift collection layout, delivery-date messaging and gift options. Before Black Friday, test cart and checkout ideas. The idea is to arrive at the peak with improvements already proven.
Keep a seasonal log. Record what you changed, what worked and what the weather was like. Next year's calendar gets better every time.
Read Also: What Makes a Good A/B Test? Avoiding Common Mistakes
If you would like a calendar you can actually test against, CustomFit.ai can help you schedule A/B tests for your Shopify store around your key dates. Start with the next two peaks and work backward.
Read Also:
Want a testing calendar that turns seasonal traffic into measurable learning? See how CustomFit.ai helps ecommerce teams plan experiments early, ship proven changes and protect conversion through every peak.
Book a CRO strategy call