THE ULTIMATE 2019 CALENDAR FOR

RETAIL & E-COMMERCE MOBILE MARKETERS

Key Dates & Actionable Strategies
What you do in... MAKE MOBILE MARKE TING A
TOP 3 RE VENUE CHANNEL BY 2020

HERE’S HOW:
Mobile messaging is a new performance marketing channel for
many brands. To help you explore this new frontier, we’ve created
a 2019 calendar with important e-commerce and retail shopping
dates, along with monthly mobile marketing tips, so you can
create an effective mobile strategy to reach your goals by 2020.

WHAT’S YOUR 2019 MOBILE MARKETING RESOLUTION?

It’s time to get your 2019 mobile marketing resolutions down
on paper! What are you striving to achieve before 2020?

...determines where
you’ ll be in 2020!
 a ry JANUARY 2019

n u SUN

30
MON

31
TUE

1
WED

2
THU

3
FRI

4
S AT

J a 6
13
20
7
14
21
8
15
22
9
16
23
10
17
24
11
18
25
12
19
26
27 28 29 30 31 1 2

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

While you might not think of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day as a retail
holiday, many brands utilize the long weekend prior to January 21
to entice shoppers. This year, January 21 is also “Blue Monday,”
supposedly the gloomiest day of the year—and retail therapy
may be just what the doctor ordered. Start your 2019 marketing
efforts off on the right foot by engaging with shoppers via text
with a limited-time offer or new product launch.

IMPORTANT DATES:
1: New Year’s Day
21: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
21: Blue Monday
 FEBRUARY 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

27 28 29 30 31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 1 2

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

In 2018, Americans spent approximately $19.6 billion on
Valentine’s Day.1 No matter what gift shoppers are looking
for—candy, jewelry, flowers, or something else—mobile
messaging offers an effective way for brands to reach
shoppers. Show love for your messaging subscribers by
sending a mobile-exclusive offer.

Fe b ru a ry IMPORTANT DATES:
2: Groundhog Day
3: Super Bowl Sunday
5: Chinese New Year
14: Valentine’s Day
15: Singles Awareness Day
18: President’s Day
 rc h MARCH 2019

a
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

24 25 26 27 28 1 2

M 3
10
17
4
11
18
5
12
19
6
13
20
7
14
21
8
15
22
9
16
23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
31 1 2 3 4 5 6

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

Americans spent $5.9 billion to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in
2018, with food, beverage, and apparel being the top three items
purchased.1 March also marks the start of spring, so consum-
ers are cleaning up and clearing out. Send text messages about
limited-time deals or tap into the seasonality to keep shoppers
in-the-know about springtime offers they won’t want to miss.

IMPORTANT DATES:
8: International Women’s Day
10: Daylight Savings (Spring Forward)
17: St. Patrick’s Day
20: International Earth Day / First Day of Spring
 APRIL 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

31 1 2 3 4 5 6
7 8 9 10 11 12 13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 1 2 3 4

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

Ap
81% of Americans celebrated Easter in 2018, spending a total
of $18.2 billion.1 Among smartphone users, 30% researched
products or compared prices on their mobile device, and 19%
used their phones to make a purchase.1 Engage high-intent
omnichannel shoppers with text messaging, the ideal channel

ri l
to get your message seen first.

IMPORTANT DATES:
1: April Fool’s Day 20-27: Passover
10: National Siblings Day 21: Easter Sunday
15: Tax Day 22: Earth Day
19: Good Friday
 MAY 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

28 29 30 1 2 3 4
5 6 7 8 9 10 11
12 13 14 15 16 17 18
19 20 21 22 23 24 25
26 27 28 29 30 31 1

Ma MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

With two big spending holidays in May—Mother’s Day and

y
Memorial Day—brands can’t afford to not have an effective
channel to reach shoppers. Consumers spent $23.1 billion
on Mother’s Day gifts last year.1 With 90% of text messages
opened within 3 minutes, marketers can rely on text messaging
to ensure their holiday message is received more quickly and
directly than any other marketing channel.

IMPORTANT DATES:
1: May Day 27: Memorial Day
5: Cinco de Mayo This Month: Graduation
12: Mother’s Day
 JUNE 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

26 27 28 29 30 31 1
2 3 4 5 6 7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15
16 17 18 19 20 21 22
23 24 25 26 27 28 29
30 1 2 3 4 5 6

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

After treating mothers in May, it’s time to treat dads. Last year,
77% of Americans said they would celebrate Father’s Day,

Ju n
treating dad to special outings, clothing, gift cards, electronics,
and more.1 Alerting customers that a holiday shipping deadline
is approaching is a perfect use case for how text message
marketing can drive last-minute holiday revenue.

e
IMPORTANT DATES:
14: Flag Day
16: Father’s Day
21: First Day of Summer
 u l y JULY 2019

J SUN

30

7
MON

1
8
TUE

2
9
WED

3
10
THU

4
11
FRI

5
12
S AT

6
13
14 15 16 17 18 19 20
21 22 23 24 25 26 27
28 29 30 31 1 2 3

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

62% of parents plan to begin back-to-school shopping before
August, meaning if you want to reach early shoppers, you need
to start your marketing now.2 Shoppers spend more on back-
to-school than they spend on Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and
Valentine’s Day combined, totaling over $82 billion.2 With 70% of
parents looking for deals on their mobile devices, text messages
are the best way to stand out among the crowd.

IMPORTANT DATES:
4: Independence Day
Mid-July: Amazon Prime Day
This Month: Back-to-School Shopping
 u g u s t
A
AUGUST 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

28 29 30 31 1 2 3
4 5 6 7 8 9 10
11 12 13 14 15 16 17
18 19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30 31

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

Back-to-college drives the majority of the $82 billion in
back-to-school spending, with an expected total spend of
$55.3 billion.2 53% of shoppers plan to use mobile devices for
back-to-school shopping, which means marketers should
focus on reaching them on their mobile device.2 When they
aren’t’ shopping, they’re likely texting, making text messaging
an ideal channel to reach them.

IMPORTANT DATES:
This Month: Back-to-College Shopping
 SEPTEMBER 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 1 2 3 4 5

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

In 2018, Americans spent a record $2 billion online on Labor Day,
a 23% growth year over year.3 Roughly 30% of Labor Day orders
last year were placed on a smartphone.3 Marketers should rely
on mobile messaging to reach on-the-go shoppers who almost
always have their phones nearby. Make your message more
compelling by including a special offer or limited-time deal.

September IMPORTANT DATES:

2: Labor Day
8: Grandparents’ Day
13: Friday the 13th
23: First Day of Fall
30: Rosh Hashana
 OCTOBER 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

29 30 1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19
20 21 22 23 24 25 26
27 28 29 30 31 1 2

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

Consumers spent over $9 billion on Halloween retail in 2018.1
Spook things up with a Halloween-themed text message with
a special offer. However, Halloween isn’t the only focus. 21% of
consumers start holiday shopping in October, and 42% start by
November 1.4 Send text messages to subscribers early: those
who’ve started shopping will appreciate it, and those who
haven’t will keep you top-of-mind when they do start.

Oc to be r
IMPORTANT DATES:
9: Yom Kippur
14: Columbus Day
31: Halloween
 v e m be r
o
NOVEMBER 2019

N SUN

27

3
MON

28

4
TUE

29

5
WED

30

6
THU

31

7
FRI

1
8
S AT

2
9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

In 2018, for the first time, holiday sales across mobile devices
surpassed a whopping $50 billion.5 Sending offers via text
messaging is retailers’ secret weapon for standing out during the
hyper-competitive holiday shopping season (and beyond).
It offers an immediate way to reach shoppers where they are:
their mobile device.

IMPORTANT DATES:
3: Daylight Savings (Fall Back) 29: Black Friday
11: Veterans’ Day 30: Small Business Saturday
28: Thanksgiving
 DECEMBER 2019
SUN MON TUE WED THU FRI S AT

1 2 3 4 5 6 7
8 9 10 11 12 13 14
15 16 17 18 19 20 21
22 23 24 25 26 27 28
29 30 31 1 2 3 4

MOBILE MARKETING TIP:

Last year’s Cyber Monday online sales reached $7.9 billion, with
smartphones contributing over $2 billion.6 Text messaging is an
ideal channel to reach mobile-first shoppers. Marketers shouldn’t
stop after the 5 day shopping weekend, though—the majority of
people complete holiday shopping in Dec. Take advantage of the
always-present mobile phone habit and reach consumers with
deals or alerts in their text message inbox.

December
IMPORTANT DATES:
2: Cyber Monday 21: First Day of Winter 25: Christmas Day
3: Giving Tuesday 23-30: Hanukkah 26: Boxing Day
9: Green Monday 24: Christmas Eve 31: New Year’s Eve
21: Super Saturday
NOTES 2019 MOBILE MARKETING CHECKLIST

SET YOURSELF UP FOR SUCCESS: DEFINE YOUR GOALS

Choose your KPIs (subscriber growth, revenue driven, etc)

Decide when to review goals (weekly, monthly, quarterly)

Discuss strategy with your Attentive Customer Success team

GROW YOUR TEXT MESSAGING SUBSCRIBERS

Use mobile & desktop web, email, and social to grow your audience

Set up in-store signage (if applicable)

Launch paid media and mailed promos encouraging opt-ins

SEND YOUR FIRST MESSAGES AND DRIVE REVENUE

Create a drip campaign for new subscribers with welcome offer

Set up an abandoned cart text message reminder

Send messages to subscribers 4x+ per month

 LET‘S CHAT
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e-commerce and retail brands. Using
Attentive’s patent-pending “two-tap” CONTACT US:
sign-up solution, marketers can quickly INFO@ATTENTIVEMOBILE.COM
grow their list of mobile subscribers and
create a new top 3 revenue channel.

Over 200+ brands like Rainbow Shops,

Boston Market, and AMOREPACIFIC rely
on Attentive and see strong results like
30%+ click-through rates and 25x+ ROI.

Visit www.attentivemobile.com to learn

more and request a demo.

REQUEST A DEMO
1 National Retail Federation, Annual Survey, 2018
2 Deloitte, Back-to-School Survey, 2018
3 Adobe Analytics, Consumer Spending Data, 2018
4 Deloitte, Holiday Retail Survey, 2018
5 eMarketer, Holiday 2018 Forecast Update, 2018
6 Adobe Analytics, Holiday Actuals Report, 2018