When should I start preparing for the fourth quarter holiday shopping season?

Start your fourth quarter preparation in late August or early September at the latest. While you don’t need to sprint through everything immediately, begin doing short practice runs now—think of it as training for a marathon, not the race itself. The goal isn’t to have every single thing perfect, but to avoid leaving money on the table because you weren’t ready when holiday shoppers arrive. Many consumers specifically wait for Black Friday and Cyber Monday to make purchases, so you need your products, messaging, promotions, and inventory prepared well in advance. Use this time to schedule content, prepare seasonal products, write email campaigns, and set up your promotions so when the busy season hits, you can focus on real-time engagement rather than scrambling with basics.

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Asked by artists preparing for holiday season · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2025-08-22