While Christmas bells have yet to ring, many Amazon sellers are already feeling the winter chill. Traditionally, December 18-20 marks the golden period for holiday sales, but this year, numerous merchants report their orders froze prematurely, with some experiencing record-low sales by December 22.
The 2023 holiday promotion period (December 16-25) reveals stark market polarization. Sellers who accurately targeted the gift market—offering decorations, specialty presents, and festive apparel—continue to see rising sales, with some even facing inventory shortages. Conversely, most merchants witnessed declining sales starting December 16, followed by a dramatic plunge after the 19th, leaving many with merely a quarter of their typical daily orders.
Key Factors Behind the Sales Slump
Three primary factors explain this unexpected downturn:
- Front-Loaded Consumer Spending: Most Western shoppers completed their Christmas purchases during Black Friday and Cyber Monday, leaving minimal demand for holiday gifts by mid-December. Sellers who missed these earlier shopping peaks faced intensified pressure.
- Shipping Deadline Constraints: Amazon's platform began displaying "delivery after Christmas" notices by late December, significantly dampening consumer enthusiasm for last-minute gift purchases.
- Holiday Mode Activation: As Western nations entered Christmas vacations around December 20, public attention shifted from online shopping to offline celebrations, causing overall e-commerce traffic to plummet.
Amazon's Policy Changes Worsen Merchant Woes
Compounding these challenges, Amazon implemented a controversial advertising rule between December 11-25, automatically increasing merchants' bid prices by 50%. This blanket policy proved problematic—while holiday traffic typically boosts organic reach, forced bid hikes often failed to improve conversions while dramatically inflating Advertising Cost of Sales (ACOS) ratios.
Strategic Recommendations for Sellers
Merchants facing this predicament should consider these countermeasures:
- Immediately review advertising settings to disable automatic bid increases and manually optimize bidding strategies based on product performance.
- Shift focus toward upcoming sales cycles—including New Year's, Valentine's Day, and spring product launches—to secure competitive advantages.
This premature holiday sales freeze serves as a wake-up call for Amazon sellers. Only through agile market adaptation and strategic foresight can e-commerce businesses thrive in increasingly volatile conditions.