Spring has sprung, and with it are popping up an increasing number of major omnichannel blockbusters. 

The season of renewal and rebirth is turning into a season of curated discounts and limited-time deals. Let’s take a look at a few key factors helping drive this promotional trend:

Home sweet home

Springtime has long been the unofficial kickoff to home improvement and decorating projects. Home improvement retailers like Home Depot and Lowe’s have longstanding annual spring sales extravaganzas, and Home Depot even calls its sale “Spring Black Friday.”

Meanwhile, home furnishings retailer Wayfair teams with celebrities for its annual ‘Wayborhood’ spring celebration.

[READ MORE: Wayfair returns to ‘Wayborhood’ with Kelly Clarkson, Blake Griffin]

However, as e-commerce and third-party marketplaces have made it easier for retailers to expand their assortments, an increasing number of retailers have moved into selling home improvement and/or furnishings products. As these items naturally lend themselves to spring promotions, seasonal sales in the March – May timeframe are popping up like daffodils.

Holiday, celebrate

Holiday spending in general is booming, and the major spring holidays are no exception. During 2024, the NRF projected that consumer spending would reach a total of $22.4 billion for Easter, the second highest in the survey’s history after 2023.  

Similarly, the NRF expected 2024 Mother’s Day spending to hit $33.5 billion, only eclipsed by 2023 totals, and even spending for the more regionally/ethnically-focused St. Patrick’s Day holiday (technically the very end of winter but generally seen as a springtime event) was expected to reach a record $7.2 billion.

These three holidays all lend themselves to general spring sales extravaganzas as well as to more focused promotional initiatives, such as Amazon’s seasonal Easter Hub.

Reasons for elevated spring holiday spending likely include a continuing post-pandemic desire for celebration and social gathering, as well as the impact of image-oriented social networks such as Instagram and Pinterest. 

Whatever the reasons, retailers are capitalizing on increased consumer interest in spring holidays with focused omnichannel sales events.

Time on your hands could be time spent with shoppers

In columns I wrote in 2024, I described how Halloween is becoming a spending event on par with December holidays and Thanksgiving and how football season is turning into the latest omnichannel selling season.

Now, the grand finale to the football season, the Super Bowl, is emerging as a single-day event with consumer participation and interest approaching that of other major holidays. 

Meanwhile, the end-of-year holiday season has been stretched well into January due the increasing popularity of gift cards and ease of returns, and Valentine’s Day in February has similar growth patterns to Easter and Mother’s Day.

Furthermore, the emergence of Prime Day as an industrywide omnichannel extravaganza has turned the once sleepy mid-summer season into a major sales period. 

The fall edition of Prime Big Deal Days has had a similar effect on the emergence of non-Halloween sales events taking place between back-to-school and Thanksgiving/holiday season.

All this has left spring as the only time of year which outside of the home improvement and furnishings verticals had room for new broadly-based seasonal sales promotions. Look for the trend to only accelerate this year and in coming years.