Retailers are well versed in the rush that proceeds major events in the UK, such as Easter and Christmas, but should they also look further afield?

Ever growing multiculturalism presents an increased opportunity for retailers to increase spend on a wide variety of holidays and events that take place throughout the year. A key example of this is Halloween, a predominantly American import that has risen in popularity throughout the UK, a date for which many retailers now ramp up their marketing efforts.

Christian holidays, of course, have the potential to drive massive footfall as well as online sales, but do other cultural holidays have the same potential? It could simply be a case of retailers making the effort to ramp up their marketing and direct their offerings towards holidays such as Ramadan, Eid, Chinese New Year and Thanksgiving.

The devaluation of the pound has had a hand in increasing tourism from countries such as China who have found that their money now goes further. Recent research shows that the Chinese Golden Week and Chinese New Year are two events that UK retailers have had huge success with in recent years.

On top of this, there are pseudo-holidays and other dates which are growing in popularity year on year, such as Black Friday, Cyber Monday and even dates like National Singles Day. There’s a potential goldmine for retailers who are willing to expand their calendars out a little more from the traditional Christian holidays and events.