6 Gift Guide Ideas For Holiday Sales Seasons from Top Brands
To make your online store a gifting destination this season, a few strategic UX tweaks can make all the difference. In this last guide of our Holiday marketing sales promotion ideas for Shopify series, we’ll share six actionable tips to enhance your customer’s shopping experience. From intuitive gift filters to eye-catching promotions, these simple changes can significantly boost conversions and customer satisfaction.
💁 Read the whole series of 25 Best Holiday Sales Promotion Ideas:
6 Gift Guide Examples to Steal in Holiday Sales Promotion 2024
#1 Highlight Gift Links in Menus
One of the simplest yet most impactful UX enhancements for holiday shopping is giving special treatment to the “Gifts” link in your navigation menus. This small adjustment can make your holiday collections instantly recognizable and more appealing to shoppers who are looking for gifts. Here’s how to maximize the impact of highlighting your gift link:
Look at some examples below of Free People, Vital Proteins, Alo and Marine Layer. By using subtle design adjustments—such as adding an icon, a different color, or even festive text styling—your gift link becomes a powerful tool in directing holiday traffic to the right place.
👉 Where to Place: The ideal placement for this link is in your top navigation menu, where it’s easily visible across all pages. This way, wherever your customer is on your site, they’ll see an option that leads them to curated gift ideas. For an extra touch, you can also consider adding this link as a “sticky” element that remains visible even as the user scrolls.
✅ How to Implement:
Use your theme editor to customize your menu. Here are a few tips:
- Use a small holiday-themed icon, like a gift box or a snowflake, next to the link text to make it stand out.
- A different color for the link (such as red or green) can help it pop within the menu without disrupting the overall design.
- Bold or italicized text can make the “Gifts” link feel more prominent. Some stores even use slight animations or a shimmer effect to draw attention.
🔎 Recommended Apps to Customize Shopify Header Menus:
- Shopify Theme Editor: For stores with limited coding knowledge, Shopify’s built-in theme editor allows easy customization of navigation links.
- Firstly, create a gift page in your Shopify store (Online Store > Pages > Add Page)
- Secondly, Also on Online Store > Navigation > Add menu item > Add your created gift page
- GemPages Landing Page Builder: GemPages can help create festive and customized menu elements if your theme doesn’t support this level of customization.
#2 Add Sub-Menus to Gift Sections
Creating a dedicated sub-menu under your “Gifts” tab is an excellent UX enhancement that helps shoppers easily browse and find gifts that match their needs. This extra level of organization shortens the browsing journey by directing customers to relevant gift suggestions right from the main menu.
Brands like Key Jewelers and Alo have used sub-menu categories to help users find products curated for different recipients or interests, which reduces browsing time and boosts conversion rates.
👉 Where to Place: The ideal placement for this link is in your top navigation menu, where it’s easily visible across all pages. This way, wherever your customer is on your site, they’ll see an option that leads them to curated gift ideas. For an extra touch, you can also consider adding this link as a “sticky” element that remains visible even as the user scrolls.
✅ How to Implement:
- Design your sub-menu by breaking down gift options into specific categories such as “Gifts for Him,” “Gifts for Her,” “Gifts for Kids” or “Under $50.”
- You could also consider adding interest-based categories like “Gifts for Food Lovers” or “Fitness Gifts.” By tailoring these categories to your store’s product range, you make it simpler for customers to find exactly what they’re looking for.
🔎 Recommended Apps to Add Shopify Sub-menu on Shopify:
As we mentioned in the first example, you can add a sub-menu directly in your Shopify dashboard. It is sufficient for basic navigation needs, with no visual elements and basic dropdowns.
For more advanced features, we suggest you test these 2 mega menu & navigation apps. They provide advanced customization, visual appeal, and flexibility for creating detailed, holiday-specific sub-menus.
- qikify Mega Menu allows you to create stylish, highly customizable menus with ease. Featuring drag-and-drop editing, it’s ideal for organizing gifts by recipient, category, or price range, providing a seamless navigation experience that helps shoppers find the perfect gift faster.
- Globo Mega Menu offers a user-friendly solution for creating detailed, responsive mega menus. With options to add images, icons, and custom styles, it’s perfect for building visually appealing gift sub-menus, guiding customers to curated holiday collections and gift ideas effortlessly.
#3 Holiday Gifting Filters & Search on Category Page
69% of online shoppers often encounter irrelevant results during searches, which leads to frustration and increased bounce rates according to Nosto. Consumers are more likely to make a purchase when they can easily navigate a site to find what they’re looking for.
To make product pages even more gift-friendly, consider adding specific filters or tags that highlight products suitable for different occasions, recipients, or price ranges. These filters can be displayed prominently on product pages or within product descriptions. Here’re some of our recommended types of gifting filters to implement in your product page.
Price Filters such as under $50, $100, or $200: Budget-conscious shoppers often search for gifts within specific price ranges.
Recipient-Specific Filters such as ‘For Him, For Her, For Kids” to offer gender or age-specific gifts.
Occasion-Based Filters such as Christmas, Birthday, New Year, etc.
Showcasing a “Popular Gifts” filter encourages social proof, guiding customers toward items that other shoppers are buying.
Kylie Cosmetics makes finding gift with ease buy their product filters.
👉 Where to Place: You can strategically place gifting-specific filters in a few different locations on your category pages such as top filter bar, side bar filter or integrated into product cards.
✅ How to Implement:
Shopify offers several apps and tools that make adding filters simple like Smart Product Filter & Shopify Search & Discovery.
If you prefer a more hands-on approach, you can integrate gifting filters directly into your Shopify theme.
Visual appeal matters! Ensure your filters stand out by using large, clickable buttons or easy-to-read drop-down menus with high contrast text. Good design not only makes navigation easier but also enhances the shopping experience
🔎 Recommended Product Filters and Search Shopify Apps:
There are several effective apps that can greatly improve your Shopify store’s search and filter features. We recommend testing the free plan or free trial to find the apps that best suit your needs.
- Smart Product Filter & Search: This app enables advanced filtering and search features that improve product discovery. It allows customers to filter products by multiple attributes such as price, size, color, brand, and more. It also integrates seamlessly with the search bar and category filters, providing a customized and efficient way to find products.
- Boost AI Search & Filter helps boost leverages AI to provide fast and smart search results that align with the customer’s intent.
- Shopify’s native app, Search & Discovery, is built specifically to enhance search functionality and product discovery within your store. It focuses on delivering relevant search results and customized recommendations to increase conversions.
#4 Gift Card Banner Placement
Place the banner in high-traffic areas on your site, like the homepage, product pages, and checkout page. For instance, positioning it above the fold on the homepage ensures that shoppers see it immediately, while a strategic placement on the checkout page catches those who might hesitate with their purchase.
- Duluth Trading targets last-minute holiday shoppers by prominently featuring a gift card banner that includes lighthearted, playful text to engage customers.
- Patagonia uses a minimalistic design approach by placing their gift card banner within negative space on the product grid. This setup catches the eye without cluttering the visual flow of the product listings.
👉 Where to Place:
- Homepage: Above the fold to catch early attention.
- Product Listing Pages: Within product grids, especially in “giftable” categories.
- Checkout Page: As a reminder for last-minute gift ideas…
✅ How to Implement:
Shopify Customization Tools: Use the theme editor to add banners across key pages.
Apps: Quick Announcement Bar and POWR Banner Slider offer quick, customizable banner options.
Custom Code: Add HTML banners with festive visuals for a branded touch.
Design Tips:
- Use high-contrast, holiday colors with festive icons.
- Make CTA clear (e.g., “Shop Gift Cards”).
- Highlight benefits like “Instant Delivery” and “Flexible Amounts.”
🔎 Recommended Shopify Apps for Gift Cards:
Shopify has several apps that enhance the gift card experience, here are our recommendations for you:
- Rise.ai: Gift Cards & Loyalty for custom, branded gift cards.
- Gift Card Hero combines eGift and physical card solutions, designed for seamless integration into customer gifting options.
- GiftKart offers cashback and store credit options to drive acquisition and retention.
#5 Use Proactive Chat for Holiday Offers
Using a proactive live chat widget to promote holiday offers can create a more engaging experience for your customers. Rather than relying on static banners or pop-ups that users might overlook due to “banner blindness,” live chat offers a more dynamic, personalized touchpoint that’s harder to ignore.
👉 Where to Place: Position your chat widget so it appears across critical pages in the customer journey such as homed pages, product pages or checkout pages.
✅ Implement Tips:
Trigger Holiday-Specific Messages – Customize messages to pop up on product or checkout pages with friendly holiday greetings and tiered offers.
Keep Offers Clear and Simple – Use line breaks to structure discounts and policies for easy readability.
Optimize for Mobile – Ensure the chat widget is responsive for a smooth experience across devices.
🔎 Recommended Shopify Chatbot Apps for Holiday Sales:
- Tidio Live Chat & AI Chatbots and Chatty: Live Chat Helpdesk FAQ offer powerful solutions to enhance your Shopify store’s customer support and drive holiday sales.
- If you’re looking for a more traditional chat system with the added benefit of proactive sales messaging, Tidio is a great choice.
- If you prefer a more multi-faceted, AI-powered approach with comprehensive support across different communication channels, Chatty would be a better fit.
#6 Use Proactive Chat for Holiday Offers
When customers are shopping for gifts, they often search with specific terms like “Christmas gift for dad” or “best gift for mom.” Optimizing your store’s search functionality to prioritize and display relevant gift-related products during the holiday season can significantly enhance the shopping experience and drive conversions. By tuning your search results to align with gifting cases, you help customers find the perfect products faster, ultimately increasing the likelihood of a purchase.
As shown in the John Lewis & Partners example, when a customer searches for “Christmas gift for dad,” the top results are relevant to the query and include gift-related products like whisky, chocolates, and preserves. The search results page also includes filters for price, department, and occasion, making it easy for customers to find the perfect gift.
👉 Where to Place: For tuning search results for gifting cases, place gifting elements in the following areas:
- Search Bar: Ensure it’s prominently placed in the header for easy access.
- Search Results Page: Add gifting filters at the top and pin relevant gift items.
- Category Pages: Feature a “Gift Ideas” or “Holiday Gifts” section.
- Dedicated Gift Pages: Link to “Gift Guides” or “Holiday Shop” in the main navigation.
✅ How to Implement:
Identify Key Holiday Search Terms: Use data or tools to find popular holiday terms (e.g., “gifts for him,” “holiday presents”) and prioritize these in search results.
Add Gifting Filters: Include filters like “Under $50,” “Best for Mom,” or “Gift Cards” to help users narrow their search.
Pin Gift Products: Use Shopify apps (like Searchanise or InstantSearch+) to pin popular gifts to the top of search results.
Tag Products for Gifting: Label items as “giftable” or “holiday special” to ensure they appear in relevant searches.
🔎 Recommended Shopify Chatbot Apps for Holiday Sales:
Use apps like Searchanise Search & Filter, Smart Product Filter & Search or Shopify Search & Discovery (we’ve already refered you in the 3rd examples) to enhance the search functionality on your Shopify store. These apps allow you to fine-tune search algorithms, pin products, and customize filters based on the season or gifting needs.
The Wrappping Up: Ready For Upcoming Holiday Sales and Successful Selling! 🎁
As we’ve explored throughout this series, optimizing your Shopify store for the holiday season involves more than just discounts and promotions — it’s about crafting an engaging, seamless shopping experience that meets the unique needs of gift shoppers.
Are you ready to make this holiday season your most successful one yet? How can you implement these strategies to create a memorable shopping journey for your customers?
If you’re looking to further increase conversions, don’t forget to try our BOGO+ Buy X Get Y & Free Gift app. This app is designed to enhance your store’s upsell potential and drive sales through irresistible offers like Buy One, Get One Free or a free gift with purchase. With easy integration and powerful features, you can effortlessly boost average order value and deliver a memorable, gift-friendly shopping experience.
What’s your next step? Which of these ideas will you implement in your store, and how will you create an even more engaging shopping experience for your customers this holiday season?
Happy holidays and successful selling! 🎁
