Eid is not one day but three phases: the last ten nights when people buy, the Eid days themselves when they go out, and the week afterwards when everything goes quiet. The Eid offers for shops that work are built on the third phase, not the first.
Three phases, and most merchants see one
All the attention goes to the days immediately before Eid, and for many trades those genuinely are the highest-selling days of the year. But that peak arrives on its own: people buy because Eid is coming, not because you announced something. Marketing spend during it purchases what was going to happen anyway.
The real phase is the third. A week after Eid the market goes sharply quiet: the season is over, budgets are spent, and people return to their routines. Whoever holds, at that moment, a list of everyone who visited during Eid and a way to speak to them owns a full month their competitor does not.
| Phase | Market condition | Your job |
|---|---|---|
| The last ten nights | A natural peak | Enrol every visitor — do not discount |
| The Eid days | Families out visiting | Extended hours and a smooth experience |
| The following week | Sharply quiet | This is where your whole campaign is spent |
The first row is the most important decision in the table: do not discount during the peak. Your shop is already busy, and a discount on those days is paid to customers who were certainly coming. Move your effort from lowering the price to enrolling whoever walks in, because enrolling is free and discounting is not.
The last ten nights: collect, do not pay
During these days people enter your shop who never enter it the rest of the year: travellers, visitors, relatives in from another city. Most will not return whatever you do, but a proportion are from your own neighbourhood and have simply never tried you — and they are the entire prize.
- Make enrolment your staff's only target Do not ask them to sell more; the queue sells itself. Ask them to offer the card on every receipt, and nothing else.
- Award the first stamp with no conditions In a rush there is no time to explain a full cycle. "That is your first stamp, five to go" is entirely enough.
- Announce no offer at all during these days An offer adds complexity to a crowded till, buys sales you already had, and distracts your staff from enrolling.
- Double your code positions Three extra copies around the waiting areas cost you a few riyals and work during your busiest week of the year.
The Eid days: experience, not offers
During Eid itself nobody reads an advertisement or compares a price. People are out with their families, and the decision is made on what is open and what is comfortable. Your only advantage here is operational: longer hours, a shorter queue, and staff who know what they are doing.
If you want something specifically for Eid, make it a gesture rather than a discount: dates with the order, a printed greeting, something small for children. Those are remembered a fortnight later. A discount is not remembered an hour later.
The following week: the real campaign
- Third day after Eid One notification to everyone who joined during the season: their balance and what remains before the reward. No greeting, no preamble.
- Day seven A one-week time-limited offer, for cardholders only. Discounting is legitimate here, because the market genuinely is quiet.
- End of week two Read the numbers: how many season sign-ups came back? That is the measure of your Eid, not peak-week sales.
That second stage is the only point in the whole season where a discount deserves to be spent. The market is quiet, competitors are silent after exhausting themselves, and your customer is back in a routine that needs a reason to break. A riyal of discount here buys genuine movement rather than movement that was coming anyway.
Common questions
Do I lose out by not discounting during the peak while everybody else does?
Not while your product, location and service hold up. A seasonal peak is driven by the occasion rather than by price, and somebody buying Eid clothes does not postpone because another shop cut ten per cent. If your trade is a storable commodity whose prices people genuinely compare, revisit the calculation.
How should I handle visitors from out of town?
Enrol them like everybody else without distinction, since the card costs you nothing extra. Some return for the next occasion, and more of them visit the city more often than you think. More to the point, you cannot tell locals from visitors in a rush, and any attempt to sort them slows the till for nothing.
Does this plan apply to Eid al-Adha?
The same structure works with one difference: Adha runs longer and quieter in most non-food trades, and the lull afterwards is less sharp. Shift the timetable to suit, and keep the principle: no discount during the peak, all effort on enrolment, and the campaign after the season ends.