The best holiday popups we've seen in 2016… So far

Well, we’ve done it again. We broke yet another Black Friday spending record. The final figures are still being tallied, but we already know it was a banner day for ecommerce—one that surpassed the $3 billion dollar mark for the first time in history.

While pundits watch sales soar and merchants scramble to keep up, we here at Pixel Union have been busy, too. Besides taking occasional breaks to scan our favourite stores for deals and discounts (shh!), we've been heads down on Pixelpop, making sure it's promoting, collecting, and converting on the biggest shopping days of the year.

In the process, we've caught a glimpse of how merchants are using popups this holiday season. We've seen them used to hype promotions, build mailing lists, communicate shipping information and cut-off dates, and a whole lot more. It's inspiring!

Today we're sharing some of our favourite popups with hopes of inspiring you. After all, the shopping frenzy is far from over. According to the National Retail Federation, 40% of holiday sales happen in the 10 days before Christmas. Who’s to say we won’t break another record?

Pelechecoco

We've said it before and we'll say it again: if you're not already collecting email addresses, you need to start right now. Email marketing is a huge part of running a successful online store, and it's especially important around the holidays, when people are primed for purchasing and extra-receptive to deals and discounts.

That's why we love this email signup bar from Pelechecoco, a sustainable fashion brand out of Copenhagen. Rather than rely on expensive ads to drive traffic to their site on Black Friday, they've gotten ahead by building their list now (or rather, a few weeks ago). This way, as the holiday season rolls on, they'll have a ton of people to market to, and it won't cost a thing.

Little Whimsy

Holiday shipping can be a sensitive subject for online merchants. On one hand, you want customers to feel confident that their order is going to arrive in time. On the other, you really don't want to deal with the fall-out if it doesn't.

What we love about Little Whimsy's holiday shipping popup is how transparent it is about delivery cut-off dates (well, that, and it's a darling take on our "Kringle" Pixelpop theme). The popup links to an entire page with "important delivery dates"—an excellent idea for a company based in New Zealand that does business world-wide.

By being honest and realistic with their estimations, Little Whimsy will have happier customers and see more conversions long-term.

Sweetapolita

Every year, millions of people vow that this will be the year they get their holiday shopping done early—and every year, millions of people don't. If you can swing next-day shipping, you could be rewarded with last-minute shoppers who have nowhere else to turn.

Sweetapolita does just that with a super cheerful holiday shipping popup. The company's products—sprinkles—are light, compact, and cheap to ship, so next-day shipping is a natural fit. But they're also colourful, fun, and sweet, and the copywriting and popup design reflect that. In fact, "Because no one should have to wait for sprinkles" just might just be the most relatable piece of popup copy we've seen!

Pretty Little Things

You decorate your house, you decorate your tree, so why not decorate your store?

Navigating Pretty Little Things' online store feels like the ecommerce equivalent of Walking in a Winter Wonderland—snowflakes falling, carols playing, and oh, is that a popup using Pixelpop's winter-inspired "Solstice" theme?

Popups are a great way to advertise sales and get customers in the holiday spirit, and Pretty Little Things definitely accomplishes that. It's hard to be a humbug when the air is crisp, the snow is falling, and the shipping is free!

Laut

With six themes and dozens of colour and formatting options, Pixelpop offers countless possibilities for creating unique, on-brand popups. And yet, when a merchant takes things to the next level by customizing the CSS, we can't help but notice.

Laut's Black Friday popup just looks good. As an "inspired pack that takes pride in their creations," maybe that shouldn't come as a surprise. But the combination of a playful bubble font and an image of girls with black balloons and bunny ears—because hey, why not?—really makes us want to sign up and buy a new phone case. You too? Well, now you know what a good popup can do.

Fiumara Apparel

With all this talk of engaging and converting, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the last weekend in November was about anything besides spending and making money. But the holidays don't need to be all work and no play. If you want to bow out for a day or two to eat turkey and play in the snow with your kids, by all means, go for it.

But before you do, take a page from Fiumara Apparel's book and keep your customers in the loop with an informative popup. Note how they clearly communicate the days they'll be closed, as well as the date and time business will resume. Shoppers can still browse and even buy products during the closure, their orders just won't ship for a few days. And when they reopen? Why, customers are welcomed back with a special Cyber Monday coupon code, of course! And yes, it is presented with another lovely popup.

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We’re excited to see more and more merchants using Pixelpop to shoppers with special offers, direct them to special content, collect email addresses, and more. Hopefully these festive examples give you some inspiration for your store!