Note: This article covers marketing strategies tied to Japan's "winter bonus" (fuyu no bonus), a corporate compensation custom specific to Japan. This will not apply outside Japan.
The winter bonus shopping season overlaps with the year-end shopping season, making it a time when higher-priced replacement purchases, "treat yourself" purchases, and gift demand can all move at once. At the same time, it's also a period when insufficient preparation can directly translate into lost sales and shrinking margins — through discount wars, rising ad costs, shipping delays, stockouts, and a surge in inquiries.
This article breaks down how the winter bonus shopping season differs from the year-end shopping season, recent bonus payout trends, a concrete schedule from October through January, marketing tactics you can implement right away, and pitfalls to watch for.
What Is the Winter Bonus Shopping Season? How It Differs From the Year-End Shopping Season
Around December is when disposable income tends to rise thanks to bonus payouts. During the winter bonus shopping season, products tend to sell well for reasons like higher-priced replacement purchases, "treat yourself" purchases, and bulk buying.
The year-end shopping season, on the other hand, is driven by seasonal events like Christmas, year-end gift-giving (oseibo), and the New Year. For e-commerce, the former calls for messaging around higher-priced items, while the latter calls for gift-oriented navigation and clear deadline announcements.
Purchases tend to rise during the winter bonus season for mainly these three reasons.
- A lump-sum income makes it easier to decide on higher-priced purchases
- Clear "reasons to spend" — like replacing an old item or rewarding oneself — arise easily
- Year-end events overlap, increasing overall spending
That said, in recent years, rising prices have also created a tendency for bonuses to go toward savings — so it's effective to make the "reason to buy" concrete, for example through bundle discounts or by removing the hassle of gift-giving.
Recent Bonus Payout Trends
Recent surveys on 2025 winter bonuses show that while the share of companies paying bonuses is broad, only some are actually increasing the amount.
According to a Teikoku Databank survey, "80.5% of companies plan to pay some form of bonus or lump-sum payment," and "at 22.7% of companies, the average amount per employee is expected to increase compared to the previous year." The survey also found that 12.0% of companies reported "no bonus."
By industry, increases were especially notable in "transportation/warehousing" (33.6%) and "agriculture, forestry, and fisheries" (32.5%), highlighting differences in business conditions across sectors.
According to a survey by the Rosei Jiho Institute, the average 2025 winter bonus at Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime-listed companies (175 companies surveyed) was 874,214 yen (up 4.4% year-over-year). The average for national civil servants in general positions (excluding administrative and managerial positions) was approximately 702,200 yen.
References: Teikoku Databank｜Survey on 2025 Winter Bonus Trends (Japanese) Rosei Jiho Institute｜Survey on 2025 Year-End Bonus Settlement Levels at Tokyo Stock Exchange Prime-Listed Companies (Japanese) Cabinet Bureau of Personnel Affairs｜Payment of the December 2025 Year-End and Diligence Allowance to National Civil Servants (Japanese)
Approximate Bonus Payout Dates
As for the bonus payout schedule, private-sector payouts tend to concentrate in early-to-mid December, while national civil servants are paid on December 10, 2025 — so mid-December is a good general benchmark overall.
E-commerce businesses need to have their purchase-decision path and deadline announcements ready in the first half of December. Since some segments will see a bonus increase and others won't, it's safer to combine discounts with value-based messaging (bundles, gifts, "reason to replace").
Winter Bonus Shopping Season Schedule
The basic flow for the winter bonus shopping season is: design in October → implement in November → go live in December → follow up in January. Fixing what to decide and what to do each month makes handling this season smoother year after year.
Below is an example tactical schedule. Adjust it as needed to fit your own product characteristics, lead times, and resources.
October: Preparing for the Bonus Shopping Season
Pull your best-selling products, peak sales days, and high-conversion paths from last year's sales data, and decide on this season's flagship products. Next, determine your maximum discount threshold based on gross margin, and prepare the structure and messaging angle for your feature landing page. Finally, work backward from your required inventory and reorder deadlines to finalize your purchasing plan.
November: Securing Inventory and Starting to Drive Traffic
Finalize inventory for your seasonal SKUs, and set a safety-stock threshold and inventory alerts to prevent stockouts. At the same time, publish your feature page and start announcing it via email, LINE, and social media. At this stage, it's a good idea to focus your ad spend on acquiring prospective customers (site visits, cart adds, etc.).
Users acquired through these November actions will then be nudged toward a purchase once the main shopping season kicks off in December, through retargeting ads and cart-abandonment tactics (issuing coupons, announcing stock levels).
December: The Main Bonus Shopping Season
December is when bonuses are actually paid out, and purchase enthusiasm runs high, making it critical to minimize missed opportunities. Gradually increase ad spend while watching your ROAS (return on ad spend), and refine your landing page messaging weekly. In particular, use retargeting ads to focus intensively on the prospective customers acquired in November.
It's effective to vary your coupon conditions across an early-access phase, the main phase, and a last-minute phase, while clearly showing the deadline and remaining stock. At the same time, keep your shipping deadline and gift-service information consistent across your product pages, cart, and post-purchase emails to keep customer support load manageable.
January: After the Bonus Shopping Season — Follow-Up and Review
To avoid losing new customers, secure a repeat-purchase path — through package inserts, email, and LINE — within 7 to 14 days after purchase. Categorize the reasons behind any returns or exchanges, and feed that back into improvements like product descriptions and sizing guidance. Finally, compile gross margin, conversion rate, stockout rate, and support ticket volume by tactic, and record it in a form you can reuse next time.
Marketing Tactics to Grow Profit During the Winter Bonus Shopping Season
During the winter bonus period, the path from "comparing options" to "deciding to buy" tends to move quickly — but ad costs and discount competition also intensify. Here are marketing tactics for growing profit, not just sales, so you avoid the trap of "sales went up, but no profit was left."
Boost Browsing With a Bonus Feature Page
In line with kicking off customer acquisition in November, publish your feature page or landing page early. Since shoppers' goals tend to vary during the bonus season, it's effective to split your feature page into separate entry points for "treat yourself," "replacement purchase," and "gift."
Place "by budget" options (e.g., 30,000 / 50,000 / 100,000 yen), a popularity ranking, and a comparison table (differences between top models) at each entry point to reduce hesitation. At the bottom of the page, include "suggested bundles," "related products," and "extended warranty" options to simultaneously boost browsing and average order value.
Strengthening the navigation paths from your homepage and global navigation is also essential.
Efficient Deep-Targeting and Conversion Through Retargeting Ads
Since the cost of acquiring new customers tends to rise in December, focus primarily on retargeting ads to improve efficiency. Segment your sends finely by user behavior — "viewed product," "added to cart," "about to purchase" — and vary your creative accordingly.
- Users who viewed a product: Highlight comparison points and product features.
- Users who added to cart: Address concerns around deadlines, shipping cutoffs, and payment methods.
- Users about to purchase: Give a final push with messaging like low remaining stock or an extended warranty.
The key to boosting effectiveness is varying the messaging on the landing page each ad points to, rather than funneling everyone to the same page.
Raising Average Order Value With Bundles
Bundles resonate strongly during a period when higher-priced items are moving. For example: "lotion + serum + emulsion," "gadget + dedicated case," "winter appliance + replacement filter," or "gift + wrapping + message card."
Rather than leading with a discount, bundles protect your margin better when you emphasize convenience — "everything you need in one go" or "ready to use the moment it arrives." On the product page, display the bundle alongside individual items and highlight the bundle's advantages.
That said, to avoid overwhelming customers with choice, it's best to limit bundles to 2–3 variations.
Boosting Purchase Rate With Staged Coupon Distribution
Rather than releasing all your coupons at once, varying the conditions across an early-access phase, the main phase, and a last-minute phase is more effective. Here's an example.
- Early access: Limited to members or specific bundle products, aimed at raising average order value.
- Main phase: Open to everyone, with a minimum purchase amount, to broadly encourage purchases.
- Last-minute phase: A short deadline, limited to higher-priced categories you want to clear out (e.g., older models), to drive final purchases.
The key is to separate your coupon goals into "new customer acquisition," "raising average order value," and "clearing inventory," and narrow the eligible products accordingly.
Reducing Missed Sales Through Cart-Abandonment Tactics
Since missed sales increase during the busy season, cart-abandonment tactics are essential. Here are the three main things to do.
- Send a reminder (email or LINE) 1 hour and 24 hours after cart abandonment
- Keep the message body brief — showing the viewed product, shipping deadline, payment method, and return conditions
- Add a small, time-limited nudge (e.g., a suggestion to hit the free-shipping threshold, a push toward a bundle, or clearly showing low remaining stock on a popular item)
LINE in particular has high immediacy and open rates, making it especially effective for reminders sent right after cart abandonment. Since doing this manually isn't realistic, it's worth setting up automation for this flow.
Pitfalls to Avoid During the Winter Bonus Shopping Season
While the winter bonus shopping season is a period when sales tend to grow easily, it's also a time when problems are common — profits eaten away by discounting, customer support overwhelmed, frequent stockouts and inquiries. Here, rather than "dealing with it after it happens," we cover how to design things so these problems don't happen in the first place.
Designing Coupons to Protect Gross Margin
Manage discounts by profit, not by revenue. First, calculate gross margin per product (sale price − cost − payment processing fees − shipping), then set your maximum acceptable discount based on that.
For example, offering a 2,000 yen discount on a product with only 3,000 yen of gross margin can easily push you into the red once you factor in ad spend and returns during the busy season.
For products with a low margin ceiling, shift to tactics that protect profit instead of discounting — like bundling in an add-on, awarding points, or offering a free-shipping threshold.
Reducing Support Costs by Clearly Stating Your Return/Exchange Policy
Especially during the busy season, an ambiguous return/exchange policy can balloon customer support workload and cost. Clearly stating your policy in advance not only cuts support costs directly, but also reassures customers and lowers the barrier to purchase.
That said, since winter appliances and gifts often come with exceptions, listing excluded conditions — like "cannot be returned once opened" — as bullet points, or posting steps for handling initial defects, reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and eases the burden on both customers and support staff.
Keep the same wording on shipping cost responsibility, return deadline, exchange conditions, return method, and refund timing consistent across your product pages, FAQ, and post-purchase emails to avoid inconsistent messaging.
Setting Inventory Alerts and Safety-Stock Thresholds to Prevent Stockouts
Stockouts waste ad spend and directly lead to lost sales and complaints. Compare "typical weekly sales" against "sales during the shopping season" by SKU, and set a safety-stock threshold accordingly.
Once you fall below that threshold, set up an operation that automatically switches to pausing ads, adjusting landing page exposure, or suggesting a similar alternative product — controlling your sales approach on the assumption that a stockout is coming.
For products with long restocking lead times, decide the volume you plan to sell in advance, and allocate exposure accordingly.
Prepare in Advance to Grow Sales and Profit During the Winter Bonus Shopping Season
This article covered the landscape of the winter bonus shopping season for e-commerce, concrete marketing tactics, and pitfalls to watch for.
The winter bonus season overlaps with the year-end shopping season, making it a time when higher-priced replacement purchases, "treat yourself" purchases, and gift demand can all move at once. Keep in mind that results are determined not just by effort in December, but by designing in October and implementing in November.
Use this article as a reference to prepare for the winter bonus shopping season, and grow both your sales and your profit.
