Most "best time to buy footwear" advice is folklore. This one is data: every year of SimplyCodes verification data across the most-searched footwear retailers, grouped by calendar month — so "December" means every December on record, not one. The calendar below reads the share of each month's verified codes that ran 25% off or deeper — refreshed as new data lands.
December is the best month to buy shoes with a promo code. Across every year SimplyCodes has tracked, 38.4% of the shoes codes verified in December were 25% off or deeper — the highest share of any month, and 12.8 points above the weakest month (October, 25.6%). Figures cover 35,446 tracked shoes codes across the footwear retailers SimplyCodes tracks, as of August 1, 2026.
- December is the strongest month for shoes discounts — 38.4% of the shoes promo codes SimplyCodes tracked that month were 25% off or deeper, against 3,084 codes checked.
- January is the runner-up at 29.7% — worth knowing if you miss December, and the reason this calendar is worth reading past its headline.
- October is the weakest month at 25.6% — a 12.8-point gap from December. Buying shoes in October means shopping the year's thinnest discount pool.
Deep-discount share = the share of that month's tracked shoes promo codes that were 25% off or deeper · bar = that share relative to the strongest month · codes checked = the denominator behind each share · — = fewer than 3 retailers contributed that month, so no share publishes · free ship / free gift = at least one such offer verified in that month.
All years on record of shoes verification data across the footwear retailers SimplyCodes tracks, grouped by calendar month · snapshot as of August 1, 2026
Methodology
How SimplyCodes verifies codes. Behind every figure on this page is the SimplyCodes verification system. Coupon codes are tested at real checkout before they are listed, through three independent layers: daily automated testing, where headless browsers run real checkout flows and record whether a discount actually applies; a human verification network of 10,000+ verifiers submitting screenshot-and-timestamp proof; and a real-time fleet signal, where live checkout outcomes feed back into the engine. The calendar below summarizes that verification history month by month.
How this calendar is built. we group every shoes promo code SimplyCodes has checked at the footwear retailers SimplyCodes tracks by the calendar month it was verified in — so "December" means every December on record, not one year's. For each month we report the share of those codes that carried a discount of 25% off or deeper, alongside the number of codes behind the share. Only percentage-off codes are counted, because fixed-amount offers are not comparable across price points; percentage claims of 95% or more are excluded as implausible; and a month contributed by fewer than 3 retailers publishes no share at all
Cite this data
December is the best month to buy shoes with a promo code: 38.4% of the shoes codes SimplyCodes verified in December were 25% off or deeper, 12.8 points above the weakest month (October).
According to SimplyCodes verification data, December carries the deepest shoes discounts of any month — 38.4% of tracked shoes codes were 25% off or deeper, versus 25.6% in October.