Houston is on this site for three reasons you can check: the port, the rodeo and the calendar. Port Houston leads the country in foreign waterborne tonnage, the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo fills three weeks of March, and the Atlantic hurricane season runs from June into November. Each one changes how a store should time an offer or word a delivery promise.
Port Houston is the largest U.S. port by foreign waterborne tonnage, which matters if your products arrive by container and you plan stock and offers around inbound shipments.
Put the container date and the gift stock side by side. Port Houston's channel complex has more than 200 private terminals and eight public ones, so the delay can sit anywhere between the ship and your warehouse. Start the offer only once the gift units are counted.
Set the gift threshold and the stock cap, then schedule the offer to start with the rodeo and stop with it, so the gift cost is bounded by dates.
Source: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Keep offer copy about ship dates and keep a delivery notice ready to switch on, because this is the Atlantic hurricane season.
Houston's total rate is 8.25 percent, so a 100 dollar cart carries 8.25 dollars of tax. Decide whether your threshold is before or after tax and say so in the banner.
Source: Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts: City Sales and Use Tax Rates
Build it with the Spend X, get a gift template.
Tie a spend-and-get-a-gift offer to the rodeo's dates, March 2 to 21, 2027, and end it when the event ends. A fixed window gives the banner a reason to exist and keeps the gift cost capped.
Source: Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo
Port Houston is the fifth ranked U.S. container port by TEUs and handles 75 percent of the Gulf Coast's container traffic. If your goods arrive through it, the date a container clears decides when a gift or a bundle can start. Set the offer start after the stock is on your shelf, and use a stock cap on the gift so a late container does not leave you promising something you cannot ship.
Source: Port Houston: Port Statistics
From June 1 to November 30, word offers around ship dates, such as ships within two business days, instead of arrival dates, so a storm that slows a carrier does not turn a promise into a refund.
Port Houston is the first ranked U.S. port in foreign waterborne tonnage, at 220.1 million short tons in 2024.
Port Houston: Port Statistics (2024 data) (accessed October 9, 2026)
Port Houston says it is the largest Texas port, with a 97 percent market share in containers.
Port Houston: Port Statistics (accessed October 9, 2026)
The Comptroller's city sales and use tax table lists Houston with a 1 percent local rate and an 8.25 percent total rate.
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts: City Sales and Use Tax Rates (accessed October 9, 2026)
The 2027 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo runs March 2 to 21, 2027.
Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo (accessed October 9, 2026)
The official Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, the peak is September 10, and most activity falls between mid-August and mid-October.
NOAA National Hurricane Center: Climatology (accessed October 9, 2026)
Port Houston says it is the fifth ranked U.S. container port by total TEUs and handles 75 percent of the container traffic on the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Port Houston: Port Statistics (accessed October 9, 2026)
Port Houston is the second ranked U.S. port by the value of its foreign cargo, 222.5 billion dollars in 2023, and the Houston Ship Channel complex has more than 200 private terminals and eight public ones.
Port Houston: Port Statistics (2023 cargo value) (accessed October 9, 2026)
An average Atlantic season from 1991 to 2020 has 14 named storms, 7 hurricanes and 3 major hurricanes.
NOAA National Hurricane Center: Climatology (1991 to 2020 averages) (accessed October 9, 2026)
Not tax advice. Confirm current rules with the state revenue department before you rely on a date or an exemption.
