2013 Holiday Selling

Now that it’s October my online sales have taken a noticeable bump up.  I hope you’re seeing a similar increase.

I’ve finished stocking up for the holiday sales season, and I use 3rd party fulfillment services for all of my fulfillment, so this is actually a slower time of year for me.  But it’s also the time I start getting ready for post-holiday sales.

Specifically, one of the dangers of selling online is that you run out of your best selling items during the holidays, and miss opportunities to sell in January and February.  So I’m starting to place orders for merchandise that will be available primarily after Christmas.  It may be here in time to catch the tail end of Christmas shopping, but for the most part this merchandise will capture opportunities afterwards.

One advantage to having plenty of inventory in January and February is that competition is generally at its lowest then, as many retailers are completely out of some stock.  This means your margins can be higher, though it only takes one cut rate retailer to destroy everyone’s margins on a marketplace like Amazon.

Let me know how your sales are going.  If they haven’t increased meaningfully from a month ago, you should check your prices against your competition to see what’s going on.