Topic: Holiday Sales 2010: Tips & Prep for a Successful Selling Season
Host: Lisa Suttora , ecommerce strategist and Founder/CEO of WhatDoISell.com Date: Tuesday, August 17th Time: 10 a.m. – 11 a.m. PST (Pacific Standard Time)
Description: Holiday profits come to those who are prepared, and now is the time to gear up! From inventory selection to marketing there’s a lot to do over the next few months to maximize your holiday sales.
Please join Lisa Suttora, Founder & CEO of WhatDoISell, and learn how to showcase your best holiday inventory, how to reposition “everyday” inventory into hot holiday sellers and creative ways to market your merchandise this holiday season!
Visit http://certifiedprovider.ebay.com/ to learn more about eBay Certified Providers and the services and solutions they offer to help an eBay seller grow their business.
I'm Lisa Suttora, Founder and CEO of WhatDoISell.com.
Holiday profits come to those who are prepared, and now is the time to gear up! From inventory selection to marketing there’s a lot to do over the next few months to maximize your holiday sales.
Holiday sales can represent a significant portion of your yearly sales, in other words – it’s showtime!
In today’s workshop, we’ll cover the top tips and prep to get ready for the holiday selling season and sell successfully throughout.
After you read the workshop materials below, I’m here to answer your holiday selling questions, help you with prepping your store, and get you positioned for a successful holiday selling season here on eBay!
For the next hour, this workshop is interactive, so be sure to take this opportunity to ask your questions!
Lisa Suttora whatdoisell.com lisasuttora.com twitter.com/lisasuttora facebook.com/lisasuttora
Even though summer selling is still in full swing, according to the latest research, 44% of shoppers started their holiday shopping in August. 36% have already made holiday purchases online in August. That number will jump to more than 52% in September!
While most people think of the holiday season as spanning only November - December, there are several selling season opportunities over the next few months that you can tap into.
Ignore these selling seasons and you’re leaving money on the table!
Beginning Mid-July and running through the end of January we have:
• Back to school shopping • Fall shopping • Halloween • Thanksgiving • Gift giving season (Christmas, Hanukah, Kwanza etc.) • Post-gift giving trade in/trade up purchases (Late December - January) • Gift certificate redemption season (Late December - January) • New Years • Fitness (January) • Organization (January) •“Fresh Start” related products (January)
And while the bulk of the money will be spent on the gift giving season, you can clearly see that the holiday selling season is NOT just that short period from November to December, but rather a solid 5 months of increased buying activity that represent a variety of different “holidays”.
The great news is you can tap into one or tap into them all!
The same Google trends survey that revealed that 44% of online shoppers start their holiday shopping in August, also showed that 14% had not yet started their holiday shopping by December 20th and 17% had yet to make a purchase by that time last year.
This means that you need to plan now for last minute holiday shoppers. That week right before Christmas is very important to your sales, yet many online sellers start to wind operations down before that time, losing income from last minute holiday shoppers.
Hopefully by now you have a handle on what inventory you plan to market over the holiday season, but if you don’t know exactly what you’ll sell, it’s not too late.
Here are some tips for identifying profitable holiday inventory...
If you sold during last year’s holiday selling season, the first place to go in order to figure out what to sell this year is to your sales history reports.
Yet most people skip this important step!
Go back to your sales reports from last year.
Which products were your best sellers?
Which did you sell out of first and when?
This information will be key in picking up last minute holiday inventory this year.
After you’ve identified last year’s best sellers, look at the trends in your niche for this year.
What new styles, versions, and brands of last year’s best sellers are new to the marketplace this year.
Piggyback on last year’s proven products!
And while it’s getting late in the game to contact your wholesale supplier to order new holiday inventory, make the call and find out what hot items they do still have in stock!
Most people have plenty of inventory they can reposition as holiday inventory but you have to give your inventory a second look with the “holiday selling mindset”.
Sleepwear can be the perfect holiday gift. What styles and colors do you carry that will be perfect for gifts?
Sporting goods sell well year 'round, but don't forget to remind your buyers that a new baseball bat or a limited edition mitt make a great gift?
Many people want to spruce up their house before the holidays - don't forget about all the things you sell that go into making a great holiday environment.
Your imagination is the limit when it comes to repurposing products!
One of the biggest mistakes online sellers make is trying to merchandise their entire store/product line for the holidays.
To maximize your holiday sales, focus on the top 20%.
The 20% of your best selling products.
The 20% of your top holiday sellers.
The proven winners.
The products you know have the best chance of moving this holiday season.
80% of your profits will generally come from about 20% of your products.
This is why you need to be crystal clear on what you’re selling this holiday season – so you can merchandise and market it!
Running special promotions, featuring your core holiday merchandise, knowing where to spend your advertising time and dollars if fundamental to your holiday sales.
This doesn’t mean that you won’t sell other items out of your store, but it does mean that you’ll be more heavily promoting those products that are better suited for holiday sales.
For example, if you sell sleepwear, some of your bathrobes and pajamas will be better suited for a holiday gift. Identify those styles/colors and focus on promoting those!
If you sell home décor, what styles and colors lend themselves to holiday decorating. Put those front and center!
Once you know what you’re going to sell this year, the remainder of your time should be dedicated to marketing and customer service. Let’s talk about marketing first.
“Open” for holiday business by dressing up your listings and store with holiday messaging.
The first thing your customer needs to see when they come to your listings or eBay store is a strong VISUAL queue that you have holiday merchandise for sale.
If your customer arrives to shop and there are no holiday reminders; no holiday graphics, holiday keywords, no indication that you have products that might interest them for the holidays – they’re unlikely to stay and shop.
There’s a reason why offline retailers spend a lot of effort on holiday signage! Because it puts people in the mood to shop.
Give your customers VISUAL queues that you are a holiday seller by using holiday graphics in your listings where appropriate and retooling your titles with appropriate holiday keywords.
For example, is the classic red dress that you carry the perfect “red holiday party dress”?
Do you offer “Santa Express” shipping so they’ll get that perfect gift in time.
Let your customers know that YOU are dialed in to the holiday selling season.
You don’t have to spend money/time/effort on a fancy holiday template either!
A few well placed holiday graphics for visual appeal, that indicate a holiday promotion will tell your visitors that THIS is a place where they can find holiday gifts this year.
Create “Top” Lists and Guide Your Customers Right to the Sale
Every year the ecommerce surveys show that the top selling niche websites have something in common. They all create Top Lists and post them prominently on their product pages.
You can use your eBay custom store pages to do this!
A top list would be something like:
-Our 10 Most Popular Golf Accessories -Top 10 Gifts for Kids Aged 5 and Under -Our Customers Favorite Picks! -20 Unique Gifts for the Eco-friendly Moms -Favorite Gifts Under $40 -12 Unique Hostess Gifts
Top Lists take the work out of shopping for overburden, time-strapped, confused shoppers.
If you carry 500 different Christmas ornaments, don’t just organize them in your store categories and leave it at that – expecting customers to plow through each and every item.
Create Top Lists of your best-selling ornaments, your top ornaments for kids, your most unique ornaments for sports lovers.
Top Lists will quickly guide your buyers to the item that is perfect for that special person on their gift list.
NOTE: You should also feature Top Lists at your blog and use them to drive traffic to your eBay store
Set Up Your Business Blog & Begin Your Content Marketing Strategy
Don’t wait for your products to be found! Take traffic driving matters into your own hands and set up your business blog and begin your content marketing strategy.
In last month’s workshop, I showed you how to use the powerful strategy of content marketing to promote your eBay products.
One important component of this marketing method is a Wordpress blog. With a Wordpress blog you can blog about the products you carry, trends in your niche, relevant holiday posts and then use those to drive traffic to your eBay products.
Every year, DiaryofaDishie.com owner Sally K uses her blog to feature her best holiday vintage china. Those blog posts drive traffic directly to her eBay store where people can make a purchase.
As you know there are a lot of factors that play into your product’s search rankings in Best Match, but one factor that continues to gain importance is the use of accurate Item Specifics.
When listing your items you must make sure that you are using the correct Item Specifics parameters. This will help your product get found in Best Match.
Item Specifics are used to determine the search results your customers will see.
Remove incorrect Item Specifics in your listing.
I see a lot of listings where sellers have ADDED their Item Specifics (which is good) but they haven’t removed other variables that are populating the listing.
Run Weekly Promotions – Don’t “Set It and Forget It”
You have to keep the excitement building in your business over the holidays. While this is core all year around, the holidays are built on promotions. That’s what shoppers are used to and what they want to see.
Run holiday promotions each week. Use your Store Promotions boxes and email marketing newsletter to advertise them.
Make it an event and build in urgency. Tell customers in your listing that "This special price ends Oct 15th" (the day your listing will end.)
Let them know you only have three of these hot items left in stock.
This is not the time to be coy or passive with your advertising!
Now is the time to reassess your choice of shipping carriers for the holidays, purchase discounted shipping supplies and set up your shipping station in your office.
The amount of holiday merchandise you can sell will be limited by what you can get out the door quickly.
Keep in mind that the #1 concern holiday shoppers have is delivery “Will I get my item on time.”
Fast shipping is a must during the holidays. If you’re a one-person shop, you need to the shipping process in place now!
Your holiday income will be limited by the number of items you can list, sell and ship each day. Bring in seasonal help through December to assist you in managing and increasing your sales volume.
You don’t need to hire someone on a permanent basis. In fact the holidays are a perfect time to look for seasonal help (that may just turn into a long term way to grow your business.)
Gift givers love unique products and limited editions.
Feature these products, and market them well!
If you find yourself getting writers block when it comes to writing an engaging listing descriptions, pull out a couple holiday catalogs that have recently arrived in your mail.
Looking at catalogs to get ideas on how to write good sales copy and make this a fun and creative process!
If you want to get your customers excited about your products and give them an urgency to buy, there is no better way to do this than by offering a time sensitive special promotion.
Special promotions such as free shipping, combined shipping, free gift wrap and gift card, rebate programs, or creating a product bundle by including something extra (for example “This Thomas the Tank Engine Train comes with 2 pieces of train track!” gets your buyers excited about your offerings and can persuade them to make their purchase from instead of your competitors.
One of the most popular promotions during the holiday season is free shipping. But don’t just offer plain old “free shipping” - really sell it to your customers.
At the top of your listing, put a stellar customer service statement that says something like “As a way of saying thank you to all our valued customers this holiday season, we are offering FREE SHIPPING on all items purchased through November 4th.”
Promoting your free shipping this way accomplishes two things. First, it makes your customers feel connected to you. You are telling them this because you value their business, you are now offering something to them during the holidays.
Secondly, by putting an ending date on your promotion, you have given your customer motivation to buy NOW rather than wait a few weeks and look around some more.
Once that promotion ends, you can run another one for a different duration.
When polled, the #1 thing that online shoppers want during the holiday season when making an online purchase is confidence that their purchase will arrive on time.
You can go a long way towards promoting this confidence in your buyer IF you clearly address this in your listing.
Don’t expect that your buyers will automatically know that you will ship in a timely manner and that you are dedicated to their satisfaction.
Speak directly to your commitment to delivery times and stellar customer service.
Sub-titles are the best (and cheapest) advertising on the web. They allow you to communicate the U.S.P. (Unique Selling Position) of your product or your business for far less than the cost of a banner or pay-per-click ad.
However, most people are hesitant to spend the extra money on sub-titles for fear they won’t make their money back.
But if you write your sub-title correctly, not only will you get a return on your investment, you’ll also attract potential customers away from your competitors and get a higher conversion click-through rate on the products displayed in search.
The problem is – most people use sub-titles for the WRONG reason.
They use them to communicate additional information. However, that’s not what you should be using a sub-title for.
Sub-titles should be used to advertise any important information that will immediately set your listing apart.
For example, Is your product a limited edition? Put that in your subtitle.
Do you provide 2 hour customer response time? Let your buyers know via your subtitle.
Do you sell an exclusive version of your product. Your subtitle can relay this to the buyers.
Do you have 10 years experience in your niche? Tell your customers in your sub-title.
Supplement Your Product Line with Hot Seasonal Inventory
Just like clockwork, every holiday season brings with it a list of hot products. Supplementing your inventory with in demand and hard to find products that you purchase retail and resell on eBay is an excellent way to bring in an additional stream of income during the holidays.
But the toy category isn’t the only category that generates hot, in demand, hard to find, products. Most every category or product line has it’s hot products during the holiday shopping season.
If you have access to these products in your local retail store, you can often purchase them at full retail prices and resell them very profitably on eBay.
A note from our Legal Department: The statements and opinions made in this discussion board are those of the workshop host only and do not reflect eBay policy or eBay's opinion with respect to such statements.
Welcome and thanks for joining us today! The workshop is open!
Holiday Sales 2010: Tips & Prep for a Successful Selling Season
To attend the workshop, you just need to be logged into eBay.com with your eBay User ID. Once you are logged in and are reading this message, you can post questions directly to eBay Staff and our host, Lisa Suttora.
Take advantage of this great opportunity to ask Lisa Suttora how you can get ready for the holiday rush and maximize your profits!
Workshops are interactive, so please feel free to ask your questions that directly relate to this topic. We will answer all questions!
I have 4 yrs. fashion retail experience in the 1970s and 12 yrs. in crafts with the same line of products since 2000. My best selling line this year is my highest priced item. I am perplexed as to how to kick my slow sellers into gear unless I group and price as sets. Any thoughts on that.
I just took a look at your eBay store and you have some great merchandise that can be repurposed for the holidays (the darling red coats and dresses).
Be sure and create a separate category for holiday coats, holiday outwear etc, so that you visitors eyes will be drawn right to those store categories.
Position them at the top and your items will get much more visibility.
Hi Lisa... great info (as always) and I have to go back and reread it all for sure.
When you talk about adding Holiday graphics in the listings, where do we find them and how do we insert them, if you have the time to explan a little... thanx....
Thanks for taking the time to share this information!
Instead of taking the time to edit all of my store listings during the rush to say "Perfect for Christmas" and such, what do you think of just adding a "Hot Item" category to my store? And rotating items in/out of the category?
I'm thinking of opening an Ebay store before the holidays. Can I sign up for a Basic Store and develop it over the next month before I have to go live with it?
That was exactly my question as well. I always feel a barrier when it comes to marketing the way I want to because I don't have the graphics skills or HTML to spruce up my store for the holidays.
Hi Lisa, since ebay has done away eith the ad commerce I am wondering what is the best way to get products to the top of ebays search results? without spending an arm and a leg to do it? Thanks Auralee
I've been on ebay since January, but I just opened my store last month. I'm a bit nervous about getting enough things posted and with the (hopefully) increased traffic I'm also worried about keeping up with my orders. Right now, Ii'm thinking I can save a fair amount of listings to auctiva to post at a later time. Do you have any other or maybe better thoughts?
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