Products to source now for Christmas success
For many online retail businesses, pre-Christmas sales are where they make the majority of their profits for the year – and if you’re reading this post, chances are, that is the same for your business too. Even if you’re happy with your inventory, and it is all selling well, why wouldn’t you want to increase the number of sales – and profits that you can make?
If you handle stock in-house, then buying additional stock right now may not be possible – cashflow can be tight, since you’ll have procured lines that you know will sell well. But working with DropShipping suppliers that can get orders to your customers within a couple of days means that there are plenty of opportunities to make additional sales to your customers, without needing to invest in stock that you need to shift in the new year.
The advantage of adding DropShipping lines to your business is that you’re not facing any risk at all, as long as you source from verified, and dependable suppliers. DropShipping means that you can source those riskier products that you have a hunch could sell well, but can’t be certain about, and you won’t be left with stock you need to clear, store until the next festive season, or end up needing to dispose of.
When peak is past, you can stop selling from those DropShipping suppliers, refine your selection in your inventory, adding more, or different lines, or keep listing those items, depending on what is right for your business – and of course, for your customers.
Jewellery & watches
Everyone wants a little something wonderful for Christmas – and some of the best gifts come in small packages! DropShipping jewellery and watches is something we’re huge fans of, and our suppliers have a huge range that you can source from. Don’t forget, there aren’t just necklaces, bracelets and rings for women that will sell at this time of year, jewellery for men has become more popular than ever, and there are plenty of jewellery items for children too. Whoever the intended gift recipient is, you’ll find options to list for them in our catalogue.
Perfume and aftershave
One of the first ways to tell that Christmas is coming – well ahead of the iconic Coca-Cola Holidays Are Coming ad – is the number of perfume ads that start to be seen everywhere, from TVs to billboards and all over the internet. If you’re DropShipping then margins on perfumes and aftershaves are going to be slim, but they are certainly worth having in your inventory. Customers that find other gifts on your website are likely to consider buying perfume from you as well.
Cookware and tableware
Christmas is by far the biggest feast that most of us will have each year – and many customers decide they want to replace their roasting tins, buy new cutlery, tablecloths, and more. We’re also expecting high demand for professional chefs knives, pans, and more, not only for customers that are buying for themselves, but to give as gifts. Don’t miss out on these sales – browse our range of homeware here, and start sourcing them today.
Gadgets
The latest gadgets are on the wishlist for many children and teenagers, and while you’re unlikely to be able to DropShip iPhones or laptops and get great margins for them, there is potential to make money to be made from tech. Look to the smaller products – the extra charging cables, headphones, wireless charging pads, and Bluetooth speakers. These make great stocking fillers and extras to more expensive gifts, so it is well worth sourcing them from our selection.
Gifts for hobbies
We’re going to keep this super-general, since there are so many different types of hobbies, but when you’re adding products to your inventory for the period running up to Christmas, you can make additional sales by listing products for hobbies that your customers are likely to be interested in. Think about gifts for gardeners, players of different sports, and craft-based hobbies – these are all types of hobbies that people buy gifts for during the run up to Christmas. Take a minute to dig into your target customer persona(s), then source products according to those personas.
Products to support New Year’s resolutions
We all know how quickly New Year’s resolutions are abandoned – but that doesn’t stop most of us falling for the magic of setting new ones each year! That presents huge opportunities for sellers – here are some of the best products to sell during the festive period.
Fitness products
This is one of the biggest New Year’s resolutions, isn’t it? We wouldn’t like to estimate how many people utter the sentence “I’m going to get fit this year”, or something along the same lines! With that in mind, getting fitness products, as well as workout clothing and trainers into your inventory throughout December ready for the January rush back to the gym is always a good plan. Don’t forget to add food supplements, and CBD products too – many customers decide to start taking them after the excess of Christmas.
Vaping products
The number of smokers has been in decline since the price of cigarettes has increased significantly, and with smoking indoors in public places banned, the number of smokers has dwindled, in favour of vaping. While the health impact of vaping is yet to be fully understood, demand for vaping products is high – and with each new year comes the resolutions to quit smoking. If you’ve not included vaping products in your inventory before, the run-up to Christmas, and into January is the time to list them, and you’ll find them in our catalogue.
Planning for pre-Christmas sales
We probably don’t need to tell you that planning ahead is going to be key for your success throughout the run up to Christmas. Winging it is definitely not going to be the successful option throughout quarter four, whether you’re in the first year of a new eCommerce business or you’ve been selling for years. Here are our top tips to get your business ready to make the most of Christmas sales. We shared far more tips in this post, and so if this is your first quarter four, it is definitely well worth checking that post for more details.
Plan your marketing campaigns
Creating social media posts each day simply doesn’t work when life gets busy – you either remember at the end of the day, or they get forgotten entirely. Create the posts you need, quickly, and with similar themes using Canva, and with a great social media management tool (we absolutely love Hubspot) you can queue up your posts right through to the other side of Christmas, so all you’ll need to do is to reply to customer comments and DMs each day. If you decide to make changes on the spur of the moment, or you want to put out Story posts, you can do those on an ad hoc basis without the pressure.
Similarly, if you’re planning email campaigns, get those created now, ahead of time, and queue them up ready for sending on the days that you’re planning them for.
Plan for everything else
We know, it isn’t possible to plan absolutely everything – and things will almost certainly go wrong at the last minute. But if you can get ahead as much as possible, you can prevent many issues from getting in the way. Be sure to:
- Check your sales channel metrics to make sure the ones you’re listing on are performing
- Consider deactivating seller accounts on marketplaces that aren’t working for you – especially if you can make savings on listing fees
- Assess other sales channels – marketplaces such as OnBuy are becoming more popular and may net you more sales than you expect
- Revise your inventory and source extra products
- Check listings, particularly for products that aren’t selling – are keywords missing, or are there spelling errors that are preventing customers finding the listing?
- Ensure your website security is up to date
- Update your calendar with all key dates, including any time out of the office and how you’re covering that
- Optimise customer feedback, including registering your company on review websites
Planning for January
We know, there’s a lot to get through before you can get to the relative calm of January, but thinking ahead now means that when you’re catching your breath, you’ll be able to breeze through the rest of the year.
Reporting
You’ll be tracking your reporting daily to make sure there aren’t any issues with your sales channels, but your reporting for the whole of quarter four will be the key to your success in the long term. If you’re going to source from DropShipping suppliers, then make sure you can access reporting easily. When you source from Avasam DropShipping suppliers, you’ll see all of your figures easily in your Avasam analytics dashboard, and you’ll be able to download in CSV, PDF or XLS formats.
Submit your accounts on time
Ideally, you need to think about this before January, depending on how your accounts are set up – but you definitely need to make sure that your accounts are ready to be submitted to HMRC when they are due, as well as paying the tax you need to. Accountancy services get really busy in January, and so the chances that you’ll be able to get them done at the last minute are slim – so if you’re planning on using them, don’t delay on contacting a professional, because they’re busy, and it can be complicated. Given that the fines can be significant if they are late, and those fines will be yours to pay – don’t delay.
When you’re looking to maximise your profits in Q4, adding extra products to your inventory by DropShipping from Avasam suppliers means that you can make extra sales without needing additional resources. You don’t need to tie up cash in inventory, and you don’t need extra storage or staff to get those orders out – and you’re not risking being left with stock that won’t sell beyond December. With all that in mind, and considering that we verify all our suppliers before we onboard them to the platform, and they work to dedicated KPIs that protect your business, what have you got to lose? Sign up for your free account here, and if you have questions about how Avasam will work with your existing retail systems, book a call.
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