Product Sourcing For eBay: Get Ready for the Holiday Season
As I have already mentioned it is a common knowledge that about 60% of all retail purchases fall to the holiday season. What does it give you as an Internet retailer? It gives you invaluable knowledge and the opportunity to drag loyal clients and thus deliver the money into your pocket.
You have to be aware not to be taken by surprise to the holiday season. It is a common misconception that it starts after the Thanksgiving. In fact, it starts way earlier.
Lisa Suttora, of WhatDoISell.com, comments:
“Holiday shoppers actually come online right about mid-August, when back-to-school-shopping tapers off, and they stay online until the end of January [when] they’ve spent all the extra holiday money.”
So what conclusion would you do out of the above stated fact? Yes…You are right – you have to prepare for the season beforehand.
But how can I do that?
1. If you don’t want to catch up with dozens of faster retailers, prepare you inventory in advance.
- Organize the stock of the inventory and decide what products should be listed
- Do all the operations (photographing, uploading, writing descriptions) systematically. Create your own step-by-step system that will help you economize the time and efforts.
2. Get prepared with the shipping plan
- Get all the required material for shipping in advance, because you will find out that during the season even they might turn out hard to find
- Prepackage the products if possible
- Find reliable product suppliers beforehand. You don’t want to end up with dozens of backorders when you find that the supplier doesn’t have the products you need, do you? So you have to make sure that you’ve signed up with the suppliers that won’t run out of stock at the beginning of the season (if you still wonder where you can find such wholesale suppliers, you can consult our directory of suppliers)
3. Adjust to your customers’ desires.
- Suggest gift-wrapping and you’ll see that the clients appreciate it
- Make sure that you offer multiple shipping options
- Think in advance of the possible combinations of products to make gift packages
And eventually make sure that your customer service is equal to the occasion. Answer the email fast and take care of your customer’s needs.
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