20 AUG 2015 :: Christmas planning -- start NOW!

I was reading through some of my saved articles to read and one was about planning your Christmas season in August.  During my first holiday sales season with Etsy last year, I discovered that Christmas online begins in September... so that has been my mantra, my goal, for future years.  As I have been watching things unfold online, and learning about the process of selling online, I realized why the brick-and-mortar retail stores have been setting up their displays earlier every year... their competition begins with online sales, which begin in September on the internet.

Another great bit of information I discovered today was that Christmas Clubs, where people have a special bank account set up for holiday spending, deliver the contents of their accounts around the first weekend of October.  Another reason for early holiday sales displays everywhere.

I have been trying to decide what to do with my own Etsy shop for the holidays.  We have certain options available to us...and figuring out which ones to use and which to leave for another time, or not use at all, is part of the shop owner's responsibility.  I still have one of my ten allotted shop sections available for use... I haven't decided if I want to name it "HOLIDAYS" or go for the "Wholesale" designation (I have products I plan to offer as wholesale purchases).  I don't have any holiday photos yet... but I am thinking about it.

Here are the questions the article suggested every business owner ask themselves ::

• What products and/or services will you offer discounts on?
• Will you have enough inventory to meet shopper demand?
• Will you advertise a loss leader to help drive sales of more profitable products and/or services?
• What are your holiday revenue goals, and do they differ from last year's results?
• What is your holiday advertising budget, and what marketing channels will you be using to maximize sales?
• If your company can't compete on pricing during the holidays, can you develop a winning strategy that focuses on quality and highly personalized customer service?

Very good questions to think about, aren't they!

The internet is changing life for everyone, including businesses.  We can't make it go away so, if we want to flourish in the future, we have to learn how to cope with it.  It takes time to learn the process, to build up your customers, work out your shipping supplies (and limitations), but I consider it a long-term investment  --  one that has to carry me through my "retirement!"   :-)  

I don't think I will look at those early Christmas displays the same now...



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For your information ::
https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/christmas-august-tis-season-plan-holiday-sales/?extlink=em-us-of-weeklytext-article2-readmore-20150814-o&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRonuKnMcu%2FhmjTEU5z16OkuWaC0h5Z41El3fuXBP2XqjvpVQcpqMr%2FYDBceEJhqyQJxPr3NKNkNyM9vRhHjCA%3D%3D