Before the holiday rush hits, we’d like to expand our ˮGet Readyˮ series with a list of to-dos. We’re all busy laying the groundwork for the Amazon holiday season, so there’s no better time for a quick checklist. Let’s put pen to paper, check off those tips, and nip those pesky little problems in the bud!
The Amazon holiday season is drawing near and we’re all eager to get as much done in as little time as possible. Before we make those final preparations, let’s take a page from Santa’s book and check our list twice. To help, we bring you our Q4 checklist to keep those pre-holiday jitters under control.
Shipments are in sync with Amazon
Amazon recently released an FBA Holiday Preparedness tutorial, as seen below. There’s also a Get Ready Guide with all the basic information FBA sellers need to get their shipments and listings in order in Q4.
In a nutshell, the FBA Key 2017 Shipment Dates Calendar says that:
- Amazon wants all products for sale on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to be delivered to distribution centers by Nov. 7, 2017;
- Christmas inventory needs to be at your Amazon fulfillment centers by Dec. 1, 2017;
- Inventory intended for sale in early 2018 should be sent from Dec. 17, 2017 onwards.
Note: If you have air freight on its way to Amazon that’s due to be listed for sale on Black Friday, you have until the end of this week to ship from point of origin.
Dispatch dates are timely
With a month to go, Black Friday will most likely attract hundreds of thousands of people to sign up for Amazon Prime, even if only for the free 30-day trial. Cyber Monday Deals Week sales are also expected to bring swarms of customers to Amazon, and they all expect timely deliveries, especially if they’re Prime members. You need to make sure you can meet their demands.
Super Saver Delivery ends mid-December, so you can expect Amazon Prime members to place many of their Christmas gift orders by then. Of course, many others will make last-minute orders, so you should expect a rush on or before Christmas Eve. However, the holiday ordering and return deadlines page will be updated closer to Christmas, so you should double-check it before you plan your shipments.
Royal Mail and USPS have put together a list of important last Christmas posting dates for UK sellers. There are various other unofficial lists available as well, such as this DealHack list, but we urge you to double-check with each courier and store in part before you plan your dispatch dates.
Fig. 1. Last Posting Dates for Domestic & International Royal Mail and USPS Deliveries
Stock levels are adequate
It helps to remember that storage fees are charged between the 7th and 15th of the following month. Seeing as Inventory Storage Fees are 2.67 times higher for oversized items and 3.67 times higher for standard-size products in Q4 than the rest of the year, you should only stock what you know you’ll sell.
So, if you want to minimize your stocking costs and maximize your profits over the following three months, use the Inventory Dashboard in your SellerCentral account to:
- Set automated replenishment alerts with the Restock Inventory tool (sign-in required);
- Cut down on storage fees by disposing of stale inventory and creating removal orders for slow-movers identified with the Excess Inventory tool (sign-in required);
- Use Sellery Smart Lists to identify items that could attract Long Term Storage Fees in the future.
Staff is on board
We hardly ever mention how important it is to have reliable staff committed to fulfilling your orders on time. Be sure you have employees you can depend on, and then:
- be very clear about when your staff can take leave;
- give them a closing date for their leave applications;
- get a staff holiday planner with colourful stickers to help visualize clashing schedules;
- look at their holidays well in advance, to identify the busiest days for your company;
- consider bringing temporary staff and casual workers to cope with the extra work;
- check weather conditions and any events happening in your area that could affect traffic.
Packaging supplies are up to par
Wholesalers can run out of stock or take longer to deliver packaging supplies in Q4. Also, many basic supplies become slightly more expensive in January, so now is an excellent time to order extra units. Q4 is the time packaging manufacturers and suppliers launch new products, so it could be worth upgrading to newer and more reliable packaging. Complimentary packaging inserts and cards are also worth considering, because they help your business stand out.
On a different note, it’s also a good time to order festive packaging and crafts supplies and work on your gift wrapping skills. A gift-wrapping course, DVD or book could bring you into the fold, literally. Some trainers even offer corporate gift-wrapping workshops, and it’s never too late to squeeze a course in your next team-building session.
Products are listed and priced correctly
Take a few hours out of your busy schedule to skim through your inventory. Look at some of your top-sellers and check historical prices with tools like Profit Bandit.
Then check your sales velocity and your Buy Box percentage using Sellery, as explained here. Using Sellery reports and export files, you can fine-tune your strategy and ensure that each tweak is perfectly timed to maximize profits.
Next, look at your Listings Quality and Suppressed Listings Report, which tells you if there’s any incorrect or missing data in your listing. Follow Amazon’s guide to fixing suppressed listings.
Finally, if you haven’t already done so, ask Seller Support to activate your Category Listing Report. You may want to check your tax collection codes, especially if your company’s circumstances have changed at all in the last year. But even if nothing’s changed recently, it’s a good time to check all your existing listing data.
Returns are handled promptly
As soon as sales start to dwindle in Q4, return and exchange requests pick up. But January is, by all accounts, the month when returns and exchange requests are at their peak. If you have extra inventory due to an increase in returns, and you don’t want to keep the products, then an option would be to return them to the supplier. Not many suppliers are willing to accept large returns, though.
Another option is to keep them, raise their popularity, and then sell them off cheaper. If you can’t secure the Buy Box and you can’t find a way to reach #1 Bestseller status in your category, there are other ways. But you still need to be able to store all these items until you find the best alternative.
You can enroll your product in the Amazon Early Reviewer Program or Amazon Vine, if you’re a vendor. Alternatively, you can still reach out to Amazon customers to test your product, as long as you don’t ask for a review to be written, or – if one is written – try to influence the content of the review in any way. Of course, you could also offer it as a complimentary product for orders above a certain value.
We hope that you’ve found a few ideas in our post that you can use to make it a more successful Amazon holiday season this year than ever before. If not, then please write to us with suggestions on topics to discuss over the next few weeks, before the holiday rush begins.
Melanie takes an active interest in all things Amazon. She keeps an eye on the latest developments and keeps Amazon sellers up to speed.