If you’re like many Amazon sellers, the holiday season is your busiest time of year. You make lots of sales, ship lots of orders (or send lots of inventory to Amazon) and spend lots of time on your business.
But once January rolls around, it’s time to relax, right? Wrong!
Keep reading to find out what you need to do to recover from the holiday season.
The Dark Side of Holiday Sales
Demanding customers, bad weather causing delivery delays in shipping and other setbacks can really hurt your Amazon metrics, including ODR. And of course, your sales have likely dipped some now that Christmas has come and gone.
But now that the holiday return window is closed, there’s plenty you can do to undo any damage that was done. And you can start looking for ways to boost your sales and continue growing your business.
Here’s how!
Boost Your Sales
Start by reviewing your sales and inventory reports in Seller Central.
Here you’ll be able to see what items haven’t been selling and make sure that your prices are competitive. If specific items are getting lots of views, but aren’t selling, you need to adjust your price!
Next, look at your inventory. Make sure that your in-stock quantities are correct and that all of your inventory is listed. If you’re an MFN seller, it’s easy to make a mistake and not list an item when you’ve got so much else going on during the holidays. And don’t forget to check your FBA inventory, too. Make sure that Amazon checked in everything that you sent and that nothing got lost.
Find New Inventory!
There’s no time like the present to start discovering new inventory.
Look at Amazon’s best seller lists and see what has been hot. Use CamelCamelCamel to identify items that were popular during Christmas and stock up on on them now! The best time to buy Seasonal items is right after the season has passed!
Follow Up with Holiday Customers
Look back through your orders from the Christmas season. Look for orders that were delivered on-time (or early) and request feedback from those customers.
Then look at any negative feedbacks you received. If necessary, have Amazon remove those that are irrelevant or otherwise inappropriate.
Make sure to respond to and resolve all A-to-z claims.
Identify Your Weaknesses
After you’ve reviewed your negative feedbacks, defects and A-to-z claims, make a report to identify trends that you can fix moving forward.
A great way to start is to ask yourself, what percentage of negative feedbacks and defects are caused by:
- Shipping – problems with your packaging, lead time, etc. that you control
- Shipping – problems with your shipping carrier/method
- Inventory – are you having to cancel orders because you don’t have inventory on hand?
- Listings – are customers unhappy with how your items are described? Are you adhering to Amazon’s condition grading guidelines? Are products not what customers are expecting?
What can you do to fix your problem areas? Can you pack fragile items better? Can you be more conservative when describing an item’s condition? Can you start using a faster or more reliable shipping method?
Follow Up with Shipping Carriers
If items are delayed in transit, getting lost or being damaged, contact your carrier. Ask how to file claims on these items for refunds and reimbursements. Don’t be afraid to ask for a discount if there were a number of problems with your carrier.
And shop around. See if there’s a better deal out there.
Daily Customer Service
My biggest suggestion, to improve your next holiday season is to offer customer service 7 days a week. Even if it’s just for the month of December, this can be a huge help in improving the ways your customers perceive your service.
The Final Word
With just a bit of work, you’ll be ready to make your next holiday season your best one yet. And the lessons you learn will make you a better Amazon seller, all year round.