Why Monday 26th November is one of the most important dates for online sellers
Make sure you read this email to find out how you can profit
Firstly, thank you everyone for your very kind birthday wishes!
Yes the big 4-0 is now just one sleep away for me and I think I’ve finally come to terms with it after being called a ‘chicken’ and a ‘wuss’ and a ‘girl’ for saying it was a tiny bit scary last week!
Oh, there was no sympathy from you lot!
So please, rest assured there will be no meltdown or hysterics and my eletters will continue on into the future.
I may have some alcohol though… just to get me through!
Anyway, on to today’s eletter and I have a message for you
This is VERY important!
On the 26th November, there will only be 29 shopping days left until ‘C’ day and even fewer shopping days left for ordering gifts online for guaranteed Christmas delivery.
Gasp! How did that happen – it’s all come around so quickly – and it’s around this time of year that a great phenomenon happens!
This phenomenon is definitely linked to the fact that everyone receives what is usually their final pay packet before Christmas – and that means it’s one big mad dash to spend our hard-earned coffers on Christmas presents for our loved ones!
And for a lot of people wanting to avoid the mad rush and long queues in the shops the alternative is to simply take advantage of the relative ease of shopping online.
Over the next few weeks millions of pounds will be spent by millions of people online as pretty much everyone starts thinking about gifts, food, drink, decorations, new outfits, cards and parties.
And that’s why this piece of information is very important….
Look out…‘Cyber Monday’ is coming…
But first things first! Before ‘Cyber Monday’ can happen, we have to have ‘Black Friday’.
What’s ‘Black Friday?’
Black Friday actually originates from the United States and is now a very popular yearly retail promotion on the UK Amazon site – and has been since 2010. It always falls on the day following Thanksgiving Day in the US, which is traditionally the start of the Christmas shopping season and is a day when retailers offer huge discounts for limited periods only.
This year Amazon’s Black Friday deals will run for a whole week from Monday 19th November through to Sunday 25th November. So firstly there’s a good chance that you can snap up some bargains yourself during that week – either as Christmas gifts for friends and family, or just to indulge yourself.
Secondly there’s a fantastic opportunity here for you to put my new ‘Find and Flip’ strategy into practice and make some quick profits. If you missed my email yesterday click on the link below for full details:
Ok, but what’s ‘Cyber Monday?’
‘Cyber Monday’ is a marketing term for the Monday immediately following ‘Black Friday’, so this year ‘Cyber Monday’ falls on Monday 26th November!
It was actually created by companies in order to persuade people to shop online and was first heard of back in 2005 when shop.org issued a press release entitled “‘Cyber Monday’ Quickly Becoming One of the Biggest Online Shopping Days of the Year”.
And…it stuck!
It seems to be the day when everyone has a massive panic and realises that the big day is fast approaching and not one present has been purchased! So internet sales rocket and that’s why this day is known as ‘Cyber Monday’ or alternatively I have also heard it referred to as ‘Manic Monday’.
You need to act now to get in on the online action NOW
So, as Monday 26th November is just 10 days away, you absolutely must get cracking if you want your products to be visible online on what is predicted to be one of the busiest shopping days of 2012 (along with ‘Super Sunday’ which follows just 6 days later on December 2nd!)
I have sold for the last 7 years online during the festive period and the predicted dates in previous years have always been right – so I strongly believe it is worth the time to prepare for these spikes in potential sales.
With this in mind, I want to give you some tips for maximising your Christmas sales online so that you can get your products listed right now – either on eBay, Amazon or on your own website and grab some of those buyers that will be heading in your direction in a few days time. Besides, if nothing else, this could be the incentive you need to take action!
Nine Ways to Maximise your Christmas Sales
- If you are selling on eBay and using the ‘Auction’ format, try and add a few additional listings to run alongside your usual ones but at different ending times. This will ensure that your items are reaching the top of the search results throughout the whole day continuously and you will gain some vital extra visibility.
- Wherever you are selling, double check your keywords and make sure they are absolutely relevant to your product. If buyers can’t find your items either through an eBay search or a search engine search like Google, then you won’t make any sales.
- Make sure you appeal to ALL potential customers. Use eBay’s auction listings for bargain hunters and Buy It Now’s for those who are in a rush and haven’t the time to wait for an auction to end. Use Amazon to mop up those customers who are loyal to one site only and use your own website if you want to offer an extra service such as ‘Gift Wrapping’. Believe me, in the run up to Christmas, people are impatient so you need to cover all bases!
- Add a few lines to the description of your item hinting that your product is the ‘perfect gift’. This can be implemented for most products with a bit of creativity and will subconsciously play on your potential buyers minds making them more likely to purchase.
- Remember to keep your stock up to date. If you are selling on eBay top up the number of items available on your Buy It Now listings. If you have the stock but haven’t increased your inventory on your listings and the stock number on your listings runs out then your listings will end and you will lose your best match position – not a good thing to happen at this time of year especially!
- Consider adding a ‘Best Offer’ facility to your eBay Buy It Now listings, then automate the Accept/Decline Offer’ option to remain competitive and to pick up those extra sales from people who don’t want to pay the full price.
- If you have an eBay shop, use ‘Markdown Manager’ to offer seasonal discounts or limited offers to buyers.
- Buyers adore fast dispatch and shipping so consider offering a Royal Mail Special Delivery service as an option to buyers or for larger items use a 24 hour or 48 hour courier just for the Christmas period. You can make a song and dance about this on your listing, which will make you look good and entice more sales!
- If possible, make sure you answer questions from potential buyers promptly via eBay messages – this could be the difference between a sale and a ‘no sale’ especially on the run up to Christmas when there is plenty of choice from sellers.
So, if you haven’t listed anything online yet then this could be the incentive you need to get started and if you are already up and running then take these points in to account to ensure you get the most out of the festive season – especially Cyber Monday and Super Sunday!
Remember it is also a good time of year to implement my Find it Flip It strategy – if you want to make regular cash profits take a look at my new strategy here.