With less than 16 weeks to go until Christmas, now is the time to ensure your seasonal stock is in hand…
Shopping recently in my local supermarket, I spied a large display of chocolate, randomly placed next to the wines and spirits.
This wasn’t just any old chocolate though, the chocolate in question was Christmas chocolate. In other words, normal chocolate, but in a tub depicting Santa, a snowman and holly! Strange as this may seem as it is only early September, for retailers it’s the norm to be thinking about Christmas!
I understand it may appear to be very early to start mentioning the ‘c’ word, but as we are approaching one of the most lucrative times of the year, if you, as an online seller want to capitalise on the extra spending that will start taking place soon, it’s important that you give Christmas some serious consideration so that you are organised and ready for the rush.
What’s your plan of action?
Your plan of action should be to research and source a product that you are certain will fly off the shelves for at least the three month run up to Christmas.
A product that is not unique and is not particularly costly to source but is ‘specific’! This way you can aim at a small market – but one that has plenty of hungry buyers within it – all of whom are looking for the item you’ve sourced!
Sound easy doesn’t it? But if you don’t know where to start or you are struggling to research and source products, you will find my exclusive product sourcing membership site The Source Report invaluable as I research and source profitable products regularly and upload them to the site for you so that you can take my suggestions, and start selling, without doing any of the hard research yourself!
Do you know, even now after more than 12 years in this business, I still get totally over-excited about the prospect of new stock that I’ve researched and sourced arriving at my door. And there’s nothing nicer than knowing that the product you’ve sourced is going to make you a nice pocketful of cash – particularly hot, seasonal products.
So, one of the things I want to reassure you about today, particularly as I’m talking about sourcing seasonal products, is something that I know is a worry for many of you, and that is the amount of capital required for stock. You may be surprised to learn that you don’t actually need to spend a lot of money on seasonal stock in order to get a good few products listed on eBay and Amazon.
The nature of seasonal stock means that often products such as novelty goods, Christmas themed items and decorations can be easily sourced in the UK from any one of the many ‘pound store’ type wholesale sites. I’m talking about sites such as MX Wholesale or Clearance King – sites that have been established for years and stock ideal seasonal products that you can source, sell for just a couple of lucrative months and then move on to your year round sellers.
It’s no secret that I started my original eBay business with approximately £150 worth of goods
I gradually, very slowly, built up my business from an initial small investment and I’d like to think that you could definitely find £150 to invest if you are serious about getting started.
The trick here is to make sure you source at the best price, create product descriptions that are optimised and enticing and most importantly you research the market thoroughly.
If you want to make some extra pounds or are looking for an ideal time to take action and get going, then it’s not too late, although you won’t want to leave it too much longer, to buy up some seasonal stock and get it listed!
Over the next few months, to be honest, anything goes if you can put a ‘Christmas’ or ‘Gift’ like twist to it.
Seriously, even the most mundane of products can be jazzed up to entice those Christmas gift buyers who are already starting to come out of the woodwork, so if you’ve already got a product up and running then you can just edit it to suit.
Capitalise on Christmas – it’s worth it!
So, firstly it is absolutely possible to initially spend a fairly small amount on stock and still make a decent profit that you can build on, and secondly, at this time of year, whatever you are selling, you might need to use the old grey matter a little and apply creativity to your products to entice those extra buyers. Trust me, other online sellers, will be doing this – you’ll miss out if you don’t.
Finally, I know you might say, “Right ok, that’s all very straight-forward, I just need cash for some stock, but I haven’t got £50 or £150 to spare.” Well, I am very aware that you simply might not have cash available for one reason or another. So, here’s a plan.
Have a huge sort out of your home, then get up early this weekend and go and do a Car Boot Sale to raise some cash. Alternatively sell some personal items on eBay – it’s surprising how quickly you can make a decent amount just from selling your own stuff. Most car-boot sellers come away from a morning’s work with at least £50 in their pocket.
The big question is: “Do you want to do this?”
If you do, you’ll find a way to get started, and these next few months are one of the most perfect and most lucrative times to start.