It’s less than 15 weeks until Christmas…
Shopping this week in a local well-known supermarket, I heard a shriek from my daughter, who was standing mesmerised in front of a
large display of chocolate. The chocolate in question that had caused this shriek was not just any old chocolate though. It was Christmas chocolate. In other words, bog standard chocolate, but in a box depicting Santa, a snowman and holly!
My daughter then proceeded to take a photo of the display and promptly uploaded it to Instagram, along with I am sure, a suitable caption! But, strange as it may seem as it is only early September, whilst I was on holiday last month and sitting in the beautifully warm sun, I too started thinking about Christmas!
I know 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 want to capitalise on the extra spending that will start taking place soon, it’s important that you give this some serious consideration so that you are organised and ready for the rush.
I’ve already started getting organised and next week I will be taking delivery of some fabulous new stock which I will then list on ebay, Amazon and I may possibly set up a basic niche website to sell my products too.
Without giving too much away, I’ve researched and sourced a product that I am certain will fly off the shelves for at least the next 5 months – covering the whole Christmas and New Year period. After those 5 months, the product will still be popular (although I do expect a dip in sales to take place) throughout the remaining months of the year.
The product I’ve chosen is not unique and it’s not particularly expensive to source – however it is an item that is about to pick up in demand – and that’s why I’ve chosen it. And what’s more, when doing my research, after establishing an initial hot category, I then researched deeper and deeper into the sub-categories of that original category until I found a product that is actually a sub-sub-sub-sub-niche product! I simply used some of the tools that I talked about in last week’s blog post – Google Trends, Watchcount and Popular Keywords.
In other words, I’ve made certain that my new product is very, very specific. I’m aiming at a small market – but one that has plenty of hungry buyers within it – all of whom are looking for the item I’ve sourced!
Now I know that sounds very cloak and dagger but for obvious reasons I can’t be more specific and name the product otherwise you might just beat me to it! If you are struggling to research and source products though, you will find my product sourcing membership site The Source Report invaluable as I research and source profitable products regularly and upload them to the site so that you can take my suggestions and start selling, without doing any of the hard research and sourcing yourself!
Even after over eight years of going through the process of researching, sourcing and taking delivery of new products (which can still sometimes be extremely frustrating and challenging!) I still get totally over-excited about the prospect of new stock arriving at my door, to the extent that I’m like a cat on hot bricks with the anticipation of it all.
Really, there’s nothing nicer than knowing that the product you’ve sourced is going to make you a nice pocketful of cash – and I’m itching to get all my new stuff listed and selling as soon as possible!
But as I say, that’s a nice job for next week – which I know is going to be a busy one as the following week sees the launch of my new mentoring programme. I’ve mentioned this over the past couple of weeks and it’s great to see so many of you have already added your name to the ‘earlybird’ list to ensure you receive information on this as soon as it’s released.
If you missed my short video last week explaining everything then you can watch it here and pop your name on the list at the same time to ensure you don’t miss out on any information
If your name’s not on the list you won’t be first to receive the information – you have been warned!
So, back to my new stock – and Christmas!
One of the things I want to reassure you about is something that crossed my mind when I was placing my order for my new stock, and that is that you don’t actually need to spend a lot of money on stock in order to get a good few products listed online. And the period that’s coming is a great time to get started.
I started my original ebay business with approximately £150 worth of goods
I gradually, slowly, built up my business from an initial small order and I’d like to think that you could definitely find £150 to invest if you are serious about getting started. Even now with over eight years of experience I don’t order thousands of pounds worth of goods all in one go because it’s important to source, sell, turn a profit and re-invest all the time. Just to put this into perspective for you and to give you a really recent example of how you can get started with very little capital, let me briefly tell you about what I ordered this week.
With one supplier, who is based overseas, I spent just over $65 (approximately £42) on 10 items
I spent less than £50! After including the VAT and delivery and any customs charges the total was £50.53. This was on one variation of the product.
From my initial investment of £50.53, I expect to make a net profit (that’s after all costs have been accounted for, including my stock, all ebay fees, PayPal fees, postage and packaging) of £7.09 per item sold – so that’s £70.90, and obviously I’ll get my initial investment back too.
I expect to make that profit within 2 days of adding this new item to my current inventory – so over the course of a week, my profit should be around £280.00 give or take.
And don’t forget that this is based on just one variation. I’ll have several other options too!
We’ve got just over 14 weeks until Christmas so if I sell out each week, re-order, sell out and re-order and so on, just spending small amounts on stock at a time, the profits will build up and I’ll stand to make a net profit of just under £4000 in this 14 week period alone.
How can I be so sure? Well, because I’ve sourced at an excellent price, my listing descriptions will be enticing and most importantly I’ve researched the market and I am confident that my new stock will sell quickly. I’ve chosen a product that is perfect for this time of year. Now I’m not saying that it’s a ‘seasonal’ product because in fact this product will sell all year round, it’s the fact that we have just entered three of the most lucrative months of the year – the Christmas season!
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 stock and get it listed! Remember, it doesn’t necessarily have to be ‘seasonal’ stock. In fact it’s better if you research and source products that are year round sellers so that you have a good base for your business to start with.
But, over the next few months, 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 don’t worry if you’ve already got a product up and running – just amend it to suit.
So, as I’ve just suggested to you, I have already taken my own advice and made sure that my new stock is perfect for Christmas but also falls into the category of ‘everyday purchases’ too. And there are tons of products that fit this description:
- Fashion Accessories
- Clothing
- Shoes
- Toys
- Exercise Equipment
- Gardening Tools
- DIY Tools
- Gadgets
- Novelties
- Homeware
- Baby Goods
- Electronics…and so on.
Use your imagination, a bit of creativity and you can adapt your products to suit the market.
Capitalise on Christmas – it’s worth it!
So I hope I’ve explained that 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 brain matter a little and apply creativity to your products to entice those extra buyers. Other online sellers, including myself, 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 it available for one reason or another. So here’s a plan.
Have a massive sort out of your home, then get up early and do a Car Boot Sale to raise some cash – or 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.
Do you want to do this?
If you do, you’ll find a way to get started, and these next three months are one of the most perfect, most lucrative times to start.