October is a month away and the holiday season is almost upon us. Before you know it, Black Friday and Cyber Monday will be on along with all the sales and pressure that comes along. As a seller, the coming months are going to be the golden period for you to cash in on this season and earn huge profits for your products. Ideally, you should have already started your Q4 preparations and placed orders with your supplier. If not, do not worry. It is never too late to start. This blog will help you prepare for Amazon Q4 sales in the best possible way.
- Do Holiday Specific Product Research and Source them ASAP
To ensure initial success in Q4, it is important to line up your listing with all products that are usually in demand during the holiday season across all ages and demographics.
Seasonal items like holiday decor, party items, toys and children’s games sell like hotcakes during the holiday season. Stocking up popular toys, action figures, and games will definitely increase your sales and make you a master of Q4.
Don’t lose focus on other categories like clothing
Clothes, a common gift choice, are the ones most sort after. You can follow fashion portals and magazines to know what styles and accessories are in demand. Based on these trends, you can stock your inventory with sufficient clothes. A major chunk of Q4 comprises profits earned by selling clothes and you should be smart enough to cash in on this opportunity.
- Make the switch to FBA
People shopping at the last second during the holiday season would prefer to opt for the ones that give a two-day shipment by Amazon Prime. It makes sense that you as a seller start using the Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) option. FBA makes it easier for you to attract customers that buy your product, and it increases your chances to win the ‘Buy Box’ along with helping you take your Amazon business to the next level during the Q4 season. However, keep in mind that the Amazon FBA inventory storage and weight handling fee changes at the start of Q4. This adds up to your current budget and may have a serious potential to impact your sourcing plans.
- Optimize Your Listing
While demand is going to skyrocket in Q4, it won’t make sense to just stock up on inventory and wait for sales to come your way. It is high time you paid attention to improving the quality of your product listing. Get a professional product photoshoot done and optimize your ASINs with the right target keywords by hiring an experienced e-commerce copywriter. Enhanced Brand Content (EBC) and A+ content also help in driving organic traffic and boosting the BSR of the product. Use a proficient tool like SellerApp to help you with keyword research, track PPC, and also analyze and reprice your product competitively. It is a good idea to make changes to listings right away so you can build traffic and reviews before the start of the season.
- Work on Building Brand Value
Apart from having Prime shipping and a perfect listing, a game changer when it comes to converting buyers is reviews. Reviews are deal breakers. Make sure you have a decent number of reviews before the holiday season peaks. By this, we don’t mean that you buy out fake reviews in order to get a 4+ star rating. There are legit ways to earn reviews. Use an effective and reliable tool like FeedbackFive to automate the review management process. Request for seller feedback and respond to negative reviews promptly to build trust among buyers. Also, this is the right time to get active on social media and spread the word while driving external traffic.
- Outsource to Reap More
You can achieve a higher than anticipated growth during Q4 by working smartly and outsourcing most of your tasks. You can consider outsourcing to Amazon human resources or freelancers who are trained to handle the crazy Amazon holiday season sale rush. Outsourcing not only protects you from burning out due to the immense pressure of Q4 but is also safe play as you shouldn’t take chances learning and experimenting at this crucial period.
Amazon Q4 is definitely a eureka moment for all sellers with vast opportunities to increase the profit margins. At the same time, cutthroat competition and massive work pressure during Q4 can take the fun out of the holiday season. It is important that you chalk out a concrete and profitable sales strategy and find the right resource to help you emerge a hero at the conclusion of Q4.
