Strategies for Summer and Holiday Sourcing
Transcript of Strategies for Summer and Holiday Sourcing
© 2013 WhatDoISell.com 2013 Summer Sourcing Guide 1
2013 Summer
Sourcing
Guide Strategies for Summer
and Holiday Sourcing
15
© 2013 WhatDoISell.com 2013 Summer Sourcing Guide 2
Lisa Suttora is an ecommerce marketing strategist, and
founder and CEO of Lisa Suttora International and
WhatDoISell.com.
Since 2004 Lisa has worked with
online merchants in 8 countries
and over 2600 niche markets, to
develop the skills and strategies
that drive six and seven figure
annual revenues.
Lisa is the only speaker to present at Ebay Live/On
Location events 6 out of 8 years on the topic of “How to
Find the Products Buyers Want.”
In 2012, Lisa was the
keynote speaker at
both the SCOE
Conference and
MonCon West on how
to “Tap Into Trends
and Source In Demand
Products”
Lisa will be presenting at the May 2013 SCOE
conference on… “Sourcing Shakeup: How to Conquer
the Challenges and Capitalize on the New Sourcing
Opportunities for Today’s Amazon Marketplace”
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INTRODUCTION
The month of June requires a major shift in product
sourcing focus for online sellers.
A point where your sourcing must turn into a “two track”
endeavor.
The sourcing decisions you make over the next 90 days
will impact your sales for the rest of 2013.
•Summer Sourcing
Track 1
•Holiday Sourcing
Track 2
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As of June 1, we’re a scant 92 days
away from the start of the 2013
holiday selling season!
40% of online shoppers make their
first holiday purchases in
September.
This means that if you don’t have a representation of
your holiday inventory listed online by September 1, you’re leaving money on the table.
And then there’s summer sales.
The sourcing you do for the rest of the
summer will determine whether your
sales see a summer slowdown or are
sizzling hot!
Now is the time to change it up and shift
into a new product sourcing mode for the second half of
the year!
In this special 2013 Summer Sourcing Guide, you’ll learn
15 sourcing strategies that will increase your summer
sales and prepare you for the biggest selling season
of the year, the holidays.
Let’s get started!
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SEASONAL SOURCING CHANGES
Summer Selling Season
What do buyers shop for during June, July and August?
Over the next three months, consumers are online
shopping for:
Seasonal summer items
Graduation gifts
Father’s Day gifts
Travel season items
Back-to-school
Wedding items
Water sports gear
Sports gear
Home repair products
Lawn and garden items
4th of July décor
And more!
Sales of winter products have slowed in U.S. and
European markets. (While Australia moves into their
winter season.)
From electronics to fashion, home, sports, health,
beauty, toys, automotive, even food… every product
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category has “summer centric” products that will be in
high-demand between June and the end of August.
And while there are many “everyday” products that sell
all year long, your sales can increase significantly if you
capitalize on the demand for summer related items.
Summer Marketing
If you sell in a marketplace, your summer product sales
will benefit from the additional seasonal advertising done
by the marketplaces.
Amazon has created an entire "Get Ready for Summer"
store designed to promote summer centric products.
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If you’re looking for ideas of what to sell this summer,
your first stop is to spend time looking at the thousands
of products being promoted in Amazon’s “Get Ready for
Summer Store”.
This market research is invaluable in understanding what
summer shoppers want to buy.
Amazon features these products for one very important
reason – sales history! They know from previous years
exactly what people buy during the summer months.
All that sales intelligence goes into building their summer
store. The products listed there are not random
selections!
Next, they pair past sales history with new product
trends and product offers, to put together the most
compelling selection of summer products online.
Using this store for market research and delving deep
into the categories and sub-categories will reveal many
pockets of opportunities for summer sourcing.
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Ebay is also featuring summer-related products. A recent
ad on their home pages encourages buyers ready their
motorcycles for the summer riding season.
Even the media jumps into “suggestive summer selling”
mode showcasing “must have” products that you never
knew you needed – until you saw them that is!
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No matter what you sell or where you sell it, there’s
money to be made sourcing the right summer inventory.
In fact, you likely have inventory that’s perfect for
summer sales already – and you’ll find it once you start
looking at it through your “summer sourcing eyes”.
Holiday Selling Season Sourcing
Throw on your swimsuit and prepare for the
holidays!
While most of the world is
focused on summer fun, for
online sellers this time of year
is all about holiday sourcing and planning.
Unfortunately many online
sellers don’t even start
thinking about what to sell for
the holidays until September 1!
(And most ecommerce
publishers don’t talk about
holiday planning until October
or November when the season “hits”.)
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By then…
It’s much too late to begin and you’ll have lost thousands of dollars in sales
Suppliers run out of hot holiday products
Sellers run out of money to buy inventory
There’s no time to keep up on the holiday trends
The weather intervenes and shipments get delayed
Experienced online sellers who were prepared snag
the early bird customers who keep coming back to buy more
Early bird shoppers spend more to get selection
When are “the holidays?”
When most people think of the "holiday season," they
usually think of the bulk of the shopping that happens in November and December.
While it's true that the Christmas season is the peak
sales time, if you only consider the period from
November through December as the holiday selling
season, you're missing out on several other seasonal selling opportunities along the way.
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“The holiday selling season is not just a short period from November to December”
Beginning in September and running through mid-
January, shoppers are in varying stages of holiday shopping mode.
Take a look at the list below, and you'll never look at holiday selling season the same way again!
Here are 11 different selling seasons for you to capitalize on:
Back to school shopping
"Falloween" (Fall-themed products that carry into
Halloween)
Halloween
Thanksgiving
Gift-giving season (Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa,
etc.)
Gift certificate redemption season (late December
through January)
Post-gift-giving trade in/trade up purchases (late
December through January)
New Year's
Fitness (January)
Organization (January) "Fresh Start" products (January)
Now you can clearly see why the holiday selling season is
not just a short period from November to December, and
the many opportunities there are to source inventory. In
the 2013 Summer Sourcing Guide you’ll learn tips for
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starting your holiday sourcing now. And making the most of the opportunity to source before September.
So let’s get started with our 15 tips for Summer and Pre-Holiday sourcing…
Well start with summer sourcing.
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1. Identify & Reprice Existing Summer Inventory.
June is the time to take an assessment of what inventory you currently have listed online.
Time to dig through the boxes in your warehouse or
storage area and see what inventory didn’t get listed or sold last summer.
Many online sellers already have some summer
inventory tucked away on Amazon, eBay, or in their warehouse/home office.
Inventory that didn’t sell last year, or maybe arrived too late in the season and didn’t get listed.
This is your first line of attack on summer sourcing!
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Once you’ve identified your summer inventory, to make it attractive for 2013 sales, you’ll need to:
Price it correctly for the 2013 marketplace. This
could involve repricing up or down.
Refresh your existing product pages, making sure
your title keywords, features and item specifics are
current and complete. This will not only make sure
that buyers can search and find your products, the
changes you make to the product page will also get
your product pages re-indexed in marketplace
search.
Start marketing! Don’t wait for a marketplace
search to sell your product. Post it on Pinterest,
showcase it on your Facebook business page, or
tweet out your summer inventory offerings.
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2. Recap Last Year’s Best Sellers
If you’ve been selling online for more than a year, you should have a monthly reports of your best sellers.
What were your best-selling summer items last July?
Did you sell dozens of the Wild & Wet Spinning Fire Hydrant Water Sprinkler?
If so, it’s time to contact your supplier and see if they have some new styles on deck for this summer!
Since most suppliers sell out of their best stock early,
check to see if they have any specials on last year’s styles as well.
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If you haven’t been selling online for a full year, or you
don’t have any best-seller reports for your business, it’s time to start tracking this now!
You’ll find these reports very useful for growing your business in the future!
3. Create an Inventory Planning Notebook
In order to track your
inventory successes (and
those “don’t source again”
items, you need to create an Inventory Planning Notebook.
This 3-ring binder, (a 3 or 4”
spine is best) categorized by
month will enable you to
aggregate reports, supplier
catalogs, trend information
and planning notes all in one place.
Creating it in a physical format allows you to get away
from your desk for some planning, as well as keep supplier catalogs/print outs all in one place.
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4. Request the Latest Wholesale Catalogs
Contact existing wholesale suppliers and request an updated catalog. If you’re sourcing out of an older catalog, it’s time to get up to date!
Some suppliers regularly send out new product
offerings via their online catalog. With others you’ll need to be proactive and contact them.
You’ve gone to all the work of building a relationship with your supplier, don’t wait for them to notify you of their new spring, summer and holiday products. Take action now!
5. Summer Arbitrage Sourcing
Brick-n-mortar retailers stock their merchandise up to
two months in advance of the season, so by the end of
June, early July they’ll be clearing out their summer
inventory to make room for back-to-school and fall
products.
Most people don’t realize this and wait far too long to hit
the stores for summer arbitrage sourcing.
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Because of the early clearance cycle of local retail
stores, there is increased online demand for summer
products that buyers can’t find in stores.
This means arbitrage sourcing opportunities for
summer clearance merchandise abound!
6. Source at Sidewalk Sales
Summer offers a unique opportunity to pick up great
discounted merchandise from smaller brick and mortar retailers who participate in an annual sidewalk sale.
These are the mom-and-pop stores, located in local communities.
When sourcing arbitrage, online merchants usually focus on the big box stores like Target, Walmart, etc.
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But small, independent retailers
all over the country have millions
of dollars of unsold merchandise
stored up for their annual summer sidewalk sale.
Without a clearance outlet to get
rid of unsold inventory during the
year, many smaller stores hold
the inventory for a huge blowout sale during the summer.
You can pick up some great inventory, often at 70–90% off retail.
Check your local paper for an upcoming sidewalk sale in your area.
You’ll even find that drugstores and grocery stores participate in sidewalk sales if they are located nearby.
This offers even more opportunities to find good inventory and great prices!
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7. Source on Ebay, sell on Amazon (or visa versa)
There are always sourcing deals to be had on Amazon and eBay, and during the summer is no exception!
On Ebay, look for…
Products listed at auction ending at rock bottom
prices
Auctions that end without a single bid
Listings that end in the middle of the night, or
weekend. Times when buyers are not on the site shopping
Auctions currently represent only 30% of Ebay’s sales,
but there are many sellers who still think everything should be started as a low priced auction.
This means that thousands of items end each day with no
bids or minimal bids. Inventory that you can pick up for
pennies on the dollar and resell on either Amazon or Ebay.
For example, the listing for this tea kettle from designer Michael Graves ended on Ebay without a single bid.
A last minute purchase could have been made at $29.99 with free shipping.
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The same tea kettle is selling on Amazon between $59.99
- $122.99 (with no FBA competition – you could be the
first!).
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There are deals like this to be had all the time on EBay.
However, make sure before you source something
on Ebay to resell on Amazon, that you can sell the item on Amazon. Here’s a list of product categories that require approval prior to selling on Amazon.
To do your market research on eBay to see what’s selling and for how much, look at Ebay’s completed listings or use the Terapeak market research tool.
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Amazon runs Daily Deals that offer great inventory at lower than wholesale prices.
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You can sign up here to receive notifications of these daily deals.
Set up a separate “Sourcing Deals”
email box for daily deal notifications, so you can scan the list once or twice a day for sourcing opportunities.
In fact all stores, including flash sale sites and
group sale sites send out email deal notifications.
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This is a GREAT way to find more online sourcing deals, all in one place – your Sourcing Deals email inbox!
8. Contact Your Wholesale
Suppliers About Summer Deals
Just like retailers, suppliers get overstocked. Check with
your suppliers to see if they are offering any upcoming summer deals.
This could include special
pricing on end-of-season products, free shipping, or specials on mixed lots.
If you’re new to sourcing wholesale products, it’s not too late to get started!
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Sourcing the RIGHT Wholesale Products to Sell on Amazon will show you step-by-step how to select
profitable products to sell on Amazon, how to locate legitimate wholesale suppliers in any product category, how to build profitable relationships with your suppliers and much more!
For Ebay sellers and website owners, Power of 10
Product Sourcing will show you the step-by-steps for sourcing profitable wholesale products to sell on Ebay or a niche website.
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9. Pinterest Sourcing!
If you haven’t yet set up a Pinterest business account to
market your ecommerce products, you’re leaving money on the table.
If you’re not using Pinterest Sourcing to get ideas for
products to sell, you’re missing out on one of the best
ways to find out what products are hot and in-demand by today’s consumers.
Pinterest is known as the place for people to discover
ideas for products to buy, to find out about the latest and greatest items, and to see what’s in and trending.
For online merchants, it’s a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of what buyers are talking about.
Pinterest users also tend to pin with the season. So June
is a great time to get some last minute sourcing ideas for summer.
If you sell women’s lingerie, this lacey tank-top bra with
1,222 repins on Pinterest is a serious indicator that people like this bra style.
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Even if a pin doesn’t have a 1000+ likes, you can still get great ideas for products to sell.
If you want to get sourcing ideas ahead of the season on
Pinterest, simply do a search by keyword and pull up
hundreds and hundreds of pins that will provide sourcing ideas.
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10. Track the Trends
June is the time to start
paying serious attention to
trend information. If you’re not
yet on top of what the trends
are in your niche, it’s time to
make this a focus. Whether you
source products wholesale or do
arbitrage sourcing, you have to
have an idea of what consumers are buying now.
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There are many ways to do this:
Reading trade journals…
Consumer magazines
Talking to suppliers Scouring the web for trend articles
These are all Idea Hotspots and market research
methods I teach in-depth as part of my Sourcing the RIGHT Products to Sell on Amazon Course.
What brands, colors, styles, and products are in demand this year? Make it your business to know!
Here are a few examples:
Sell men's watches? What are the trends? Read the
industry trade publications to see what the hot new styles are.
Are stylish fashion watches all the rage this year, or are gift-givers looking for rugged GPS-enhanced watches?
Sell rain boots? What colors and designs are selling
now? Are people buying short ankle boots or tall boots? What new brands and styles are on the scene?
Consumer fashion magazines, trend websites and fashion
news in the media all provide clues and insights as to what the hot holiday sellers will be.
Sell home décor products? What will people be
decorating their homes with during the holidays? Holiday
rugs, Christmas-themed dishware, inflatable Santas or mantle trees?
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Many product categories now offer seasonal décor. But
keep in mind that traditional products like a white
tablecloth or new fireplace set can also be hot sellers during the holidays.
Sales circulars that come in the Sunday paper provide
great clues to popular brands, new products and up and
coming trends. Big stores spend of millions dollars a year
on market research and advertising to get the right products in front of the customers.
And it’s all there, free and in color for you to leverage in your business.
11. Start Talking to Your Suppliers Now
Start the conversation with your
suppliers today about what
inventory they think will be there
biggest sellers this holiday season.
Wholesale suppliers spend tens of
thousands of dollars in market
research before they manufacture a new product for the holidays.
They know what styles, colors, brands, limited editions etc. are going to be popular for the holidays.
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Leverage their knowledge! They are there to help!
12. Source New Versions of Proven Best Sellers
Sourcing hot holiday inventory doesn’t always mean reinventing the wheel.
After identifying your previous and current best sellers,
the next step is to research new versions, styles, models, colors and brands of these products.
Eight years ago, Tickle Me Elmo was the hottest
Christmas toy on the market. Every year since, the
makers of Tickle Me Elmo have released a new Elmo with a different spin.
The LeapPad Tablet is a top seller every Christmas. Each year, a new version is released.
All of them have landed on the holiday toy best-sellers lists!
But this is not just limited to toys!
Whether it’s curling irons, Dutch ovens, power drills, nail
polish or clothing, most every manufacturer comes out
with a new version, color or special edition for the holidays.
Stocking your store with updated versions of what your
customers are already buying is one of the easiest ways to stock up on hot holiday products!
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13. Pay Close Attention to the Back to School Hit List!
Back-to-school sales are a preview of the hot holiday sellers.
This is by far the biggest clue that online merchants miss each and every year!
The back-to-school selling season is
not just for young kids! High school
students, college students,
professionals and parents all head back to school in the fall.
What doesn’t get purchased by the
end of the back-to-school season in
mid-October, is deferred until the
holiday selling season.
The items, still on wish lists around
the world, make their way to holiday gift lists – to be
purchased either for the recipient or by the recipient… for themselves!
Here’s just a sampling of the types of products that are on their shopping lists:
1. Laptop cases
2. Brightly patterned backpacks
3. Rolling backpacks
4. Sports bags
5. Motorcycle boots
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6. Ankle boots
7. Girls school uniforms
8. Boy’ school uniforms
9. Locker gear (mirrors, shelves, decor)
10. Running shoes
11. Gym clothes
12. Teacher supplies
13. Art supplies
14. Eco-friendly lunch boxes
15. Eco-friendly hot mugs and thermoses
16. Cosmetics
17. Costume jewelry
18. Watches
19. Phone covers
20. Layered friendship bracelets
21. Dorm room bedding
22. Water bottles
23. Hampers
24. Pans
25. Cooking utensils
26. Dorm room storage
27. Locker chandeliers
28. Webcams
29. Bedazzled headphones
30. Colorful clipboards
31. Coffee makers
32. Brightly colored denim jeans
33. Woven wicker and raffia handbags and totes
34. Loungewear (faux pajama look for school)
35. Beanie caps
36. Flowered headbands
37. Nail art (press on nails)
38. Musical instruments
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39. Digital voice recorders
40. Calculators
41. Personalized dorm-room decor
42. Fall sports gear
43. Leap Pad Learning Systems
44. Easels
45. Globes
46. Skate clothes and accessories 47. Mini-fridges
As you can see these back-to-school products make great holiday gifts as well.
Check the store ads, scan the hot lists and pay attention to what sells at this time of year!
14. Source Seasonal Versions of Year-‘Round Products
What are your best selling products today? Make a list
and now look through your supplier catalogs for seasonal versions of your current best sellers.
For example, do you sell…
Glassware
Jewelry
Candles
Throw rugs You name it!
Check to see if the manufacturer offer seasonal specific styles.
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You can also source brand new seasonal product lines.
Christmas Lights
Decorations
Ornaments
Lighting
Clothes
Cosmetics
Gift sets
Gourmet foods
Toys
Bedding
Towels Dishware
These are just a few examples of seasonal holiday items.
But remember, the time to buy seasonal merchandise is
now. All the hot wholesale items will be sold by September!
Which brings me to the next tip…
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15. Order now, take delivery later.
When it comes to holiday sourcing, you don’t need to take delivery and pay for your inventory right away.
Most wholesale suppliers will allow you to pre-order and
schedule delivery in increments closer to the actual selling season.
You won’t have to pay (in most cases) until your inventory is delivered!
The enables you to reserve the in-demand items for the
holidays, and gives you time to take your summer profits
and reinvest them in holiday inventory when the time comes.
Get Started Now!
When you get started sourcing for the holidays
now, you have…
Time to plan
Time to make informed sourcing decisions
Time to budget your inventory capital
Time To locate the best products and the best prices on holiday merchandise
Thomas Edison said…
“Good fortune is what happens
when opportunity meets with planning.”
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Strong holiday sales will bring good fortune to you, your
business and your family. But you have to start planning now in order for that to happen!
TAKE ACTION
Implement any one of these 15 sourcing strategies and
you’ll improve your sourcing skills and increase your sales in the second half of 2013.
Ramp up your sourcing skills quickly and take advantage of the once a year spring sourcing sale.
Sourcing the RIGHT Wholesale Products to Sell on
Amazon will show you step-by-step how to select
profitable products to sell on Amazon, how to locate
legitimate wholesale suppliers in any product category,
how to build profitable relationships with your suppliers and much more!
For Ebay sellers and website owners, Power of 10
Product Sourcing will show you the step-by-steps for
sourcing profitable wholesale products to sell on Ebay or a niche website.
© 2013 WhatDoISell.com 2013 Summer Sourcing Guide 39
Learning to source the right products in June, July and
August gives you the time to implement your new skills
and capitalize on the most lucrative season for online sellers – the holiday selling season!
But time is of the essence! You can’t play catch-up in September.
Whether you sell primarily on Amazon or Ebay, it’s time to ramp up your sourcing over the next 90 days!
Yours in online selling success,
PS: If you have any questions about our sourcing
programs, please contact our support team at http://whatdoisellsupport.com
PPS: I’ll be doing three bonus Q&A calls for our program
members over the summer, so you’ll be able to get your individual sourcing questions answered each month!