Season Trends and the Indie Seller: How the Holidays Will Impact Your Bottom Line

It's a simple fact that the business world changes constantly, and that as artists, designers, and crafters we are especially susceptible to changes in technology, the economy, and the culture we live in. Despite that fact, there are a few things that remain constant in their changes every year.

If you want to have greater success as a seller of arts and designs on sites like eBay, Etsy, ArtFire, or any of the other online malls dedicated to helping you consistently sell your handmade work, you have to learn how the constant changes can alter your business practices - or, if you fail to alter them, how they can absolutely destroy your selling strategy.

This article is a look at how artists, designers, and crafters who make a large portion of their income from online malls and marketplaces can stay current with trends and adjust their sales and marketing strategies to excel during the holiday season.

What Affects Sales?

One of the most important questions that you as an independently selling artist or crafter should be asking constantly is how trends in the culture both locally and internationally might help or hinder your selling success. Some of the most common trends to follow include:

• The Time of Year (Season)
• Upcoming Holidays
• New Competitors
• Economic Trends
• Local Cultural Trends
• International Cultural Trends

Every trend has its own considerations, and affects your sales in a different way. This article will be focusing specifically on the Thanksgiving - New Years trends which account for at least a third of any seller's income each year. In fact, eBay alone receives more than five times the amount of visits during the holiday season than any other time of year.

The effect of the 'need to buy' during the holiday season is so important that the United States Department of Commerce estimated that holiday-related sales could top $270 billion this year.

Cyber Monday

A trend that has been growing in recent years, Cyber Monday is a concept that every seller should be aware of and prepared for.

First, the background. Most Americans know what Black Friday is - the day after Thanksgiving when people rush en masse to stores looking for the killer bargains promised on products perfect for holiday gift-giving. Most also know what Super Saturday is - the Saturday prior to Christmas when prices on 'regular' products are generally discounted in the hopes they'll be snatched up during the last-minute gift buying rush. Both these trends, long-established, have created the foundation that Cyber Monday rests on.

A post-Thanksgiving holiday, the Monday following the holiday is a big event for online retailers who have dubbed the day 'Cyber Monday'. It's a big event because it can generate a ton of sales from shoppers who didn't find what they were looking for in the stores they hit on Black Friday. In 2004, ComScore Networks reported that Cyber Monday shoppers spent at least $386 million and BizRate Research has stated that more than 75% of all online retailers see a sales spike on Cyber Monday.

In order to get the most out of Cyber Monday, hype the event. Start your marketing efforts early on, focusing on creating consumer excitement about the holiday season and your products and services in particular.

Don't forget the traditional 'shopping holidays' in your efforts, though, as these can generate a nice source of sales as well - especially Super Saturday.

Holiday Sales Success Tips

So enough of the background and research-y info. Let's get right down to some tips that will help you consider a strategic plan for real holiday sales success.

• Start Early - Make sure that you have a good, reasonable inventory of items ready for sales at least a week before Thanksgiving. This allows you enough time to get your products and listings ready for display when it will have the most impact.

• Gifting Promotion - Offer free gift wrapping services for your products and in your listings, and promote gift cards and gift certificates in all your listings.

• Put in the Extra Time - Pay careful attention to your communications and answer inquiries in as timely a manner as you can. Shoppers are in a hurry this time of year. Keep that in mind and cater to that need; you'll see a huge payoff.

• Speedy Payments - If necessary, upgrade or update your payment process to make it as speedy as possible. A shopper will give up if they're in a hurry and your payment process takes too long to get through.

• Shipping Options - Offer your customers the option to ship gifts directly to the recipient, a move that will seriously help shoppers who are purchasing at the last minute and want their gift to arrive on time. Also be sure that you include a rush shipping option, and provide buyers with shipping deadlines so they know when is the last minute they can get an order in and have it arrive in time.• After-Holiday Sales - Don't forget that there will be a nice upward trickle in sales even after the holiday shopping season. The week or two after the holidays can be huge, when buyers are looking for the things they wanted to receive but didn't or have extra holiday-gifted cash in their pocket they're eager to spend.