Good preparation for the Christmas business …

Every year, many store operators ring in the hot phase of Christmas sales with major discount campaigns and numerous special offers. The last four weeks before Christmas are considered by many online retailers in this country to be the period with the highest turnover and therefore also the most important time of the year. In this article, we would like to give you a few simple tips to help you set the course so that you are left with more than just the crumbs from the Christmas cake at the end of the day.

eBay does it, Amazon does it anyway and more and more German retailers can no longer escape the pull of spectacular sales promotions. What has been a tradition in the USA for decades on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and degenerates into real discount battles is also finding more and more followers in German-speaking countries.

Many special promotions in the run-up to Christmas in Germany too

In 2006, Apple offered the discount campaigns known from the USA for the first time in Germany. Since then, more and more retailers have followed suit and are now also using Black Friday in Germany to promote their listings. You can find a very interesting overview of the participating and sometimes very well-known online stores at:www.blackfridaysale.de

However, many mail-order companies are increasingly bringing forward the promotional period in order to secure competitive advantages. Amazon, for example, is celebrating Cyber Monday Week from November 23 to 30 this year! You can read more details here: http://goto.black-friday.de/amazon

But perhaps less spectacular promotions will be enough for you to be well positioned in the upcoming hot phase of Christmas sales. We would like to give you a few basic recommendations so that you can not only enjoy this busy period, but also positively shape the success of your business.

Do you have sufficient stocks?

The bargain hunting that takes place during this period and the start of the Christmas business have a huge impact on sales volumes and suppliers’ capacities. Be sure to check how many products you sold last year during this time and, if necessary, build up an excess stock so that you are prepared for the high demand.

Is your shipping information clearly defined?

Check whether it is clear in your store by when your customers can expect deliveries and whether you can actually meet these deadlines. It is extremely important to customers that they receive their gifts on time, especially during the Christmas season. So pay particular attention to the availability and delivery times of your items!

Is your warehouse well prepared for the higher turnover rates?

It is important that you are well prepared for a rush and can provide sufficient resources so that you don’t have to capitulate in the first week. All tasks and processes must be well organized. If your warehouse is the bottleneck and there are significant delays or errors in shipments, this means a lot of extra work.
In any case, you are ideally positioned with JTL-WMS, the professional warehouse management system in combination with JTL-Wawi. If your warehouse processes are regularly stretched to the limit, our warehouse management system could be the ideal solution for you.

Are your logistics providers well positioned?

You should make sure that your shipping service providers can handle the expected shipping volumes. If difficulties are to be expected here, you should consider working with several suppliers in good time to minimize the risk of failure. Incidentally, JTL-Shipping offers you direct integration with various logistics providers that you can easily integrate into your shipping process. As of JTL-Wawi 1.0, you can use this onboard tool to generate your shipping labels from various logistics providers directly from the Wawi.

Do you have any other ideas for targeted marketing campaigns during the pre-Christmas period?

• For example, you can send personalized emails – perhaps festive for the Advent season and tailored to your product range. In any case, be aware of the special nature of your items and your target group and formulate your newsletters in the same language that your customers use.
• When customers visit your store, you need to draw their attention directly to the items that could be particularly interesting at that time. It’s best to put yourself in the visitor’s shoes and, above all, in the bargain hunter’s shoes! For example, create special graphics and banners that prominently advertise your items for the Christmas season.

• Help your customers to find the right products as quickly as possible and with just a few clicks. Hints and suggestions such as “Customers who bought this product also bought” (see setting up X-Selling groups in JTL-Wawi) or special, temporary categories such as “Gifts for toddlers up to 5 years old” or “Perfect Christmas gifts for your wife” can have an extremely positive effect on your sales figures and conversion rate.
• Consider whether it is possible for you to set up free deliveries for your customers during the pre-Christmas period. Many stores, and therefore certainly some of your competitors, will be tempted by such listings. If you can, bidder this service to your customers and make sure that visitors don’t leave your store too quickly or abandon the checkout at the crucial points.

We hope that we have been able to give you a little inspiration with these tips and wish you a strong and reasonably stress-free Christmas season!