For some retailers, it’s already here. With controversy surrounding doorbuster deals in recent years, starting sales and promotions early creates an opportunity for buyers who are uncomfortable with the hype to get a piece of the savings.
In e-commerce, we know that the bulk of the work in preparation for Black Friday and Cyber Monday has already been done. So what can you do this week to stay on the right track?
Prevent overselling
It is very simple to prevent overselling with our Quantity Rules feature. It allows you to submit a quantity of 0 to specific marketplaces when the total quantity drops below a given threshold, while simultaneously sending the true quantity to separate marketplaces. Quantity rules can be configured in almost any way you can imagine. Contact us to see how Quantity Rules can benefit your business.
Spend 5 minutes a day promoting your products on social media
E-commerce retailers don’t have an immersive storefront or a friendly sales rep to greet buyers, but you can still create a complete experience if by using social media wisely.
If you have a best-seller and a holiday decoration, you’ve got a perfect Instagram post. If you have a one-liner and a link to your website, that’s perfect for Twitter. You can even combine the two for a Facebook post and then you’re really in business.
Returns, Returns, Returns
Your returns policy can be the difference between happy holidays and a season of drudgery for your company. Become an expert on each marketplaces’ return policy. Here are some resources from the major marketplaces:
Jet suggests that you issue full refunds and cover the cost of return labels, but you can also refuse to if you choose. Make sure you understand how refunds and returns work on Jet and study details of the Jet refund policy.
Walmart just completely reworked their returns process and policy for US Marketplace sellers. If you haven’t already, you’ll need to read up on it.
eBay provides a guide that you can review that goes over how to handle return requests.
Amazon displays your return settings in the Seller Central which you can learn more about by reading up on Amazon’s Cancellation, Return, and Refund Guidelines.
Gather Data for Next Year
Anything that bothers you, anything that’s working better than expected—write it down. Keep a record of your numbers and everything that seems noteworthy. Then, at the end of the quarter, take a look at what happened and use it to plan for next Q4.
