Sunday 3 November 2013

I have been thinking a lot about Christmas....

...and I am sooo late in getting my products ready, even though I promised myself I wouldn't be last minute and have been thinking about it and buying bits since April!  Aaahhh!

The good news is that 70% of people shop in the last ten days before Christmas and they spend more because of that, phew!  I still have time!

It's not an excuse but I have had lots of bespoke orders this year (I am not complaining, that's great) and until recently worked full-time, so I just need to catch up with myself.  Since being able to focus on my fizzi~jayne empire I have been beavering away and I have some new products...



These and others are available on my Folksy and Etsy shops and I am making lots more to add to my shops in the run up to my next craft fair on 17th November ~ this is the deadline I have given myself, I always work best to a deadline. 
The first of my new range of Christmas Decorations, so exciting!!!


 The larger heart can be a tree or door handle hanging
 
 



Next year I will have no excuses to be late, in the meantime this is what I am going to do to get those last minute sales, or what I also like to call fizzi~jayne's top tips....
  • Descriptions ~ Visibility is key! All product titles, first line of descriptions and image titles should be obvious and be relevant to what customers might be searching for on the web, i.e Handmade Christmas Card.  This should mean my products end up higher on a search engine.  For anyone who sells products that aren't made specifically for Christmas but are ideal gifts, tweak your descriptions to appeal to your Christmas shoppers.
  • Make last order dates for Christmas delivery obvious ~ I have clearly listed these dates in every item description and on my Facebook page in my notes.  Plus I will dispatch within 1-2 business days.
  • Give an option for customers to pay for next day delivery~ I have added the option for customers to pay for signed for 1st class post, by adding it as an additional item on my Folksy and Etsy shops.  Royal Mail aim to deliver the next day including Saturdays. This requires a signature on delivery and the parcel can be tracked and generates a proof of delivery for peace of mind.  For more valuable items Royal Mail offer a guaranteed next day service, Special Delivery, costs start at £6.22 which is a large cost for my type of products but for anyone selling more valuable products I would recommend giving this as an option to your customers with the stress of Christmas and getting the right gift, customers will pay it!
  • Use Social Media as my marketing friend ~ Shout Loud! Increase frequency of my posts but making sure I am being interesting, relevant and compelling, making every post count. I will be running promotions in the run up to Christmas and social media is a great way to promote them.
  • Make my stall stand out at the craft fairs ~ I'm going to make my stall as visually appealing as possible and I am very excited about my plans but you will have to come and see me at Berkhamsted Town Hall on 17th November or wait for the pics ;-)


With these tactics I hope that this Christmas will be a successful one.

Has anyone started their Christmas Shopping?  Anyone finished it?

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for leaving a comment! I love to hear from you, whether you just pop by to say hi, share your experiences or want to give me feedback. I appreciate your comments and love reading them.