Crazy preparations for the peak season, sellers ship out 30 million worth of goods!

The golden September and silver October, this year's peak season is about to arrive, are you looking forward to it?

The peak season in the second half of the year has not officially started yet, but the competition among sellers has already entered a fierce stage. As consumers start to purchase Christmas products in advance and logistics uncertainties affect the peak season this year, it is very different from the past. Faced with new uncertainties, sellers have more questions:

Will product sales continue to explode during this year’s peak season?

What kind of products do consumers like this year?

During special periods, what should we pay attention to when launching festive products?

…

" I'm looking forward to his coming, but I'm also afraid that he will bring harm! " Behind all these questions, sellers are both looking forward to and fearing this year's peak season.

Peak season war: some announce withdrawal, others gamble on "30 million goods"

The peak season in the second half of each year is a battleground for cross-border sellers, but this year's peak season has stopped many sellers from going further. From Amazon's restrictions on shipments to the continued surge in account bans to the magical logistics situation... Under the combined effects of various unfavorable factors, a large number of Amazon sellers have expressed that they no longer have any expectations for the second half of the year:

A: Just survive this year. Making money is just a passing cloud.

B: With such severe inventory restrictions this year, can we still make holiday merchandise? I can’t do it anyway.

C: This year's outrageous shipping costs have discouraged me. The August shipping costs have increased by 10% on top of the already outrageous July costs.

D: Shipping is no longer a business, it has become a robbery. I don’t want to work hard for several months in the second half of the year just to work for the shipping company.

While many sellers are collectively predicting a pessimistic outlook, on another track, there are still many sellers who are busy preparing stocks and rushing to improve their rankings in the hope of making a comeback in the peak season.

It is understood that as early as June, some sellers said they were already preparing festive goods. These sellers who are determined to participate in the peak season battle have different strategies.

Some sellers are conservative and stock much less than in previous years; some sellers ship goods in large quantities.

One seller said that he had bet a lot on Halloween and Christmas products this year. Whether people would eat meat or drink porridge during the Chinese New Year would depend on the sales performance at that time.

There was also a seller who had just cleared out last year’s products and sent another batch of Christmas products to the warehouse.

Of course, there are also many sellers who have not cleared out all the products in their warehouses, so the Halloween and Christmas products were sent out again.

In fact, the inventory of big sellers is even more crazy than that of small sellers. It is understood that a seller has prepared 30 million Christmas and Halloween products this year.

During this special period of the year, sellers who have stepped up their efforts to stock up are both looking forward to the peak season and are also more "anxious" about it.

“When I placed the peak season orders with the factory this year, I felt like a gambler,” several sellers said, taking a gamble and not knowing whether the bicycle would turn into a motorcycle, or the car would turn into a bicycle.

Logistics situation continues to be bad, this year's peak season is "very different"

As sellers prepare for the peak season, their sense of insecurity has doubled, and the credit behind this is "logistics."

It is reported that a Walmart seller had already arranged containers for Christmas gifts in May and June this year, and was afraid that he would not be able to order the containers if he was late.

Many other sellers share the same idea as this seller. An industry insider said that their company received overseas Christmas orders three months earlier this year than in previous years. Since February and March this year, buyers from all over the country have begun to place orders and prepare for stock, which has led to the early arrival of the peak sales season. Now, buyers are scattered and many popular products are sold out, and the Christmas shopping season has come to an end early.

When sellers prepare goods in advance, not only will the Christmas sales peak season for domestic manufacturers arrive earlier, but it will also advance the shipping and sales time of Christmas and other holiday products.

"Sellers used to ship Christmas goods in late August, but this year some companies have started shipping goods in early June. " The editor learned that the Christmas goods that one seller sent out at the end of June are basically all on sale now .

Not all sellers' Christmas products can arrive overseas as scheduled.

Sellers are aware of how bad the current logistics situation is. What we cannot ignore is that the third quarter is the traditional peak season for shipping, when the Western countries prepare for Christmas. The shortage of shipping capacity will continue to push up the price of export containers.

In addition, in the second half of the year, logistics prices will soar and container shortages will become more severe. "I thought it was incredible in June when I heard that someone was already shipping Christmas goods, but now I think it is really necessary. This year's freight is too tight," said an industry insider.

In fact, many sellers have encountered logistics problems:

The progress bar is so fast this year. My goods have not been put into the cabinet yet. It’s so annoying.

I've already booked half a month in advance, but I still can't order a box.

The logistics situation this year is worrying, and we don’t know whether the goods can arrive on time. It would be embarrassing if the goods arrive but the peak season is over.

In addition to logistics factors, price wars will also hinder sales for sellers of Christmas goods.

What’s scary is that sellers who are selling Christmas goods have already started to raise prices . Some sellers said that the price of new products from competitors is half of their own …Industry insiders predict that by September, the low-price spiral strategy will be fully reflected in Halloween and Christmas products.

Consumers are looking forward to Christmas, how can festive products be made more fragrant?

The reality of logistics and other factors may not be favorable to sellers, but sellers involved in the sale of seasonal products should still actively fight the peak season battle.

How can seasonal products be made more fragrant? Many experienced sellers said that they would rather make less money and run out of stock than restock.

It is understood that many sellers saw that Christmas products sold particularly well, so they took advantage of the situation and sent a lot of goods. However, by the time the products were put on the shelves, the peak season was coming to an end, and as a result, these products became unsalable products, and the early profits were successfully "dragged out" by the unsalable inventory.

Regarding this issue, Weibo blogger "Waaaah-b" gave his own opinion. The blogger said that sellers should prepare 3-6 months of replenishment in advance. The maximum inventory = the longest sell-out cycle / the minimum estimated sales volume. The estimated sales volume cannot be calculated according to the conventional average, but must be flexibly calculated according to seasonality. If the replenishment is insufficient in the early stage, it is easy to run out of stock many times in the middle. It is very easy to have inventory backlogs if you immerse yourself in the booming orders and pursue the victory.

Weibo blogger "Waaaah-b" also said that the selection of seasonal products should start from fixed elements and make different variations. For example, Halloween pumpkins , skeletons , spiders, etc. are all popular elements. Different elements have different audiences , traffic , and competition levels.

In addition, as the competition for seasonal products becomes increasingly fierce, simply starting with a low price, selling differentiated products at a high price, or selling products through multiple links are not necessarily a sure win. Sellers need to consider everything from product selection to promotion .

At the same time, infringement is also an issue that sellers cannot ignore. Be careful of trademark infringement in pictures and texts . For example, CHRISTMAS TIME / CHRISTMAS MAGIC are also trademarks .

Finally, I have to say it three times: sellers must take gross profit as their core goal, must take gross profit as their core goal, must take gross profit as their core goal.

The charm of festive products such as Christmas is that although the uncertainty of making money increases, this cannot stop people's enthusiasm for shopping. I think this is one of the reasons why most sellers are still preparing stocks vigorously under this situation this year.

Qubit's survey of 1,500 U.S. and British consumers found that 85.9% of respondents plan to continue shopping online during this year's holiday shopping season. The reason for choosing online shopping is that the products are more diverse.

In addition, as many as a quarter of consumers intend to increase their online shopping spending, and the survey also shows that this year's "holiday shopping season" may be the largest online shopping season to date.

The results of a survey of 2,000 British consumers by eBay Ads are also interesting. The survey shows that most British consumers are optimistic about Christmas 2021. 60% of respondents believe that they can celebrate Christmas this year as in previous years, and 39% believe that they can take a trip in the UK or abroad.

This optimism has prompted people to prepare for Christmas early. 27% of British consumers who celebrate Christmas said they started thinking about Christmas shopping in July , and 41% of consumers plan to complete their Christmas shopping before December . Consumers also seem to be more confident about their financial situation . According to research, 30% of consumers plan to increase their shopping spending this Christmas.

Amid this trend, searches for Christmas-related items on eBay are on the rise.

Hopefully, with optimistic consumption data, sellers’ festive products will sell well during this year’s peak season.