As I sit here typing this and look at my calendar, I see that Christmas is a short 95 days away.
Yes, folks, just 95 shopping days left until Christmas !!!
Between now and then we have Columbus Day, Halloween, Veterans Day, and Thanksgiving.
If you're an online shop owner like me, some cyber-housekeeping is in order. We need to shake out the welcome mat and dust away those cobwebs. We want our shop’s items to entice shoppers to come in and look around.
§ We need to check our inventory and make sure our pictures are all sharp and in focus. Are there any photographs in our inventory that need to be updated?
§ We need to check our descriptions and make sure we have used all the appropriate key words we need to get our items found by the search engines.
§ Have we checked our vintage clothing, accessories, and jewelry items to be sure their Google attributes are properly checked?
§ We need to check our shipping information and make sure we've got it right - keeping in mind that the post office may have changed rates since we listed that item. Is it time to think about offering free shipping for the holiday selling season?
§ We need to check our pricing and look at inventory items that have been around for a while. How long do we keep an item in our inventory if it's not selling?
The next big step is to make sure we have new items ready to list. We need to keep our inventory fresh and growing – which keeps our items at the top of the Ruby Lane search results.
What's going to sell this year?
What's on everyone's shopping list?
As a Ruby Lane shop owner, I also add these questions:
We all know that Ruby Lane likes to see new inventory on a regular basis, we need to be sure we list something new ... every day ... every other day ... it will keep our items at the top of the searches from within Ruby Lane. And we cannot forget that Google needs some time to index our items!
Shipping is the next thing to think about ... do we have shipping supplies? If we need Priority Mail supplies, now is the time to order them! Are we up on all the latest shipping rules from the USPS? Don't forget to add bubble wrap, packing tape, tissue paper, paper and printer cartridges to your shopping list! Do we have a stock of business cards to tuck into our packages? Some gift wrap so we can offer gift wrapping as a perk for our customers?
A recent blog post on Notes from The Lane gave us some great information. Here's a link to Thinking Outside the Box: New USPS Rates. I learned something new reading it! You might want to check it out.
Cyber Monday is November 28 this year … are you ready?
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