Post xmas Checkup - How did you do?

[andy_boyd]

So Christmas has come and gone now - how have you all got on?

Are your sales up on last year? If this is your first Christmas as an online retailer, did it meet your expectations?

[Miop]

I didn'know what to expect as it was my first Christmas - I was taking 2K per week (from £350) for the first three weeks of december which was a total surprise. I had to spend all my savings to fulfil the orders.
Now I'm busy getting ready for next Christmas :)

[Essex_boy]

All went well. Never like Xmas before but I will next year!

[RedWolf]

This was my fifth Holiday Season, and it is the best so far. Sales were looking pretty poor through much of the year, but outstanding sales in November and December saved the year. In fact, as of yesterday, we were up about 32% from last year's gross sales with an expected couple percent more in sales left in last few days of the year. It feels much better than last year's flat sales growth over 2001. Much of the increase looks like it came from a concentration on marketing that will probably reduce my profit a bit, but I still expect it to be around 20% over 2002.

[bekyed]

Yes good, although lot of bricks and mortar retailers said that it was a little bit quieter this year, so more people are obviously buying online.
Bring it on!
:)

Happy new year to all etailors.

Bek.

[fabfurs]

2nd Christmas, sales doubled from last year. Sales are still good for the 28th and 29th. We are the manufacturer and etailer of a high-end luxury item.

Season ends around May.

Happy holidays to all.

[Sunshyn]

This was our 8th holiday season with an ecommerce site. Holiday sales this year were comparable to 1999 and 2000, which were the best years.

From 1996-2000, we'd experienced 50% increases in online holiday sales every year. We're in a niche market which never had much in the way of holiday sales before starting our website. We'd experienced dropping sales the last 2 years, but 2003 seems to have picked back up to a slight increase over 2000.

This December actually marked our biggest month for online sales so far, but it is tempered by a very low November. They average each other out to a decent, but not exceptional, holiday season.

[Christi]

We were actually down 19% this December over last year, although November was on par. Wholesale orders were up; it was online retail (direct to consumer) that was down. Drag.

[lightswitch]

This was our 1st xmas @ 3rd month, & its was great! Further more sales have only settled down by about 1/3rd turns out alot of new customers found us when their freinds & family saw what they got for xmas.

[martyt]

Our first Christmas season. Gross revenue for December was nearly double the average for the first 9 months we were in business.

I guess that's a good thing - hoping it continues into next year!

[WebStart]

5 years etailer. Each prior year business increased significantly during NOV and DEC, and then carried on into the new year. This NOV and DEC are the same as last year, a little less actually, than last year. I attribute it to increased competition on the Internet. There are now about 10 sites or more visible (decent positions paid or unpaid on SEs ) that sell the same items I do, where previously in year one, 0; year 2, 1-2; Year 3, 3-5; and so forth.

[ThomasB]

2nd christmas and much bigger than last year. In general I'd say that dec was 2-3x bigger than october.

[quotations]

Up about 300% from last year but down about 70% versus the pre Florida projections.

[andy_boyd]

Our turnover actually decreased year on year, but then again the site in question has stagnated and others have entered the market.

My other sites are all new so this is their first Christmas but they performed very well, especially when the *very negative* effect of Google's Florida update is taken into consideration.

I guess the smart webmaster is out looking around trade shows so that his / her site is ready for the next Christmas season! Do we all have plans for the next year ... new product lines, reduced prices, higher prices? How do you intend to make 2004 even better than 2003?

[Essex_boy]

Well I noticed that most of my sales were to Women buying gear that had a leaning towards mens interests.

Which I though was interesting so my next site is being targeted towards mens giftwear.

This time Ill make sure Im ready for xmas, with tons of packing material at the ready!

[KoDe_GuRu]

Went well for all of my sites..

[Sunshyn]

How do you intend to make 2004 even better than 2003?

I'm thinking of adding more features for return customers. I've been trying to figure out how to set up and integrate a password system to allow wish lists and the like. The problem will be doing so in a way that won't scare away any potential customers.

[andy_boyd]

I'm hoping to make a big change to my main site by changing it from static html to a site driven off of a database. It's going to be pretty sweet when it's all done- customized search results, *optional customer accounts*, better pics, more competitive pricing, faster and way better navigation.

Also hope to write and distribute more articles. Anybody got any experience of that? Does it work well?

[derekwong28]

Our sales were 50% up this December compared to the year before which was 50% up compared to the year before that.
Still it left us with a sore feeling since December sales were 33% down from last July. Therefore Christmas was actually very bad for us this year.
We were very dissapointed that many of our loyal repeat customers didn't come back this year but I cannot blame them because our prices were too high.

The problem is that the products we are selling are getting out of fashion altogether and we will be carrying more products or perhaps switch our focus sompletely. We will also change our site from static html to php/sql driven in order to allow us to carry more products easily.

We will also be looking to see whether we can source "hit and run" products i.e. electronic products that are suddenly very fashionable and appear in the far east before everywhere else so that we hope to make a killing before overseas retailers get sufficient stock.

[CernyM]

We just started in November, so our data is limited.

I do know that we did twice as much business in December as we did in November. January looks to be starting strong as well, but I've had to turn our advertising WAY down because demand is overwhelming our production capability.

A good problem to have, I suppose - but I'd sure feel better increasing advertising rather than reducing it.

[Essex_boy]

DereckW:

Sounds like a good idea - however In the UK we had a hit games console this year so I sold it at less than cost, postage made up for the loss, however...

we sold zero editions and we were way cheaper than anyone else.

The idea sounds fine in principle but.... The one thing I have found that works is that I visit all of my suppliers and youd be surprised at the information I get as to who's buying what.

I find that I can then keep pace with the bug chainstores as I can have the items ready to ship before they have hit the stores. You just have to be on the pulse....

[derekwong28]

Essex_Boy

The toy industry works like this. In Hong Kong, all suppliers are glued to eBay in order to assess which products are in fashion and which are not, even though they will not sell on eBay themselves. Sometimes, they will help their resellers with photos and information to sell on eBay or their web sites. Sometimes it is possible to make over 500% profit on eBay just by buying a particular off the street.

However, there are often problems involved.

1. Many of these products are unofficial products launched after a major cartoon e.g. Nemo or Brother Bear and therefore they break the copyright of Disney and AOL Time Warner.

2. Many electronic products are produced in China for their internal market only. Therefore they are not CE or FCC certified. It is also possible they have copied their designs elsewhere.

One of the very hit products in Hong Kong at the moment are the wristwatch type walkie talkies. However, they are not FCC certified and we will probably get a lawyer's letter alledging infringment of copyright if we carry them.

Derek