Xmas Xpectations

9 month old ecom site, what to expect for christmas

[watercrazed]

Hi,
I have a site that started to sell products in December (previously a brochure site for the phyiscal business locations) No ranking or promotion at that time, But enough sales to continue working on the development of the site. It is not really a gift site but 10 to 20% of sales to date seem to be for gifts. I have expanded product line and moved from a 1 and 2 PR to a PR5 and 200 to 300 visitors a day. A lot of information seekers, and maybe poor interface, using paypal for now about a 1% conversion rate or less.

Finally to the Question, what to expect this Christmas. I am concerned, Hopeful ;-) about maintaining customer service if the volume increases. Maintaining inventory levels, shipping schedules (the internet portion of my business is a one man (me) part time effort so far) So, what do you think, what has been your experience if you have a product line that makes a decent gift, but not a killer gift category like toys, etc..

If I am getting 60 sales a month, is 80-100 sales for November and December what I should expect or might it ballon to 200 plus? For any given product I rarely get more than 2 orders a week, so I carry about 3 of each (in my internet inventory-in a pinch I borrow from the physical sites but that has problems) with a week turnaround in shipping.

Help, starting to worry ;-)
Any suggestions or war stories appreciated.

[Mark_A]

I have a related question for you watercrazed ..

what happens to sales in your physical locations for these same products at Xmas time?

[KevinC]

tough to say cause it all depends on the product and industry

But if you are already getting 60 sales a month right now - the potential for 200+ sales a month during xmas is probaly there.

The answer is probaly in the question Mark_a asked though.

[JamesR]

There are so many factors that go into sales it is hard to determine. I think I saw a 25-50% increase last year around Christmas.

I would get off Paypal and onto a more standard ordering system if possible.

Work on making the site easy to use, explain your ordering system so a four year old could order.

Highlight the gift type stuff around Thanksgiving time.

[watercrazed]

Hi,
Thanks for the feedback, Product sales at the physical site just about doubled, the Physical sites focus more on service than the products I carry though.