Quarterly Note | January – March 2019

Most awaited Quarter has passed and so are Q4 blessings. Time to set next milestones!

Majority of sellers experience a dip in their January sales and right about this time (Mid-January) things start to pick up as shoppers go through financial recovery. January to March is generally slow if you compare with rest of the year and you won’t see as much of an impulse buying pattern as earlier.

You still have to pull up your socks and gear up for the upcoming months.

Let’s re-strategize and rejuvenate with tips and some pick up ideas.

General Tips

• Inventory Management. Replenish your inventory wisely. You might have stocked up for Q4 and if you did not runout of stock already, you need to order keeping in mind the pace in the upcoming months.
• Chinese New Year 5^th February, 2019. It’s a long break across China for 3 weeks starting from January 26^th to February 18^th. You need to make proactive sourcing decisions.
• You might want to explore and diversify into different categories with seasonal variations to make a portfolio of products. Just like an investment portfolio some stocks go up while others suffer and you remain unaffected in net.
• Focus on ‘Don’ts’. Skip the ‘Do’s’ list for a change, just make a ‘Don’ts’ list by analyzing numbers and learn from mistakes from last year.
• Ditch Products. You surely have your favorites and the ones that kept pulling you back. Get rid of them if you don’t know how to improve upon them and are bringing more pain than gain.
• Build On Your Strengths. May be you had a brilliant product but were not able to capitalize as it might have lacked in some department. Make improvements in your products if need be or optimize your listings (check our blogs and services).

Specific Ideas

• Summers Are Coming. You can target relevant products as people have plans for outdoor activities like barbeque, fishing, swimming, snorkeling etc.
• Wedding Season. Coming out of the winters, many prefer planning their weddings in a pleasant weather March onwards. Explore products or even work on your own brand right from scratch.
• You can follow the schedule or calendar of events of any sport, religion or a sorority and list products that will come in handy for them.
• New Semester. Colleges and Universities will mostly likely begin at the end of January so you can explore book categories and stationary items generally in demand.
• Upcoming Holidays.
  • 21^st January – Birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.
  • 2^nd February – Groundhog Day
  • 14^th February – Valentine’s Day
  • 18^th February – President’s Day & Birthday of George Washington
  • 5^th March – Mardi Gras Carnival
  • 17^th March – Saint Patrick’s Day