7 Ways to Manage Amazon Account When Selling Seasonal Items

Now that the holidays are fast approaching, you must be thinking of selling seasonal items to attract more customers to your store. For example, if you own an apparel brand, you probably want to offer a winter collection. Or, if you sell home decor, you might be interested in putting up more Halloween- or Christmas-themed items for sale.

While selling seasonal items is a great way to increase your sales, it can also be risky. This is especially true if you are doing it for the first time and might not know some valuable tips to successfully sell seasonal items without incurring losses. It would also be challenging without the help of account managers or experienced Amazon sellers.

So to maximize the benefits of selling seasonal items and reduce their potential damages, keep reading this article. It discusses seven ways to best manage your seller account when selling seasonal items on Amazon.

1. Start offering the items ahead of the holiday season

Understandably, you might opt to launch your seasonal products during the holiday season itself to build momentum properly. But even though this move seems counterintuitive, there are various reasons why it's best to start selling seasonal items before the holiday season.

First, shoppers who start their holiday shopping early are more likely to look for unique items that are not readily available in stores. And even if they don't purchase immediately, they might already add your product to the cart and purchase it later. So, selling holiday items early can capture a larger market share that your competitors are missing out online.

Second, early shoppers are often willing to pay more for items they know will be in high demand later. Because they want to avoid the holiday rush, which causes shipping delays, you can leverage this and charge a premium for your products.

Lastly, it will help you build a loyal customer base and gain multiple product reviews before the holiday season. Because Amazon's A10 algorithm looks into product reviews, having several comments on your listing can help you rank high on the search engine results pages (SERPs). They can also make you more visible on the platform and attract customers who value reviews before purchasing.

2. Plan your sales promotion

One of the best practices in seller management is making detailed plans. After all, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And since the holiday season is a busy time for Amazon sellers like you, you must plan crucial areas of your Amazon business, especially sales promotions. Doing this will help you seize the traffic on the Amazon website brought by the holiday season.

But with so many shoppers looking for deals, it can be difficult to stand out from the competition. So to ensure success in your sales promotion, you must first consider your target audience and what type of discount or deals would appeal to them.

Next, it would also help to set a budget for your promotion and ensure you have enough inventory to meet the demands. Otherwise, you might lose a lot of customers who are anticipating getting great deals from your brand.

Finally, create a schedule and time for your promotion to ensure everything runs according to plan. But if you intend to include your products on Amazon Lightning Deals, you must submit your proposals before the deadline to avoid missing out on this opportunity.

3. Stock the right amount of items beforehand

Your stock levels for your seasonal items can make or break your sales. If you don't have enough inventory to meet your customer demand, you might immediately run out of stock. But if you have too much stock and fail to sell them throughout the holiday season, you might gain opportunity costs from long-term storage fees.

Therefore, it would be best to plan your inventory and ensure you have the right amount of inventory on hand before the beginning of the holiday season. But if you are using Amazon FBA, you must ship your stocks to Amazon fulfillment centers before the deadline to avoid losses.

If you're unsure how much to order, a good rule of thumb is to start with a base level of stock and then increase your order quantity as the holiday season approaches. This will help ensure you can meet customer demand without overstocking your shelves. Additionally, it's important to monitor your inventory levels throughout the season and adjust your orders accordingly.

However, for FBA sellers who must ship inventory before the deadline, the tips above might not help. So, it would be best to look into your old sales data or work with an Amazon FBA manager to be more confident in the amount of inventory you will send out.

4. Optimize your listings and storefront

Besides having the right stock levels, you should also work on optimizing your listings and storefront to maximize the influx of customers during the busy season. Here are some tips you can consider:

First, your listings must be up-to-date and accurate. This includes ensuring that you have clear and concise product descriptions, competitive pricing, and high-quality product photos. But aside from these basic optimization tasks, you should also take advantage of holiday-themed keywords and tags to help boost your visibility on the SERPs.

In addition, you must take some time to spruce up your storefront if you are a brand registered seller. Consider adding festive banners and images, updating your featured products, and offering special holiday discounts to inform your customers about your promotions. You can also use this opportunity to include holiday-related digital content about your product that can benefit your potential customers.

5. Offer non-seasonal items

Many businesses rely heavily on seasonal items to drive sales and profits. However, you may struggle during the off-season if you are one of those businesses that only offer seasonal items. It can be because your earnings during the holidays might not sustain your business expenses for the entire year.

So to overcome this challenge, you must also offer non-seasonal items alongside seasonal ones. Seasonal items can be anything from produce to decorations, but non-seasonal items might include staples like canned goods or everyday items like paper towels. By offering a mix of both, you can appeal to a wider range of customers and keep them coming back all year round.

6. Beware of fraudulent orders

You might be looking forward to the holiday season because of the high traffic and sales. But remember that fraudsters are still looming and working double time this season. So, it would be best to prepare your Amazon business for fraudulent orders and people taking advantage of Amazon's returnless refund policy to get free items. 

One of the things you can do to avoid falling victim to fraudulent schemes is to verify the customer's billing and shipping information before processing the order. If it seems suspicious, reach out to the customer to confirm their personal information.

It's also important to watch for red flags, such as high-value item orders from new customers. If you suspect an order may be fraudulent, your best action is to reach out directly to Amazon support center for further guidance. They have the right tools or apps to check the customer's account, browsing history, and previous transactions, including excessive returns and scams. 

7. Ready your customer service

Just as you rely on Amazon's customer service in certain situations, you must also prepare your business's customer service, especially during this hectic season. This way, you can provide your customers with memorable and stress-free holiday season shopping. 

So to achieve this, make sure that you have enough staff available to handle the increased volume of customer inquiries. It's also a good idea to provide additional training for your team members so that they're ready to handle any challenges that come their way.

In this training, they must learn your store and Amazon's holiday policies, especially on returns and refunds. It would also help to create a cheat sheet of frequently asked questions so that your team is prepared to handle common customer inquiries.

In a nutshell

To succeed in selling seasonal items on Amazon, you must learn how to manage your seller account well. Some best practices you can consider applying are offering your seasonal items ahead of the season, planning your sales promotion, and stocking the right amount of items. Moreover, you should optimize your listings and storefront, offer non-seasonal items, beware of fraudulent orders, and ready your customer service.

But if you want the best results during the holiday season and beyond, you should also consider hiring an account manager from reputable companies like Seller Interactive. They have worked with multiple clients to help them manage their businesses during the holidays. So by availing of their services, you no longer have to learn how to get an Amazon account manager.Book a call today if you are also interested in working with them!