It’s the first week of October. It is, officially, the 4th and final quarter of 2012. Thanksgiving is now just 52 days away, including today. Which means that you have 52 days until Black Friday, and then another 23 until Christmas Day. But…

You’ll be fine. Just follow these tips and you should be a bit more comfortable about the upcoming months. Remember, all this traffic is a great thing for you and your business. :)

1. Research. Before you do anything, you must research your position. See what your competition is doing. Try the Internet’s WayBack Machine and see if you can find out what promotions went on last year. You don’t have to beat it, but some of them may be clever enough to inspire you to make your own version for this year.
2. Pricing. You need to make sure that when people see your products, they immediately go “That’s a great value.” People during the holidays are buying a lot of merchandise, and the more valuable they feel your product is for their money, the better you and they will feel during and after the sale. Don’t offer your products for less than they are worth, but overpricing could kill you this holiday season.
3. Promotions. Sales are the lynchpin of Black Friday and holiday sales. With your pricing strategy, keep in mind the promotions that you’re planning to offer for these days and how you’re going to make sure you are still making a profit on your sales. Remember, most everybody’s horrible at fractions and percentages. So, use that to your advantage. Giving 50% more of a product free and a B1G1 seem the same to people purchasing, but the former is more likely to be easier on your pocket.
4. Shipping. If you don’t offer expedited shipping, now may be a time to look into it. Having the “order by [date] to receive by [date]” message on your website is paramount to preventing the majority of concerns on arrivals for e-commerce stores. For marketplaces & auctions, this is probably not as easy for you, but some sort of notification might be nice in your listings. Consider offering free or discounted shipping for some of your higher-selling products, or creating a discount around “order $X and get free shipping.”
5. Marketing. Every customer pretty much expects that you’re going to offer some sort of sale for Black Friday and/or Cyber Monday. Don’t let yourself get left by the wayside by not telling them about exactly what you’re doing. Make up a snappy title for your e-mail campaign that will leave others looking lame. If you participate in PPC ads, make sure that they’re also eye-catching, advertise whatever promotions you’re running, and call the customer to actually click on your ad. (And then make it worth their while when they actually get to the landing page. After all, you paid for that click.)
6. Record. Write down everything. Next year, around this time, you’ll love yourself for doing this. Time has a funny effect on memories, and writing yourself a diary of the time everything took to manage, what you did, what worked (and what didn’t), and the successes you experienced will help immensely when it’s time to do it all again.
7. Relax. You will get everything done. Don’t try to conquer the world, just do what you do the best that you can. These months are busy. They always have been; they always will be. So, take the moments that present themselves and relax. Wine, beer, potato chips, molten chocolate cake… whatever floats your boat. (You can see that food is my favorite way to indulge.)

As much as you can do ahead of time, do it. Automation can help you tackle this season, as well as a couple of extra hands on deck. Stock up on shipping labels, boxes, tape, and packing materials so that you’re ready to fulfill and ship orders almost as quickly as they come in.

Do you have some pearls of wisdom that you’ve gained through previous seasons? Let me know in the comments!

I’m Erika, the social media & content manager for ShipStation. You’ll find me on Twitter, Facebook, and the other areas of the ShipStation world. In my free time, I’m a lover of video games, my cats, and other generally nerdy things. :)

We have amazing customers who sell great products, and we love to spotlight them in our blog. This month’s spotlight is Conscious Box

Name: Jesse Richardson

Title:  CCO/CMO

Company: Conscious Box

Web Site: http://consciousbox.com
Facebook: http://facebook.com/consciousbox
Twitter: @ConsciousBox

Where do you sell online?

You can purchase a subscription at ConsciousBox.com.

How did you come up with the idea to start an eco-friendly monthly box service?

Conscious Box is about helping people transition to a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle. With a monthly box, we’re able to introduce subscribers to great products and companies right at their doorstep! In each box, you get the chance to discover new favorites while supporting more conscious consumption. It’s easy, fun, and like having your birthday every month!

What are some of your most memorable products that have been offered in your boxes?

We like to think that every month, all our products are the best. Of course, we’ve picked up a few favorites along the way: Natural Vitality has got the best vitamins and supplements around, Berry Plus sports the most creative packaging we’ve ever seen for laundry soap, and Vega One has introduced us to the most delicious tasting vegan protein blends. That’s not to suggest products like LARABAR, SeedBallz, Kelp Krunch, Wembé, and Planet Inc’s super-powered dishwashing liquid aren’t amazing though. Let’s just say we could go on for days about what memorable products have been featured in Conscious Box :)

How has ShipStation helped your business?

ShipStation has provided us with the shipping solution we’ve been looking for since we started nearly a year ago. Not only do we ship a consistent few thousand boxes each month, but we also deal with dozens of other orders, including press boxes and (of course) the occasional customer service needs. ShipStation brings the demands of each of these tasks together in one place and provides a functionality and layout that makes it all simple. It’s easy to organize our shipments, manual orders are user-proof, and we’ve got a system that we can trust to stay solid.

What is your favorite ShipStation feature?

Since we prefer our whole team to be knowledgeable about shipping, I know we’ve all got our own favorites. Mine, though, has got to be the simplicity behind entering manual orders and keeping track of shipments. It’s easy for me to get list of any new orders we need and remotely print them from my computer, so the labels are ready to go when I am. It’s turned a usually burdensome task into one that is easy for anyone – including the content guy (that’s me).

Looking for an eco-friendly gift box? Visit ConsciousBox.com for a monthly delivery of pure and sustainable products that are handpicked from businesses that care for the planet.

If you would like to be included in our monthly customer spotlight, please contact us and let us know. 

ShipStation is pleased to announced a new feature for our Amazon sellers to help with increased picking and packing accuracy. ShipStation now pulls in product images and weights for every Amazon order and displays them along with item name and sku.

 

Like other marketplaces, Amazon sellers now have the ability to hover over a product thumbnail image and see a larger version of the product image.

We’d love to hear what you think of these new features – as well as your ideas for new ones. Let us know what you think  in UserVoice by selecting “Suggest a Feature” from the Support Menu.

We have awesome customers who sell fantastic products, and we love to spotlight them in our blog. If you would like to be included, please contact us and let us know. This month’s spotlight is Cutting Edge Stencils

Name: Janna Makaeva and Greg Swisher

Title:  Co-founders and CEOs

Company: Cutting Edge Stencils

Web Site: www.cuttingedgestencils.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cutting-Edge-Stencils/130488356769

Twitter: https://twitter.com/CEStencils

Where do you sell online?

We sell on our own website, CuttingEdgeStencils.com, also on Etsy, Amazon, Artfire, Ebay, Bonanza and Ecrater.

How long have you been designing stencils?

We have been designing stencils since 1996, and we used them mostly for our decorative painting business, SpecFin designs. We used to paint and stencil upscale homes in NY metropolitan area. And in 2008 we decided to open a stencil store and start selling to everyone online.

What inspires you to create your pieces?

Most of my inspiration comes from nature and my garden. I also draw lots of inspiration from historic sources such as architecture, pottery, tiles and textiles.

How has ShipStation helped your business?

Shipstation really transformed our whole order fulfilling process! We used the Paypal system before and it was so slow and unsophisticated, and it literally took hours and hours to print the shipping labels. With Shipstation it all miraculously changed, the time savings are amazing and I only wish we have found you guys earlier :) it is so easy to use, very intuitive and well-thought out.

What is your favorite ShipStation feature?

Our favorite feature is Automation, it’s such a time-saver! We love creating custom rules so there is less and less info to enter for the person printing the labels.

We are pleased to announce that ShipStation now supports 3DCart!  3DCart is a complete eCommerce shopping cart software provider. eCommerce store owners can easily build, edit, and maintain an online store without any programming knowledge.

3DCart Integration Highlights

	Fully support all 3DCart stores Intuitive, easy to use web interface with no software to install
	Real-time information retrieval Imports orders, customers, customer notes, and products
	Automatic shipping service selection ShipStation will automatically select the correct shipping service based on the buyer’s checkout details
	Streamlined shipping system processes Print shipping labels for numerous orders in just a few clicks
	Customer communication Customized packing slips and email notifications give you full control over your customer communication

Our advanced customization features allow ShipStation to fit with 3DCart stores seamlessly.  If you are looking for a powerful shipping solution to integrate with your 3DCart store, get started with your 30 day free trial of ShipStation today.

We have awesome customers who sell fantastic products, and we are going to begin spotlighting some of them in our blog. If you would like to be included, please contact us and let us know. Our first spotlight is Society 43!

Name:  Jason Bolt

Title:  CEO/El Presidente’

Company: Society 43

Web Site: http://www.society43.com/

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/Society43

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Society43

What does Socity 43 sell? Licensed Collegiate Sunglasses

Where do you sell online? eBay, Amazon, Society43.com (Volusion web site)

How has ShipStation helped your business?

ShipStation has been a rockstar product for us.  It has cut our fulfillment time by 60-70% since we have integrated it.  It provides our customers with the information they need to know to feel secure about our products leaving our warehouse and arriving at their doorstep in a timely fashion.  It also provides us with crucial metrics about who we are shipping too and what we are spending on shipping.

What is your favorite ShipStation feature?

Our favorite ShipStation feature is being able to pull order information from all of our different sales channels and allowing us to setup default values for incoming products.  It simplifies our fulfillment process tremendously and is an essential tool for any online company selling through multiple channels.

Do you have any tips for new online retailers?

Customer service is key.  Customers will buy from you online because it is convenient, but they have to trust your products and your company.  Easing customers’ worries about buying online should be priority number one.  We do this by offering free shipping both ways, which ShipStation makes simple and responding to all customer inquiries within 24 hours.  Gain your customers’ trust and they will become a champion of your brand.

When are you going to offer Texas Longhorn shades?!

Working on it…they should be available by April 2012. :)

We’re proud to announce that ShipStation now supports Magento Commerce! Magento is the most popular open source e-Commerce solution with more than 100,000 merchants worldwide. Its professional features, flexibility, and scalability make it an ideal choice for businesses of any size.

Magento Integration Highlights

	Supports all Magento editions Magento Community, Magento Enterprise, and Magento Go
	Real-time information retrieval Imports orders, customers, customer notes, products, and images
	Automatic shipping service selection ShipStation will automatically select the correct shipping service based on the buyer’s checkout details
	Order status and tracking information updated automatically Full 360-degree synchronization with your Magento store
	Customer communication Customized packing slips and email notifications give you full control over your customer communication

 
Of course, you’ll also be able to take advantage of the same great shipping features that ShipStation provides – discounted USPS shipping rates, multi-channel order consolidation, and more!
 
If you are looking for a shopping cart solution that fits ShipStation like a glove, consider trying Magento!
 
If you currently have a Magento store, and you are looking to supercharge your shipping process, try ShipStation free for 30 days now!