10 Steps to Finishing Your Amazon Year Strong

The fourth quarter of the year, also known as The Holiday Season, sees Amazon sales peaking, making it a hectic time for most Amazon sellers. With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas all happening in the span of a month, there’s so much to do that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. 

During the holiday season, consumers all over the world feel festive, hosting and attending gatherings, buying gifts, and spending more money than any other time of the year. During the 2021 holiday season, over 130,000 Amazon third-party sellers worldwide surpassed $100,000 in sales, and between Black Friday and Christmas, U.S sellers sold an average of 11,500 products per minute. ¹

For sellers, this is a critical time that can make all the difference when it comes to sales. It’s essential to be prepared for the challenges that come with this sales volume and be ready to use them as valuable growth opportunities. 

How can you ensure that you’ll finish the year on a strong note? If you haven’t worked out a plan yet, here’s what we recommend focusing on to make the most of the time you have left:

1. Think Ahead about the Amazon Holiday Season

Our number one piece of advice is to avoid procrastinating and begin preparing for the holiday season as early as September (and maybe even before) by planning your inventory and listing your activities. But it’s certainly not too late if you’re reading this at the end of November! Get organized now, and your business can still benefit from this holiday season.

So–where to begin? We suggest starting by looking back at everything you’ve done for your Amazon seller account over the last three to six months. Make a list of your marketing endeavors and include all the approaches you’ve tried. Review your list and identify what worked – these are the marketing strategies you’ll want to prioritize during this busy time of year. Recreating previous successes is an ultra-effective way to get ahead.

2. Make Space

It’s important to begin Q4 with clear priorities. There’s probably a long list of improvements you need to make and things you want to try. Decide which are crucial for the coming months and which can be put off until next year. Tasks taking up space in your head with no chance of execution are effectively just distracting background noise. Put these on next year’s to-do list instead of worrying about them right now. When you let go of these less urgent tasks, you free up energy to finish the year strong.

3. Prepare for the Holiday Season Rush

Ensuring you have adequate inventory is key for meeting elevated demand during the holiday season. If you’re not sure you’ll have enough stock in the Amazon warehouses, consider opening Fulfilled by Merchant (FBM) listings and shipping products yourself so you won’t be left without a way to fulfill orders at the last minute.

4. Channel the Holiday Spirit

Just as brick-and-mortar stores use decor and music to create a festive ambiance for shoppers, all your Amazon elements should be ready for gift-buyers at this time of year. Changes like incorporating holiday-themed elements into your graphics or adding gift-related keywords to your listings can make a significant impact.

Here are a few examples of what you can try:

• Give your listings a giftable look: Add holiday-related photos and videos to your listings’ photo decks and A+ sections.
• Add gift-related phrases to your bullet texts: Try including something like, “Makes an excellent Christmas gift”.
• Add seasonal keywords to the backend and product detail page.

5. Increase Exposure

Exposure is important for your brand throughout the year, but it’s especially vital to bring traffic to your products during the holiday season. Don’t miss opportunities to create deals, Prime-exclusive discounts, coupons, or promotions, such as social media promo codes. Create holiday sales on at least a few of your products if you haven’t booked any deals for your account.

Don’t miss out on tools that make it easier to reach your audience. Take advantage of Amazon programs like Amazon Posts, Amazon Gift Guides, and Amazon Lifestyle. To maximize external traffic, use social media promo codes and Amazon attribution.

6. Prioritize your advertising strategies:

There are so many potential approaches to Amazon advertising that it’s easy to feel a bit lost. As advertising costs skyrocket around the holidays, choosing your battles is important.
We recommend focusing on what already works best, focusing on your highest-performing campaigns. It’s also a good idea to expand your campaigns to reach potential customers from the upper advertising funnel with Sponsored Display campaigns.

Here are some advertising strategies to consider:

• Increase the budgets and bids for the PPC campaigns that perform best
• Set budget rules based on campaign performance 
• Set up a Sponsored Brands campaign directing shoppers to your store, and צake sure your store is “decorated” for the holidays, showcasing your best-selling products and holiday sales
• Update your Sponsored Brands campaign images to include holiday elements
• Advertise your store’s most notable deals using the “Featured Deals” tile
• Run a custom video campaign with a holiday look and feel
• Create a new “Special Occasion” manual campaign that includes dedicated keywords related to specific holidays

7. Set Up a Daily Routine

So many unexpected responsibilities arise at this time of year that you must put in consistent effort to stay on top of them. Develop a system of daily check-in for all aspects of your store and apply them methodically. Monitor your Account Health, listings, scheduled deals, and promotions. Ensure your items’ headlines, images, and descriptions haven’t changed. Check that reviews haven’t been deleted, that there are no messages from customers left unanswered, and that no feedback has been left unaddressed. Create a system to make sure these responsibilities don’t get away from you.

8. Surround Yourself with Support during the Amazon Holiday Season

E-commerce can be a lonely business. Don’t forget that you’re not in this alone. Stay involved in professional communities and follow industry experts and other sellers to learn from them. This is also a great time to delegate more – make sure you have a strong team that you trust during this busy time.

9. Avoid Burnout

On a more personal level, taking care of yourself during this hectic time is a requirement. Make room for physical activity, be sure to eat well, and prioritize sleeping enough. Overworking yourself and spinning out of balance is never productive in the long run. Acknowledge all the hard work you’re doing, and praise yourself for every day you grow and improve.

10. Learn from Each Day and Improve as You Go

So much happens during the course of each sales day, especially on days like Black Friday. Don’t forget to look back at the end of each day and examine what worked for you. Making a habit of noticing small wins, learning from each day, and implementing what you’ve learned will help you improve over time.

To make the most crucial time of the year count for your Amazon brand, make sure you have a clear plan that’s easy to follow. Determine what you will need to prepare for each holiday and create a schedule for each week. Then set up a daily routine of checking your campaigns and deals. Creating a clear and actionable plan is the best way to finish the year strong.

Here at WiseCommerce, we create detailed strategies to help our clients to make the most of the Amazon holiday season. If you’d like us to help your business, get in touch to discuss working together. 

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