Practical wholesale tips to prepare your stock for Black Friday and Christmas with Orderchamp

As we approach the busiest consumer buying season of the year, differentiating yourself as a retailer is essential to attracting the attention of potential customers. With key events like Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Sinterklaas, and Christmas driving extra traffic at this time of the year, the competition is fierce and low prices alone will not be sufficient to guarantee sales. To stand out this year, it’s crucial to consider all the latest industry data and trends in planning your purchasing strategy. We’ve compiled and analyzed wholesale shopping data on our marketplace during the period leading up to the holiday season and enriched it with insights to help you best prepare your end-of-year strategy.

Top search terms and search behavior

While the consumer shopping season will start from the end of November, we already see Christmas-related searches on our marketplace start to increase from as early as June, with peak interest in October. In terms of behavior by store type, our data shows that online retailers are more likely to start searching for the holiday season in advance (around September-October), while retailers with physical stores are more likely to start searching only in October. When it comes to physical retailers, we also see that they’re more likely to place last-minute orders compared to online retailers, perhaps because for these types of stores it’s crucial to have the right and enough stock on display. In addition, retailers selling Baby & Kids products, particularly in the Netherlands, are more likely to start searching for new products earlier in September as Sinterklaas takes place at the beginning of December with Dutch children receiving gifts on Pakjesavond (December 5).

Furthermore, we see that while most Christmas-related searches happen in October, over half of the total searches in November are related to Christmas items like ‘Christmas ornaments’, ‘Advent calendars’, ‘Wreaths’ and ‘Christmas tree balls’. While most searches are quite broad (‘Christmas’, ‘Christmas items’, ‘Christmas decorations’), we see that retailers selling Beauty & Health and Kitchen & Dining items are more specifically looking for gift sets in the months leading up to Christmas.

Orderchamp tip: start early! Prepare your mood boards, gather inspiration from different marketplaces and tradeshows, and make sure you’re on top of trends ahead of time to make your stock as relevant as possible to your customers by the time they do their shopping. Keep in mind that while consumers do their holiday shopping in late Q4, as a retailer you need to be ahead of the curve around 2-3 months in advance!

Our tips for you:
Ensure that you plan your purchasing calendar in advance. Start gathering inspiration earlier on in the year and perhaps already start stocking up on evergreen Christmas essentials like home decorations. By doing this you can mitigate the risks of low or out-of-stockage, ensure that products arrive on time and spread your costs over a longer period of time. We advise you to keep an eye on emerging trends by keeping tabs on the new products being added to the marketplace, visiting tradeshows and showrooms, and asking your brand partners if they have an Autumn/Winter catalog. Closer to the holiday season, it can be a good idea to start stocking up on trending items as you gain a better understanding of the types of products on offer. These items will be the highlight pieces that differentiate your assortment from competitors. 

Speaking of differentiation, it’s important to also plan the product positioning of your items in-store. Effective product positioning is key to ensuring your offerings stand out during the peak holiday shopping season and resonate with your customers’ needs. The holiday rush presents an opportunity to strategically highlight your best-selling products and create compelling offers that catch customers’ attention. Here are some examples:

• Create gift guides: Curate collections that cater to specific audiences, such as gifts for him, her, or kids. This simplifies the shopping experience and encourages customers to explore your recommendations.
  
  
• Utilize bundling strategies: Offer product bundles that provide value and convenience. Consider pairing a popular item with complementary accessories, or create themed bundles that resonate with holiday gifting trends. To stand out, you could even allow customers to create their own bundles, completely customizable to their needs.
  
  

Consider how you group products in-store and online. This example is from Anthropologie.

• Highlight bestsellers & new arrivals: Showcase trending products and new items to capture attention. In the case of an online shop, you can utilize social proof by featuring customer reviews and testimonials to build trust.

Popular seasonal categories

Suppliers on our marketplace are well prepared for the demand in Christmas items, with new products & collections being added from the middle of Summer. The majority of Christmas-related products are found in the Home & Living category, with an increase in seasonal decoration listings like Christmas trees, Christmas tree ornaments, wreaths, candles and more. Furthermore, we also see more Stationery items being added in August, particularly greeting cards and gift wrapping like ribbons and gift tags - all the essentials needed for gift giving. In terms of demand, our data also shows an increasing interest in jewelry items, drinkware and food pre-Christmas as retailers prepare for the gifting season and providing all the pieces for holiday gatherings.

Our tips for you:
Enhance your in-store experience. The look and feel of your physical or online store can hugely influence your selling opportunities. The way you display your products, decorate your space, and create a welcoming environment can make your shop stand out during the holiday season. Create displays that promote popular categories named earlier in this post, such as ornaments or holiday decorations, to play into the trends of the season. Here are some ideas:

• Store window displays: Your storefront is the first impression customers will have. Invest time in creating an attractive display that showcases your best products and encourages customers to enter your (web)shop. You can use fairy lights, garlands, or even just a simple white window pen to create a seasonal look. Online shops can consider using banners, seasonal images and colors to give their shop an inspiring and inviting space. 
  
  
• Visual merchandising: Consider how customers will go through your (web)shop. Creating a logical path that invites your visitors to explore different corners of your store while being inspired by your own decorations can be very effective. For example, having matching products together, an ornaments corner, or stocking fillers in one designated area can really give your customers a more comfortable and encouraging shopping experience. The same applies for online shops, where you can create certain categories and inspirational pages that will make your customers’ shopping experience more efficient and enjoyable. 
  
  
• Gift wrapping services: Offering a gift wrapping service in-store and online can be a great value added service for your customers. It’s also an opportunity for you to promote your business and stand out with extraordinary gift wrapping. 
  
  
• Extended opening hours (for physical retailers only): It is not uncommon for shopping areas to participate in evenings with extended hours, accommodating busy shoppers. Taking part in these can give your business the boost you’re looking for. 

During this season you have an opportunity with your shop to create a feeling in your customers. People are warming up to the coziness of the season and stores that exemplify that feeling will attract people to visit and shop at your store. After all, emotions sell, so getting your customers in the holiday spirit will definitely help your business stand out.

Leveraging marketplace events

Our marketplace events present a great opportunity for retailers to prepare for the holiday season by buying in bulk, often at discounted prices or with other benefits such as temporarily lowered minimums or free shipping deals. The Orderchamp marketplace events always follow the buying season, allowing you to build your stock around it. During our Connect & Grow event in October, we saw a 70% increase in unique visits compared to a regular week on the marketplace. This tells us that many retailers flock to the marketplace ahead of time to optimize their holiday assortment by benefitting from temporary deals.

What this means for you: While for brands, our events are an interesting opportunity to increase marketplace visibility, for retailers, this insight can help you benchmark certain marketing practices to give your own business a boost in traffic too. With all the work you’ve put into creating an appealing and strategic shop this season, it’s time to let everyone know! Promote your efforts through your communication channels and invite customers to come experience it for themselves. Here are a few ideas:

• Promote your offering: Let people know about the products, bundles, and deals you’re offering. Promote them through social media, newsletters, and display them in your window. You can even consider setting up promotional campaigns like “12 Days of Christmas” to highlight your products and engage your customers. Consider when to start promoting your holiday collection. Some businesses begin as early as November, while Dutch pepernoten are already on the shelves by early September. Choose the timing that best suits your business and caters to your customers' needs!

Find inspiration online or use templates, like these in Canva!

• Consider investing in paid advertising: You can do as little as boost a post on Instagram for a few euros to let people know about your offerings and entice them to shop with you. Highlight your differentiators and show why people should shop at your store this season. Other paid channels you can consider are Meta advertising or Google shopping to promote your seasonal catalog and set up targeted campaigns. 

Need more marketing tips? Check out our blog posts on setting up a marketing strategy that works for you. 

To conclude

As we enter the busiest consumer shopping season of the year, you’ll want to be strategic in making sure that your assortment offers all the essentials shoppers look for, while exciting customers with unique items. With events like Black Friday, Sinterklaas, Christmas, and New Year’s leading to increased traffic, making use of all the tools available to position your products, enhance your online and in-store experiences, and drive conversions is key. However, remember your own value proposition and what makes your store unique! The most valuable asset to any business is your identity so when putting together your assortment and communications strategy, make sure that your decisions are true to your identity as authenticity resonates with your customers.

By leveraging our data-driven insights you can create an informed strategy that attracts more customers and increases your visibility. Strategically positioning your products, enhancing your store layout, offering value-added services, and utilizing marketing tools like paid ads can give your business the edge it needs during this high-demand period. A word of warning, diversify your risk by testing as much as possible before you kick-off your holiday campaign (for instance, if you’ve never run paid ads, perhaps do a trial before going all-in during the holiday season when ad competition is at its peak!).

It’s time to optimize your sales channels, connect with customers, and ensure a smooth, successful end-of-year season. Happy selling, and we wish you a successful holiday season!