Unfortunately, this first tip comes too late for 2022, but next year, keep this stat in mind: According to a 2022 holiday survey by QuickBooks, September and October are now the most common months to begin holiday shopping. That means holiday inventory has to be out and available for people to buy way before the turkey arrives.
“What I heard initially was that you really should be done with your Christmas shopping in October,” says Appelhans. “I started ordering earlier this year because this is now our third Christmas, and we’ve learned a lot over the previous two.”
For The Read Queen, that first Christmas took place in 2020, in the midst of shipping delays and other supply chain issues caused by the global pandemic. “Our first year was pretty tough,” Appelhans says. “The way that retail ordering works is that you order things [from suppliers], and if they ship when they’re in stock, they ship. If they’re not in stock on the day they pack the boxes, you just don’t get it.”
Their first year, Appelhans says she and Huntting would receive boxes with just a quarter of their ordered inventory. They learned quickly that their best bet was to simply turn right around and immediately place another order, hoping to get another 25%. “We had no idea what was going to show up. That was really tough.”
This year, Appelhans isn’t expecting that level of shipping complications, but she’s also not taking any chances. “Everything significant has been ordered,” she says. “The first year, we ordered very late. Second year — last year — we ordered a little earlier. This year, I was thinking about it, writing lists, and making plans in July. And I’ve been buying from August through October aggressively.”
“Being able to pivot with what people want has been really, really important,” says Appelhans. She laughs, remembering how that first Christmas, she and Huntting could have filled the store halfway with puzzles and sold every last one.
“[In 2020], people wanted puzzles because they knew they were going to be locked up in their house, not visiting anyone,” she says. “Now, people still want puzzles — especially at the holidays. But our puzzle inventory is probably down by about 40, 30, 35%, because people want other things now — their life is different.”
This year, The Read Queen is stocking more games, scarves, mittens, and candles. “And stationery!” Appelhans exclaims. “So much more stationery than we initially thought.”
But that stationary, too, has been a lesson. “We are constantly looking for new vendors, and it’s one of the hard areas to shop because our customers are very particular about what they like,” she says. “I’ve found that out of five different card lines, maybe one will be a keeper.”
Most important for keeping costs down, she says, is ordering small. “When I’m trying to find new things, I can’t order too big. Doesn’t matter how cheap it is. Even if it’s a fabulous sale on a new line, it’s not worth it. If you overbuy, you can’t give those cards away.”
For Appelhans, it’s much better to order small and run out than order big and wind up with leftovers, or have too much business debt. Plus, she says, those small test orders help make holiday buying a lot easier. “If it sells in a small batch in the summer, then I know it’ll be really popular at Christmas.”
One strategy Appelhans says has worked well is to put her most expensive items out early. For The Read Queen, that means high-quality family games at a price point of around $65.
The most expensive items vary at any small business, but The Read Queen’s strategy makes a lot of sense. “Rather than springing a high price-point game on our customers on November 1, we put those out at the end of July. That way, people can think about it and say, ‘Oh, this is the game I want for my family this year.’”
Best of all, Appelhans says her customers notice and appreciate The Read Queen’s approach.
“We’ve actually received feedback from customers who purchased their games already, back in October. They’ll say, ‘Oh, I’ve been looking at this for a few weeks, and I’ve decided this is what I want.’ or ‘Oh, I’m so excited. My family’s really big into games, and I saw that this year, you guys have really expanded that section.’ So they’re offering that information, which lets us know that that was the right decision.”
But just as big-ticket items go out early, Appelhans says she prefers to put less expensive merchandise out later, especially where space is a concern. “We do hold on to stocking stuffers a bit longer,” she says. These small, “impulse buy” items can wait in the wings until holiday shoppers begin making their purchases in earnest.
The Read Queen, like many small businesses, has limited space. As a result, it’s incredibly important that each item stocked is worth the room it consumes. “We refer to it as ‘paying your rent,’” Appelhans laughs. “As in, ‘this book is not paying its rent.’ Or, ‘this one inch is not paying its rent.’”
During the holidays, it’s easy for that careful management of space to become an obsession. In the beginning, Appelhans says she and Huntting worried that if they put all their holiday inventory out too early, there might not be enough left in December. This year she’s less concerned. “I guess I’m of the opinion now that it’s better to get it out on the floor. Sell it, make the money, buy more if you can. If you can’t buy more of it, buy something else.”
“People — customers — like to see things in different places. You can put something in one place and nobody pays any attention to it. And you think, ‘Wow, I guess this is a dud.’ Then you just move it to the other side of the room, and suddenly everyone sees it and it’s popular.”
This content was originally published here.
