Therese Ørtenblad, our Wholesale contributing expert, is on hand to help you plan your fourth quarter, whether you're a seasoned wholesaler or have added this to your business strategy, this article gives you the insights and actions to take, October-December.
We're about to hit the busiest time of the year. If you are running your own business with little help, this might be a time of the year when you can only be reactive and deal with primarily incoming things and push your retail sales; spend some time to plan out some wholesale newsletters so you can continue to keep in touch with your stockist throughout this busy time.
October
If you plan on running any Black Friday promotions on your retail channels, you might want to consider offering your stockist something too. The reason for this is that you don't want to be seen to compete with your stockists, so if you are going to offer significant discounts, you might want to provide stockists with something at the beginning of October to "get ready" for Black Friday. This doesn't have to be a heavy discount on your full range but see it as a time to clear things that you have plenty of stock of or offer discounts on a specific product or maybe a free with-purchase offer.
Some larger retailers will still be buying for Spring/Summer, so if you supply them, check in to see when they will finalise their selections so you don't miss any critical deadlines.
Check in to see how your range is doing for any stockist you picked up at the Autumn shows, or that has bought into your new range before it gets too busy and you won't have time to do this. Continue to follow up on any leads you have reached out to.
KEY DATES (AND SOME FUN ONES TOO)
04 World Animal Day
10 World Mental Health Day
27 Clocks go back
27 Diwali
31 Halloween
November
If you're not doing anything for Black Friday, perhaps consider something to support your independents for Small Business Saturday, a good time to run a promotion for this would be early-mid November.
Ensure you have all your new product launches ready for the Spring shows and have time to photograph them and create/update your catalogue.
Continue to speak to any larger retailers about next Spring/Summer.
KEY DATES (AND SOME FUN ONES TOO)
Movember
World Vegan Month
Bonfire Night
Remembrance Sunday
Just a card – Indie Week
Black Friday
Cyber Monday
December
Last push now; you're almost there; you can do this! December is generally super busy if you are a product-based business; independent retailers will place orders as close to Christmas as just a few days if you can provide them with reasonable lead times. Ensure you let your stockists know when your cut-off dates are and give them plenty of notice.
Send an email/newsletter to all your stockist to thank them for this year, and let them know if you are closing between Christmas and New Year and when service will resume after the holiday season.
KEY DATES (AND SOME FUN ONES TOO)
Cyber Monday
Small Business Saturday
Start of Winter
24 Christmas Eve
25 Christmas day
26 Boxing day
31 New Year's Eve
Thank you so much for sticking with me for this year and this little series; if you missed the previous posts, you can read them all here (Q1, Q2, Q3). The buying calendar stays pretty much the same, year after year. Still, retailers change their sign-off dates and even months sometimes, so do remember to check in with your larger retailers about what season they are working on, when they will be signing off, and when they are holding meetings etc., so you don't miss out.
