Bangkok--9 Nov--Asia Aziam Burson-Marsteller
Tips on how to sell successfully and take advantage of the festive demand
For most, Christmas and New Year holidays are the highlights of the year. It is a time when shoppers are in the mood to spend more on gifts, parties and celebrations.
eBay is an ideal channel to tap into a global marketplace of potentially 93 million shoppers this holiday season. The period starting around the US Thanksgiving holiday in late November through most of December is an opportune time for sellers to take advantage of festive shopping demand. On eBay, more than US$50 million in Gross Merchandise Volume is sold on Thanksgiving Day alone. Last year, over 20 million items were sold to eBay shoppers from 200 countries.
Closer to home, eBay sellers in Thailand sold more than 750,000 items in last year’s holiday season, with the biggest sales in the categories of jewellery, gems and watches, clothing and accessories, automotive parts as well as sporting goods.
Here are a few tips for sellers who want to increase their sales on eBay during the holiday shopping spree:
- Items listed in the Buy-It-Now format attract buyers that are after an instant purchase. It works best for items that are clearly competitive and offer great value, or if multiple quantities are available. Auction listings work best for highly sought after and unique items that are not available locally or when the buyer is not looking for an instant purchase. Often, the format in which you list your products can be a winning formula.
- Be clear about delivery times in your listings and reassure buyers you will ship immediately after payment to give them confidence that they will get their items soon.
- Make sure you get your items listed early, at least by the first week in December. Buyers from overseas will be concerned about international shipping, so many will want to buy well in advance to ensure the items arrive well before Christmas on December 25th.
- Think beyond just selling gift items. There will also be high demand for decorative items, party favours, ornaments, wrapping paper, ribbons and fabrics, clothing and other items related to the holiday season.
- With the Christmas deadline approaching, buyers may be more concerned than usual about the date that the items they ordered will arrive. Be clear about delivery times in your listings and reassure buyers you will ship immediately after payment. Always maintain a high level of communications with buyers to keep them relaxed, and your feedback positive.
- You may find that your sales jump early in the holiday season — make sure you are geared up to handle the extra business in terms of staff to handle the orders and shipping materials. The speed at which you get items out to customers is more important than ever during the holiday season.
- Red and green are traditional for Christmas, so you may want to focus on special items that reflect these colours.
- Give your buyers some Christmas cheer — consider adding in an inexpensive, nicely-wrapped item as a small gift for the buyer. You will make a great impression that can lead to positive feedback and a repeat customer.
- Do not include a Christmas card as an extra treat for the buyer, as not all of them personally celebrate Christmas and a few may not even like it. If you want to wish the buyers well, stick to “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy New Year” messages.
- Millions of kids receive toys as gifts, and every holiday season popular toys sell out early. Buyers who have waited too late often are willing to pay extra to get a popular toy. Look out for hot toy trends in your target markets — if you can find these toys in Thailand, you may be able to sell them for a premium.
eBay sellers in Thailand can use the above tips to boost their revenues as millions of people all over the world anticipate the biggest holiday season of the year. With a little imagination and a focus on great customer service, Thai eBay sellers will be able to enjoy their holidays as well through increased sales. For more information on how to sell successfully this holiday, visit http://export.ebay.co.th/sellingsuccess2010/merchandise-in-demand/buyer_wish_list.html
PHOTO 1: Holiday Gift
Last Christmas, the most expensive item sold by a Thai seller on eBay was a vintage Rolex Turn-O-Graph 6202 for USD 9,950 to a buyer in the UK.
PHOTO 2: Holiday Gift
Last Christmas, the most expensive item sold on eBay worldwide was a US$495,000 1965 Shelby Cobra.
PHOTO 3: Holiday Gift
In the first two weeks of December 2009 alone, there were more than 5 million Zhu Zhu Pet and related item searches on eBay, making it the most popular gift item for the holiday season.
About eBay
Founded in 1995 in San Jose, Calif., eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY) connects hundreds of millions of buyers and sellers globally on a daily basis through eBay, the world's largest online marketplace, and PayPal, which enables individuals and businesses to securely, easily and quickly send and receive online payments. We also reach millions through specialized marketplaces such as StubHub, the world's largest ticket marketplace, and eBay Classifieds sites, which together have a presence in more than 1,000 cities around the world. For more information about the company and our global portfolio of online brands, visit www.ebayinc.com.
About eBay Southeast Asia
eBay Southeast Asia is responsible for driving marketplace development with a focus on growing cross border trade in 6 markets namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. An English and Thai language information portal at http://sea.ebay.com/ has been set up to provide users advice on how to expand their businesses internationally via eBay’s global websites. In Southeast Asia, eBay for Business is an exclusive program developed to help retailers and wholesalers in exporting their products to US, UK, Australia and Europe by providing free selling support services in using eBay as an export channel. Visit http://sea.ebay.com/ebayforbusiness.