Although Snapdeal has already kickstarted its festival season sales, Flipkart and Amazon are due to go live with their sales in a few hours from now. This year, online marketplaces have been preparing for months to ensure a glitch-free sales period for customers, and in turn the sellers.

Checklist- Do you have these in track?

Apart from keeping your inventory ready and up-to-date, there are a couple of factors you should turn your attention to before the sale period starts. Here’s a checklist for a quick look.

• Follow ethical selling practices only. DO NOT sell fakes or counterfeit products that could lead to account restrictions or blacklisting.

• Track the offers and deals, some like Flipkart add special offers before the sale starts (In the case of Flipkart, it will be visible on the Flipkart Promotions page). If favourable, sign up to participate in these.

• If a deal is for a certain period only, know the start time and end time.

• If there are differences in the deals being offered (for example, freebies or discount), be aware if both will be applicable for a listing or if only one would be applicable.

• Utilise the seller mobile apps to stay updated on your orders, listings, stock and so on. (For example, Flipkart Seller Hub android mobile app updates you with all these to facilitate a seamless sales operations period.)

• Do not modify the selling prices during the sale period.

• Keep tracking ad campaigns if you are running any. It might be wise to extend the budget if needed.

Packing your products right

If you think of packaging only after you receive orders, it might be the wrong way of going about it. Especially during the peak season, it could hamper your packing lifecycle, which would lead to delay in shipment of orders. And a delay in shipping orders has adverse consequences like payment settlement issues.

1. Using the right tape

For marketplace orders, it is recommended to use branded tapes of Snapdeal, Shopclues, Flipkart or Amazon for the corresponding orders. Now with heightened volumes this practice might eat into your profits. Instead, use normal brown tape for full packing and add the marketplace tape on certain spots. This way you can avoid running out of the branded tapes.

2. Brown boxes

Ideally, you should have enough brown boxes with you for packaging. In case you run out of them, you could use gift boxes (collect and keep them handy beforehand) as an alternative. Reverse the box by plucking pins from one side (see image below). Re-pin it and you have a new box at a fraction of the cost (tip from a seller).

However, you do run the risk of a negative impression on the customer. So it’s best to use this tactic only if you don’t have any other choice.

3. Poly bags

These security bags should be used for apparel, accessories or small products that don’t get damaged while shipping with this kind of packaging. Avoid packing fragile products.

4. Adequate staff

Hire additional help if needed during the sale period. More the number of hands in the team, faster your orders get shipped out, translating into happy customers and better profits.

While these are just tips and pointers to ensure you ship out products without delays, you must be prepared for setbacks and hiccups. In such instances, the key is to find solutions for which you need to stay calm and have enough peace of mind to think straight.

Happy Festive Season! Do write in to us and share with us about your sales and experiences of the season.