5 Lessons From my first Holiday Season
The 2018 Christmas Holiday Season was the first for wbuttr™. As can be expected, there were lots of lessons to be had. I am grateful to say that we came away from the season a little more wiser and eager to do our best this year!
1. Timing is important
This was perhaps the biggest takeaway from the season. I remember Christmas designs were done and ordered at the end of the first week of October, thinking that that was far enough out to be ready for the holiday season. HA! Digital products and physical products are two different ball games as our extensive delays, after production time, taught us. In the future, life spare, our holiday season designs have to be ready and ordered MUCH earlier, perhaps even in June. Is not a joke.
2. Do the ground work
As a young brand, we are still getting our footing and slowly building a loyal customer base. I learned over the holiday season that there really is no replacement for going out and meeting people who then are potentially your first set of customers. Social media, while convenient is not as personable as it would have us believe. As the great Michael Scott once said, “People Ryan, People. People never go out of business.”
3. Collaborate!
Collaboration. Need I say more? The holiday season sees a lot of businesses shouting and vying for the attention of customers. Someone is always offering great deals and customers are generally receptive as for many it is the one time of year that they actively try to treat themselves and their family no matter how humble their situation. However, I have found that larger more established businesses are slow to the uptake of adapting and so are not generally up for new, potentially unproven methods of catering to customers. This is where I think that a few small businesses, in collaboration could ideate and offer a fresh approach to what is available during the holiday season, whether it be product, event, craft market or a combination of the above.
4. Small stock
I continued to learn where our product stock sweet spot is over this season! We did an even smaller run of our shirts this time around but ended up getting more to cater for a collab. The lesson here I would say would have been to stay with the initial amount we planned and collab using those. Fret not though! Simply, we have a jump start on stock for 2019’s season :D. Going forward, we will adjust our orders according to this new sweet spot!
5. Limited Appeal Products
Limited appeal products, or seasonal products such as our World Cup or our Merry tees, we have found, are a two-edged sword. They are great for creating a sense of urgency and potentially attracting and converting new customers and yet they can be tricky to build momentum for a young business after the respective season has concluded. Though we will continue to offer our one off products, we will be focusing more on products that can be appealing at any time over the course of this year.
I hope these lessons helped you as well! Go forth and mix it! #alwayswbuttr
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The Popcorn Maker
