How do you prep inventory for a busy season?

[Ryan_M]

Hi Sellers!

This week, we're looking to gain more insight into your busy season prep process! 

1. How do you prepare for a busy season and make sure your inventory is stocked/managed easily? 
2. What does your inventory look like after a busy season is complete?
3. Are there any pain points for getting back on track to business as usual?

Looking forward to your replies! 😃

[TCSlaguna]

Hey @Ryan_M 

1. We try to stock up by Halloween. Our back room is full right now. We have put a lot of attention in the last couple years into how to organize the shelves in the back room so we can easily keep track of how much of each item we have in backstock. 

2. After the busy season, we usually have our lowest inventory levels of the year. This is a good thing because then we can do inventory counting using the Square for Retail iOS app at the beginning of the year. 

3. I think all the employees are tired at the end of the busy season. Getting back into the swing of things takes some time. Luckily January is a bit slower, so it allows us to reenergize a little. 

[Nprince]

1. We do a wall to wall count.
2. Our team shares fulfillment projections
3. We use automation to aid with fulfillment ordering

[DLRosenberg]

We are lucky that we have some cash-and-carry suppliers we can drive to and fill in if necessary. We're pretty much ready to go inventory wise.. honestly there is never one right way for us- we're always bringing inventory on weekly- which is crazy but it's just how we roll.

[Lovewell]

Hey! 
We are a coffee shop so it’s a little different but we do have a small marketplace. We try and stock up on cards and ornaments in summer. For drink supplies we are really at the mercy of our syrup company who is amazing and works with local farmers to make simple syrups. We do however have a pretty strict calendar of when things launch so that we stock up on all of our holiday flavors for the entire season at once. 

Our inventory after the holidays are pretty bleak! Lots of times there are one offs of things left so in January we do a bargain box! It empties out inventory so we can focus on our spring merch launch. 

As for merch: we try and have it available by shop small Saturday and throughout the holidays. 

[QuokkaCoffee]

Would love some advice on how you expanded your marketplace! We have a little retail section where we sell our coffee, alternative milks, reusable cups, and we've partnered with a local candle/scents producer who pops in once a month to merchandise and bill us on consignment.

I'd like to do things like cards and ornaments too but don't really know where to start. Obviously it's a bit too late for this holiday period but perhaps for the next...?

[HC_Charlie]

Hello @QuokkaCoffee have you ever used wholesale marketplace websites? My favorite is faire.com. You can signup as a buyer and place wholesale orders from all kinds of vendors. I've expanded my business quite a bit this past year as a seller of holiday ornaments. You can find greeting cards, and coffee related items that could work nicely in your shop, likes mugs, accessories and even packaged treats. They will often extend deals and terms, where you can place an order and have net60 to pay. This could be a good way to start small. Check it out and plan for the future, let me know if you have any questions.

[jnsyummiesweets]

I am sorry but I just started my business 

[phillipsrw]

We are planning for Christmas after we have finished Easter, with new product development including packaging design. We have all summer so we like to use the time wisely. Products are put to bed by Jun with orders placed for long lead-time items at this point usually packaging. July we order raw material food stuffs for delivery in August, Production starts end of August for longer shelf life products. We start shipping items to our wholesale customers in September, along side building stocks for our retail shops. We use Square to manage our inventory in the shops, which we integrate in to an MRP system to manage our raw material inputs and levels which automatically adjusts as we produce stock and ship to retail and wholesale and places automatic manufacture requests as stock depletes, which places P.O’s with our suppliers if raw material levels are insufficient. 

Inventory levels are controlled by the MRP so we always have an accurate real-time data as to our finished stock levels and input raw material levels, so we are rarely out of stock or overstocked of finished goods or raw materials.

Post Christmas can be a little challenging as there is very little time between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, our next big dates  in the calendar. So this year we are looking at Valentines and Easter in late November to try and get ahead of the curve with manufacturing starting end of January. Fingers crossed this works better.

[homeprogreen]

I will look at the sales reports for the last quarter and then run up stock levels on those items in order to cover holiday demand 

[JUYBoutique20]

First, I do an inventory count.  I then order up popular pieces for my black Friday deals (I actually have these ordered up by the end of Oct).  I make sure to have holiday party outfits and shoes available.  I stock up a lot for the holidays because we're usually pretty busy...

[ReginaRMT]

As of now I don’t have any inventory to stock.

[BelleAmeSkin]

1. I ask my clients for a list of their products that they are wanting to ensure we have it in stock during the sale. I also let the product reps know we are having a sale to see if they can offer any extra samples or product for giveaways.

2. Products are usually pretty depleted after our big sale, but I do have a drop ship program with 2 of my product lines so that can be somewhat helpful. 
3. pain points are that my clients are all stocked up on their products for the year so it’s a little bit more difficult to make retail sales since they are already replenished. This is where getting new clients is super helpful. 

[PartyManiaMD]

Luckily our inventory counts are extremely accurate so I only inventory every other year. 

For ordering our suppliers remind us of seasonal deadlines and we generally order new products as well as any products that sold out the previous year.

I'm hoping that Square eventually includes analytics IN the item library. IE open an item and it will tell you how many you sold in the last 13 months (So you can see the previous Holiday, if it only did the last 12 months I might not see an accurate sales amount).

The pain points are really on the supply side as things we order don't come or they come super late. We carry every Holiday so it's not as simple as order for Christmas and you're done. I have Spring and Summer orders in and I'm already working on next Fall.

[flavawear]

For me, because I make everything and don't have to order inventory, I make products all throughout the year with the intention of having enough around the holiday season. By following my reports of sales past I can always tell what items sells the best and what I should always have plenty of, so analyzing my yearly reports helps to keep me informed. 

[Stacelyn24]

Hi there!  We'll we're in the beauty industry (nail salon) so the holiday season is one of the busiest for us.  So let me see if I can answer your questions:

1.  First, we look at our sales from the previous two years.  See which items are growing, which ones slowed down, which ones were purchased consistent.  We bring back the popular ones and then we mix it up with a few new items to round out the holiday spending.  These new items are mostly trends that we have been watching on social media...so we stock up on these because they are the ones that will go the fastest.

2.  Usually sold out.  We may have a few things here or there but for the most part not much left.  This year we're going to try and do online sales alongside of in person so this will be interesting with the numbers.

3.  Just trying to manage time so that you include self care for yourself as well.  It's easy in our industry to get burned out during this time because you're always giving to others to make sure they are ready, then your family, and whatever time is leftover is where we try to add ourselves.  It's important to start with yourself first...taking care of yourself means you can take care of others 🙂

[alexandriak]

1. Look over the last three seasons to see what our best selling categories were and items inside of those categories. We want to make sure we're stocked on those and have options for customers. We also look at the newest trends and popular items from vendors. 

2. As little as possible. Whatever is left will get ready for a big discount to move it on out.

3. Sometimes keeping the store looking full and enticing. 

[lenjobakes]

We're trying to not to think about the fact that Christmas is only a mere 6 weeks away. My production supervisor said today that she was going to start making gingerbread dough and my response was "Why?". Ignorance is bliss!

Since we make food, there is only so far ahead that you can plan and prep. We love a freezer moment, but even if you have a million pounds of cookie dough in the freezer it still needs to be baked, decorated, and packed. 

1. We make a list of everything that we want to make and then edit edit edit to ensure we have as many overlapping input ingredients, but not flavours. If we're ordering in something special, we'll want to use it at least twice or in a substantial way. Then we'll start to prep the bases of most things (cookie doughs, primarily) and ensure that we've ordered packaging and have item labels designed. When we're about ready to start selling, we'll figure out prices, stock the online store and send out an email (the only one we send a year!) to let folks know to purchase! Then undoubtedly no matter how well prepared we are there comes a point where we start playing catch up because we straddle the line of having just enough without running out! So if this is our process for our Christmas boxes, we're still balancing a full retail offering which is completely separate from this.

2. Post-Christmas we close for 2 weeks! But after any/all other holidays the fridge is mostly empty and we start all over again (as we do every week!)

3. I think it's just the adjustment from being super hecking busy to not being busy at all (seemingly). No - your business isn't failing, you're just not being run off your feet!

[QuokkaCoffee]

I feel like we're in the same boat. Since we're heading into a quieter period I've basically been locked at my desk overhauling our menu and developing a catering version on top of that, updating our par sheets--would love to see a baker's version--and recipe costing cards. It's such a fine balance of having just enough to keep operating but not too much that you're risking spoilage. 

I guess to answer the QOTW: well enough, I think? 😂

[Bronze_Palms]

We actually work on stocking up at the beginning of October every year! We get all of our disposables recounted and ordered for 6 months worth of services, then we have enough time to add it all into inventory before it gets busy. The worst is having to receive shipments and count inventory on a busy day!

[ReverendMike]

We make sure that we:

1. Determine what we want to feature for the holidays

2. Order and receive the products we decide to feature

3. Have products clearly labeled on the shelf

4. Have price tags on everything

5. Update staff and have them refer to or actively promote our holiday items

6. Email, text and POP promotion starting in September

7. Add a write-up on the product to my website

8. Always identify to alternatives before we run out of spotlight product