Q4, or the period between October to December, is the season when people purchase a lot of products for themselves and for people they love.
Eighty percent of annual sales are usually from this period.
I’m not mistyping. Yes, 80% of yearly sales!
You may think that Mother’s Day or Father’s Day are the two holidays when we can make most of our sales, right?
Sure, we can sell many products two or three weeks before Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. But that’s only a few weeks, and we can only sell the products for mums and dads.
From October to December, we get 12 weeks to sell a lot of products, in many thousands of niches.
Not just the mother’s or father’s niches – but also products in the professions, dog breeds, cat breeds, hobbies, states, etc. People don’t just purchase products for their family members, but also for friends and colleagues, too.
Last year, I sent several boxes of coffee mugs, shot glasses, and travel mugs to the Amazon warehouse, and all of them sold out two weeks before the last day of December.
I was a bit disappointed, because I could have sold more products in those last two weeks. People tend to purchase gifts for someone on New Year’s Day at the last minute.
As 80% of the yearly sales will happen here, we need to plan ahead to make the most from Q4. It’s very important.
So, in this extra module, I’m going to show you a Q4 battle plan that will help you get the most out of this exciting season.
When will sales spike in Q4?
You will see sales grow slowly at the beginning of October and there will be a spike in sales around mid-November. People will start shopping heavily from then until the end of the year.
So, in this period of time, you have to prepare your products. Most FBA products will sell easily, because they can be shipped within a day.
Most people will purchase products at the last minute, so you’ll have a big advantage if you have Amazon FBA.
What are some products/niches to list?
You can sell all sorts of products and in different niches during this shopping season. Actually, any product or niche will sell easily in Q4.
Let’s talk about products first.
Coffee mugs, shot glasses, travel mugs, and tumblers can be sold easily. They are all evergreen products. Most people will purchase one as a gift for someone they love. You can put a meaningful or funny message on these print-on-demand products.
All types of print-on-demand products can be sold, so I suggest you list all of them. Coffee mugs are among the top-selling evergreen products. They have sold well for many years.
Even if people already have their own coffee mug, they will buy a new one. It’s the kind of product people usually buy as a gift for someone else, but also for themselves.
55% of my total sales are from coffee mugs.
The shot glass is another product that you should list, because the production cost is very cheap – around $8, and you can sell it for $9.95 (+4.95 shipping).
Many people like drinking, and people in some professions such as the military or engineering drink a lot. I have some designs in these niches, and they sell really well throughout the year.
Another thing I notice is that most of my top-selling shot glasses contain “funny” quotes. It’s like they normally use shot glasses at a party. So if you have limited resources and cannot list as many products as I do, just select funny quotes for shot glasses.
Don’t overlook the power of shot glasses. 32% of my sales come from this product. The competition is also very low compared to coffee mugs.
Travel mugs are responsible for 13% of my sales. Although my sales volume from travel mugs is less than it is for coffee mugs and shot glasses, the profit margin for one travel mug sale is really high.
The production cost is $14.90, but I sell them for $26.90, including shipping. So if you have enough time to upload it, it can make you some good profits. The competition is very low for travel mugs.
For tumblers – which were made available on GearBubble a few weeks ago – I haven’t made many sales yet, so I can’t comment on them.
Anyway, I have already asked my VA to list 250 tumblers a week in Amazon. There are not many tumblers on Amazon currently, so in my view, it’s a good chance for me to list some.
Okay, that’s all for products. If you have enough time, upload all kinds of products. If not, try to focus on uploading coffee mugs and shot glasses.
Next, let’s talk about niches.
Most niches can be sold during Q4 as well. Family, professions, dog breeds, cat breeds, hobbies, states, etc. They are all good.
But the Family niche is the biggest niche, because most people will purchase gifts for family members. If you have coffee mugs that say something related to Family, they will be easy to sell.
Try to find some quotes that work between family members:
- Mom to Son
- Son to Mom
- Mom to Daughter
- Daughter to Mom
- Dad to Son
- Son to Dad
- Dad to Daughter
- Daughter to Dad
- Wife to Husband
- Husband to Wife
- Stepmom, Stepdad, Grandma, Grandpa, etc.
Ask your VA to find quotes related to these relationships. You will have hundreds of quotes you can use to create products.
Anyway, the Family niche will be very competitive, so you may need to combine this niche with another niche.
I like to combine the family niche with the profession niche. There are many good-selling quotes for family members and professions.
For example:
“You can't scare me. I'm a Proud Mom of an awesome Engineer. Yes, she bought me this mug.”
Notice the words that I highlight - Mom/Engineer/She. You can replace these words with other family members, professions, and genders.
You’ll be able to create many interesting quotes using this combination.
Also, this is a quote that’s good for gift products, too. As you can see, it’s a quote that a son or daughter will get for his or her mom.
Another technique you can use to make more sales is to combine an image with the quote. I have written about this in detail in this module - Three EASY Techniques You Can use to Create Unique Designs that Sell Better.
Last year, my Donald Trump mugs sold really well. People modified famous quotes from Trump (like “you’re a great great dad/mom/son/daughter” etc.) and add a Trump cartoon to the product. This kind of products have sold really well.
But not just for the family niche. I also combined the Trump cartoon with the profession niches, and they sold well too. The search volume is less than for the Family niche, but 500 professions still attract enough decent traffic to make a thousand sales.
Anyway, will this Trump technique will work again this year? I’m pretty sure it will, because Trump is still the president of the United States, and there is still search volume.
Many people already have a Trump mug, but if you can find untapped niches where you can add a Trump cartoon, you might make some good money using this angle.
Okay, these are the niches I can think of and plan to use in this coming Q4. There are still many other interesting niches you can make money from. I suggest you to go to Etsy or Amazon every day to check what products other people are selling. You’ll get a ton of ideas.
How to Prepare for This Q4
Okay, the next bit is about the month-to-month plan. Because Q4 is when we can make 80% of our yearly sales, we need to plan it carefully.
Here’s the plan.
August to October
From August until October, we will keep listing new products in various different niches. During these months, you should find more winning products that can be sold.
Then, check all your past sales to find some products to send to Amazon FBA. I normally check these time spans:
- October to December last year
- January to the current month this year
If you’ve been doing this for more than a year, it’s good to check your sales stats from the past October to December to check what products sold well in Q4. The products that sold well last year will usually sell well again this year.
Then check your sales stats for this year and find some oof your winning products. They could be winning products from Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, or any other products that sold 4-5 units a month.
List them all.
Then sort all your best-selling products and select at least 5-10 products to send to the Amazon warehouse. If some products have sold really well, you might send many boxes of them to Amazon FBA.
I usually use CustomHappy to make products and ship them to the Amazon warehouse, because CustomHappy is partnered with GearBubble. They know how to pack and ship products that follow Amazon’s rules.
August is the best time to order products and send them to the warehouse, because it takes a few weeks (sometimes a month) for CustomHappy to make the products and ship them to Amazon.
If you order products in October or November, they might not arrive at the warehouse on time. Many people will place orders and CustomHappy won’t be able to handle them fast enough.
So make sure you place your orders before the end of October.
November to December
You will get many sales during these two months. If you have many products in the Amazon warehouse, you’ll get tons of orders, because people want their item fast. You may increase your prices, too, because people are willing to pay more to get their products on time.
Last year, I listed a coffee mug at $24.95, a shot glass at $16.95, and a travel mug at $29.95 with free shipping.
All of them sold out really fast.
You might run Amazon Sponsored Ads to speed up sales. The cost of Amazon Ads is not too high, and the conversion rate is really good. You can learn more about this in my Amazon Advertising module.
Anyway, I rarely launch Amazon Ads, because most of the products will sell out fast just through organic traffic.
In November, if you want to order some products to send to Amazon FBA, you can do it, but make sure you order them before the end of the month. It’s also better to ask CustomHappy about how fast they can ship the products. The products should be in the warehouse before mid-December – otherwise, they’ll be hard to sell after that.
Apart from checking your sales, running ads, and ordering more FBA products, you have to answer questions from your customers.
You will get many messages from customers asking you about your products. Most of them will ask about the delivery time, so prepare to answer those questions to keep your account health at a good level.
If they want to cancel the order for whatever reason, just cancel it. Don’t waste your time arguing with customers.
For example, if people want to cancel their order because you can’t ship it within 2 days, just cancel the order. Even if you can ship it within the timeframe you stated on the product’s page, they will give you a bad review.
That’s not good for your account health. So it’s better to avoid this problem by cancelling the order earlier.
There are so many crazy customers at the end of the year. They want their products fast, but they didn’t think to place their orders earlier. Be prepared for this situation.
After December
During December, you will get consistent sales. If you have many products in your Amazon Warehouse, you’ll make huge sales.
After December 15, people purchase products at the last minute. Try increasing your prices. You’ll be amazed at how people are willing to pay a higher price to get the item.
After Christmas, you will see a significant drop in sales, because most people will spend time celebrating with their family. They rarely spend money on buying new products.
It’s time to forget about checking your sales stats, because not many people buy products at this time of year.
It’s better to plan for the next year’s holidays, which are Valentine’s Day (Feb 14), Mother’s Day (May 10), and Father’s Day (third Sunday of June).
Don’t take a break yet. Keep listing products related to these holidays. Then you can relax between June and July!
Extra Tips
Well, these tips I’m going to tell you don’t actually fit with the 1-Hour System. But I suggested them to my brother and some of my friends a few months ago, and they have got some sales already.
So I think I’ll tell you guys in the 1-Hour System, too.
WARNING: These tips require you to work for more than 1 hour a week. You have to work hard and deal with customers, and it’s not fun. But it’s still worth doing.
Okay, these are two other models that can help you earn more money by selling Print-on-Demand products.
Etsy with Personalized Designs
This model has generated over six figures for some of my friends. It’s a unique marketplace, and people who go to Etsy are usually looking for cool products. So if you have unique and cool products, they can sell here easily.
I tried Etsy and made my first sale in the first week after I listed a few products. Anyway, I didn’t continue selling on Etsy. because my account was suspended for no reason.
They didn’t tell me why, but I guess it was because my account was registered when I was in Thailand, and I traveled to many countries that year. Many people told me that if I accessed my Etsy account while I traveled to other countries, they would suspend my account.
So if your account is new, make sure you don’t make the same mistake, and don’t let your VAs from other countries access your account.
Okay, now let’s talk about the business model for Etsy.
If you browse the products on Etsy, you will see that most of them can be personalized. People like to add their names, their family member’s name, their friends’ name, or the established date of something related to them on the products.
Check this one out. It’s one of the top-selling mugs from a “mother’s day coffee mug” keyword search.
This is a product targeted people who like Game of Thrones. The main quote is “Mother of Dragons”. People can tell the seller how many children they have and their children’s names. The seller will add the dragons and names to the design.
You can see photos from the customer reviews here:
This kind of personalized product can be sold pretty well on Etsy, and the competition is very low. No service helps handle this kind of work yet.
The seller needs to create the design and place the order manually on the print-on-demand websites. Not many sellers are willing to do this. It takes too much time.
Anyway, my brother just tried this business model, and he has made many sales already. He just starting internet marketing, so he’s willing to put in the hard work.
Many friends of mine who are selling on Etsy make good money using this model. But they say the same thing: it’s quite annoying talking to the people here.
For example, many people enter the wrong name for personalized items, and they need to change the name on it. We need to fix it for them.
Sometimes we have already ordered the items, but they want to change the personalized message. So we need to take time to explain things to them.
Anyway, it’s all part of the game, right? After you’ve done this for a while, you may be able to hire someone to handle this boring stuff for you.
Print-on-Demand Marketplaces
Another tip is to put your designs out to other POD marketplaces.
There are several POD marketplaces that have plenty of organic traffic, and you can make sales for free.
Let’s check the traffic for these top POD sites:
RedBubble (21M Monthly Visits)
TeePublic (6M Monthly Visits)
Zazzle (8M Monthly Visits)
Threadless (2M Monthly Visits)
Society6 (5M Monthly Visits)
These are top POD sites that have huge monthly traffic. You can use the designs you have to create many other products such as t-shirts, coffee mugs, stickers, tote bags, etc.
But the product-creation process has to be done manually. You have to upload the designs to the websites by yourself. There is no tool that can do this for you yet.
Anyway, when there is an order, these sites will automatically create a product and ship it to the customer for you. You don’t have to do any fulfillment.
I told my brother to try this, and he’s already gotten some orders. If I’m not mistaken, the first sale he got was from TeePublic.
You can try to do it too, if you have the time. Once your designs are uploaded to these POD sites, they will have a chance of being sold. It’s like an online asset.
I’m planning to set up a team to do this, too.
Well, these are two tips you can try to crush this Q4. They might require some hard work, but they will definitely pay off. I highly recommend you try them! :)
Conclusion
Okay, this is the battle plan I will use to crush this Q4. Remember, Q4 is very important – 80% of your yearly sales will happen here. Don’t miss it!
Basically, keep listing new products every day, find new winning products, and send them to the Amazon warehouse. Make sure you send them early so you will have products ready to sell during the highest-spending season of the year.
Good luck to you all!
