What Can You Fix Before Q4?

Q4 is the busiest time of year for pretty much everybody in retail, and Erin’s Faces was no different. And every year, something went wrong.

We might run out of shipping boxes. Our DYMO label printer would break. Our laser printer would break. Lots of printers broke. And one year I accidentally entered the weight of our Black Friday free gift in pounds instead of ounces, which meant our shipping costs were way too high for the first 50 or so orders before we figured out what was happening.

We had a bestseller go out of stock during the holiday rush, which meant half of the staff was packing orders while the other half was making serum as quickly as they could.

And yes, there were years when I was still taking holiday product photos in November.

But here's the good part: every year we learned something. And we never made the same mistake twice.

So before Q4 gets really busy, I’d spend a little time thinking about last year. Not just what sold and how much money you made. Think about what made your life unnecessarily difficult - and what you can do about it now.

Check the boring stuff.

Do you have enough shipping boxes? Tape? Labels? Tissue paper? Printer ink? Is your label printer on its last legs?

This is all stuff that won't expire. I would much rather you over-order than under-order because you're going to use it eventually, and none of it is going bad on the shelf.

Test everything before you go live.

I can laugh about the pounds-versus-ounces incident now. I was not laughing when we realized what had happened.

Before a promotion goes live, place an actual test order. Check the discount. Check the free gift. Check the shipping. Check the confirmation email. Check it on your phone.

Don't assume that because you set it up correctly, it's working correctly. (Because maybe you did not set it up correctly.)

Forecast now so you're fulfilling later.

We eventually learned to forecast and front-load production on everything we knew we'd need for the holidays. The goal was that when Black Friday arrived, we were fulfilling, not manufacturing.

Obviously, you can't predict exactly what people are going to buy. But you know your bestsellers. You have last year's numbers. You know what has a long enough shelf life to make ahead of time. Use that information now so you're not making serum as fast as humanly possible while the orders are piling up.

And while you're at it, take your holiday photos now. Please do not be me, taking holiday product photos in November while simultaneously trying to run a holiday business.

Say no to things that aren't worth it.

For a while, we did multiple holiday events outside of the office, plus an in-office holiday shopping event. Eventually, we looked at the time and energy all of those events required compared with the sales they generated and started cutting back.

We narrowed the outside events down to one local holiday market that was actually worth doing. Eventually, we stopped doing our own open house too. More of our customers were already going to the local market, and eliminating the open house meant my staff and I didn't have to stay late for another night in December.

Now, if markets are your business, I'm not talking to you 😂. This is your bread and butter! This is your Super Bowl. Work it out and make that money.

But if you're primarily an e-commerce business, do the events that actually make you money and let the rest go. You have enough to do in Q4 without voluntarily making it harder.

Something will probably go wrong, but so many things are going to go right. I hope you have more orders than you know what to do with, your bestsellers fly off the shelves, and you have the very lovely problem of being incredibly busy.

Just make sure you have enough boxes.