This should have been the first real, hardcore week of Christmas with sales averaging $243 per day. Actual result through yesterday: $139 per day. Including the soft weeks immediately following Halloween, Christmas season is almost half over now. But I’m not seeing it. Things must inevitably pick up…eventually…somewhat, right?
Did I hoard cash too long and forfeit a lot of early holiday sales? Or will my prudence stave off financial disaster from laying in a lot of holiday junk for sales that never came? Should I still place my holiday orders after my credit statement resets, or should I pull the plug on Christmas and focus exclusively on cutting losses? Next Monday is decision time. I’ve got a thousand glaciers poised and ready to roll over Africa!
Google shows that my site traffic is stubbornly average, while Analytics lets me watch people not shop in real time. The culprit looks like an absence of customers, not a lack of merchandise. I’m always nervous about spending money in anticipation of big holiday receipts, yet year after year they magically materialize. This year I don’t see any signs that the magic is coming.
The one new product line that I did gamble on, Metalworks, is a complete bust so far. After two weeks in stock and advertising, I’ve sold 0.
I’ve tried to avoid writing about sales apart from my monthly wrap-ups because I know how boring the topic is for readers who aren’t me. But Christmas business is all that matters for the next 4-5 weeks, so that’s where I’ll be going.
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