UPDATE: Step 1 of our 5 step series is available here.

Hello SaleHoo blog readers!

It’s August. That means it’s just over 4 months until Christmas, the most profitable time of the year for eBay sellers and online retailers. Every year, the holiday season, smashes conservative predictions about spending habits and creates a buying frenzy. For a few weeks, it seems as though all anyone wants to do is shop... and we all take a break from penny pinching and the economic recession. This is music to the ears for us retailers!

2012 will be no different with 47% of shoppers planning on spending more than they did in 2011, which was one of the best holiday seasons we have seen in years!

So, if you want to make sure that you get your share of all the sales this holiday season, you need to start planning for it now. 36% of online shoppers will make their first holiday purchase in September which is just weeks away!

Our 5 Step Method for Mega Sales

There’s no need to panic though, there is still time to get set to make your share of the big Christmas spend. To help you along the way, we are revealing something very special, and something we have never shared in the 7 years since SaleHoo hit the web: We’re revealing a proven 5 step method for making the holiday season a success.

The method is used by eBay PowerSellers, and online retail giants all over the web... but despite the method’s popularity, it’s still perfectly usable and there’s no risk of too many competitors getting in the way of you and all the sales you will make.

Over the next couple of weeks, I will be delivering you this method via a “blueprint” format, so you can follow over my shoulder and implement this method as you go. I’m starting from scratch and finding a completely new niche and turning it into a profit-pulling business. I’ll leave no stone unturned!

If you are a new seller, you’ll benefit wildly from this upcoming series of blog posts. If you are an old hand and already have some experience in online retail, there is still plenty to learn that we will cover in this series that will help you skyrocket your sales this holiday season.

You can also use this method on any selling platform or marketplace. I’ll be setting up a brand new SaleHoo Store during my demonstration, but you can also use this method anywhere: On eBay, Amazon, Bonanza or your own website.

One of the reasons why we are setting up a SaleHoo Store is because as you know, margins can get very tight on eBay. While a lot of sellers make a killing on eBay around Christmas and the holidays, eBay’s competition increases around the holiday season. So even though there are significantly more buyers coming to the website, there are also significantly more sellers working hard to make sales around the holiday period. Don’t let this deter you if you are an eBay seller though! Just follow my 5 step method and you will be in for a profitable couple of months.

The Crucial Formula behind Every Successful Business

Before we get to my 5 step method, I want to quickly introduce you to the formula that is behind all successful businesses and makes the 5 step method work. It’s not complicated, but it will help you understand your business better (or how to build one if you are just getting started). Here’s what the formula looks like:

(Don’t let these numbers intimidate you. I’m not a numbers person, but this formula made sense eventually!)

Leads x conversion rate x $ per sale x ave. number of transactions per customer = gross profit.

As I said, this formula is applied across businesses in all sectors, so what does it look like in an eCommerce environment?

Number of people who visit your website/listing x the % of those visitors that purchase from you x how much money you make per sale x average number of transactions from each customer = your gross profit.

For example, let’s say I sell wall calendars and 100 new people come to my website or my listings every day. If I convert 20% of those people, I make 20 sales. If I sell each wall calendar for $10 (less $5 for the wholesale cost of the calendar), I turnover $200 per day. If each customer buys from me on average 2 times in their lifetime, my gross profit would be $200/day or $73,000 per year.

I don't know about you but I could sure do with an extra $73,000 per year!

(If you want to know the math: 100 (new visitors) x 20% (conversion rate) x $5 ($ per sale) x 2 (lifetime transactions per customer) = $200/day.)

Once you understand this formula, making small improvements to each part of the formula can drastically increase your gross profit and ultimately net profit.

Using the above example, if all you did was increase each part of the above formula by just 10% how much do you think your yearly gross profit would increase?

If you thought 10%, you're wrong!

In fact your yearly gross profit would increase from $73,000 to $106,879. Pretty amazing huh?

So I could make an additional $33,879 just by increasing the important numbers by 10% which isn’t difficult.

OK, let’s talk about some simpler numbers now – our 5 step method for making sales these holidays. These steps each relate to a different part of the above formula so if you follow along closely you could start seeing similar sort of success and profits.

The 5 Steps – Revealed

You might be wondering what the 5 steps in this method are, so I won’t make you wait to find out. Here they are:

1. Find a profitable niche

I’ll cover this in the next part of this series. I’ll show you a really cool way to come up with ideas for products to sell and how to test those ideas for how profitable they will be. I’ll use the SaleHoo Research Lab as well as free methods that anyone can use for niche-hunting. Step-by-step, I will show you how to determine whether a niche will be profitable or not. This video will include a couple of video demonstrations, so you can sit back with some pop corn and watch as I do the work!

2. Find a supplier

After finding the right niche, you need to find the right supplier that can give you a price that leaves plenty of room for profits. I’ll use the SaleHoo Wholesale Supplier Directory and will also show you free methods to safely find good suppliers. So even if you aren’t a SaleHoo member, or you just want to use a supplier that isn’t listed on our directory, you will know how to determine whether a supplier is trustworthy.

I’m going to focus mostly on drop shipping in this series. I know that drop shipping is a preferred option for most of our members. And for good reason: Drop shipping is low risk and requires no money up front. This makes it a lot easier to get started which is exactly what you need to get ready for the holidays!

3. Setup a SaleHoo Store

Selling on your own website is the best way to skip the competitive eBay market and create your own following of loyal repeat customers. If you don’t own a SaleHoo Store, don’t worry! This lesson benefits everyone because we will cover some crucial search engine optimization tips for getting your listings ranking in Google and other search engines.

The reason I’m demonstrating using SaleHoo Stores isn’t simply to promote Stores. Instead, I want you to see that setting up and managing your own Store isn’t difficult. I know that some people imagine that ‘back end’ of a website to be a scary place that requires a lot of technical knowledge, but that’s not at all true! There are huge benefits to selling on your own Store, so if I can help you see how easy it is, then hopefully it will get you a step closer to owning your own store one day!

4. Drive Targeted Traffic to your Product Listings

Learn how to use one of the most trusted and cost-effective ways to drive traffic to your products listings. We will give you a head start on this crucial, but sometimes daunting task.

5. Marketing Tips: How to make more money without spending a dime

How to use email marketing to create loyal repeat customers. Anyone can do this and no special knowledge is required. I’ll even write some of the emails for you!

Are You In?

Are you going to join us in our blog series? If you have ever felt lost and wondered the best way to make money, or if you switch back and forth between different selling strategies while you wait for something to work, this blog series, that reveals our proven method, is exactly what you need! Keep an eye out on your email inbox.

In the meantime, leave me a comment below and tell me what it is that you are struggling with at the moment or what you need help with. I will try to work some solutions into this upcoming series of blog posts. Here's to a profitable Christmas and holiday season in 2012!

P.S Want to fast-track your holiday sales? Do it with SaleHoo Stores!