Have you investigated your Xmas delivery options?

By Sharon Fussell, September 29, 2016

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Have you noticed the drop in temperature?

The weather last week was lovely when I was away in West Wales, so now I guess summer is well and truly over. This month has absolutely flown by – I cannot believe it is nearly October already.

At this time of year, study books and reference books are usually very popular. A hot product – unlike the weather!

And it is now I start to think of Christmas and stocks of suitable books I have, as well as other items for gifts.

It is not too soon to reflect on Christmas products.

There is little doubt that footfall on Amazon increases at Christmas. It is great when you can take advantage of this period.

What products sell well? There are, of course, a plethora of products – such as children’s toys – that do extremely well.

The main products I prepare to sell include: DVDs, CDs, books, games and jigsaws.

I like these products as they tend to be easy to post and are unlikely to break on their journey to the customer. They also tend to be easy and inexpensive to dispatch.

Most items are large letters which keeps cost lower.

As well as using Royal Mail, I look to parcel2go and comparisons sites to compare postage prices.

Anything within RM sizing categories and under 2kg, I use Royal Mail. However, I find that packets over 2kg are far cheaper to post using courier services.

I personally think Royal Mail are missing a trick in limiting their medium size parcels to 2kg or under. This is where courier services take business from them, sorry to say.

I do prefer to use Royal Mail where it makes fiscal sense. I find it more convenient to go to a post office.

That said, a service I often use is where you take the parcel to a machine. ipostparcels.com is an online service where you create the label and pay for the service.

Then you go to a local venue to post the parcel, such as a supermarket or local shop where the machines are placed.

You input the consignment number into the machine, a box opens into which you place your parcel and these are then collected on a regular basis by the courier.

Touch wood, it appears to be very reliable service.

I estimate I will be using this service – which also offers next day and 2-5 day delivery services for a fair price – throughout the Christmas period and beyond.

So I do recommend you now check your stocks are suitable for Christmas gifts. Remember – it is not only new items but rare books that sell well.

Next week we will look at what type of genre books sell will over Christmas.

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What do you think?

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