Amazon Valentine’s Day: Prepare Now and Love Those Profits!

By Erik Mathes

If you’re not feeling the Q1 love yet, don’t get too down: Amazon Valentines Day sales are on the way. Hitting smack in the middle of Q1, Valentines Day brings in a bonanza of high-conversion, high-spending shoppers to Amazon.There are so many reasons for online merchants to get excited for Amazon Valentines Day sales. Just look at these stats from a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation (NRF):

• 54.8% of Americans celebrated Valentines Day in 2016

• 27.9% of Valentines Day 2016 revelers planned to shop online

• $146.84 was the average amount spent on Valentines Day gifts per consumer in 2015

• Men spend approximately $191 and women $97 on gifts for their partners on average

These numbers tell you that Amazon Valentines Day sales are there for the making—if you prepare early and strategically.

Sure, there are plenty of obvious items that sellers can source for this love-themed holiday, as seen below:

But, there are just as many products you can stock up on for Amazon Valentines Day that aren’t as intuitive.

To help you prepare, we put together this crash course on Amazon Valentines Day products to source that’ll maximize sales.

And, we also discuss Valentines Day best practices for Amazon sellers to follow for V-Day, including optimizing:

• product descriptions

• gift options

Keep reading to see if you’re ready for the Valentines Day shopping frenzy.

Stock the most popular Amazon Valentines Day items

Let’s start by getting the obvious stuff out of the way: the products that are typical Valentines Day top sellers on Amazon.

For women, these include:

• jewelry

• perfume

• flowers

• chocolates

• beauty products

• romantic books and movies

• lingerie and intimate apparel

For men, you’ve got:

• cologne

• watches

• grooming supplies

• clothing

• sporting goods

• techy gadgets

If you opt to source chocolate, make sure to read up on Amazon’s Date- and Temperature-Sensitive Products guidelines:

You should also stock stylish his-and-her products, such as lockets, clothing, and bracelets, as these will be in-demand.

But it doesn’t end there. Smart sellers know that there’s more to Amazon Valentines Day sales than gifts for significant others.

More demographics to target for Amazon Valentines Day sales

In addition to targeting people buying gifts for significant others, you should also target people purchasing gifts for:

• family

• friends

• co-workers

• neighbors

• classmates

• teachers

Valentines Day items for these demographics need not be intimate or expensive. Really, anything red, cute, and with hearts on it will do.

Consider stocking up on platonic gifts like:

• decorations (for the home, classroom, and/or parties)

• stickers

• cards (especially sets that little kids can use for classmates)

• gift wrap

• plush toys

Platonic gifts can also include chocolates and flowers, as well as some of the other ideas mentioned for significant others. But, they can (and probably should) be smaller, less intimate versions.

Round out your inventory with some of these products and you can seriously cash in on Amazon Valentines Day sales.

Don’t forget to source gifts for pets

People love their pets. I mean, they really LOVE them.

According to the NRF, Americans spent a whopping $681 million on Valentines Day gifts for their pets in 2016. That’s actually a decrease from the $701 million spent on pets in 2015, but it’s still a massive market segment.

Products to consider sourcing as Valentines Day gifts for pets include:

• leashes

• collars

• hair clips (for all the dog bedazzlers out there)

• bandanas

• pet t-shirts/sweaters

• themed food and water bowls

• toys

• pet treats

Of course, make sure your V-Day pet products are red, pink, or dotted with hearts.

And, if you don’t sell out, remember that these products will always be in demand every year around Valentines Day.

Source products that help people catch a cheating lover

It sure sounds crazy, but it’s true.

Sales of spy and surveillance gear that helps people catch significant others cheating routinely skyrocket in the weeks before Valentines Day.

Perhaps it’s because cheaters anxiously give away clues of their misdeeds as the day of love approaches. Or, maybe people just become suspicious of their lackluster lovers after seeing other doting couples acting affectionately in public.

Whatever the case, your Amazon Valentines Day sales can get a boost from products like:

• GPS trackers

• spy cameras

• audio surveillance tools

The listing below is the perfect example (although the product itself could use some help with its rating…):

Which brings us to our next Amazon Valentines Day sales tip:

Boost Amazon Valentines Day sales by optimizing your product descriptions

We can’t stress enough how vital Amazon product descriptions are when it comes to attracting customers for seasonal/holiday sales. Valentines Day on Amazon is no exception.

By strategically writing “Valentines Day” into descriptions, your listings will appear higher in Valentines Day-related searches. Just look at the gold foil number balloons pictured below:

There’s nothing about these balloons that screams “Valentines Day.”

But look below at how the seller chose to list this product:

Clearly, this seller understands the power of having listings optimized for search, and you should mirror that technique. This seller was even savvy enough to also include “Birthday,” “Wedding,” and “Party Decoration” in the description to attract other demographics.

Write your listings assuming that many Amazon shoppers will use “Valentines Day” in search queries. And, if you have any products (like the balloons) that make sense for other holidays, make sure to update those listings to be optimized for the nextholiday.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to optimize the copy in your product detail pages down to the bullets in the description. Even adding a line of text saying “Your wife/husband will love this” could be the difference-maker in getting that next sale.

So, go all-out in tailoring your product listing pages—from title to details—in order to maximize who you attract via search.

Offer gift wrap and other special gift options

A great way to make your Amazon store stand out is to offer gift wrapping and gift messaging to your buyers. And, when you allow customers to select an item as a “gift,” Amazon will omit the price on their receipt.

Here’s what Amazon writes about managing your Gift Options in Seller Central:

To learn how to set up gift wrapping and gift messaging on your account, visit Amazon’s Gift Options page.

Amazon Valentines Day sales: The bottom line

Don’t be fooled into thinking Q1 will be a bust; Amazon Valentines Day sales can seriously boost your bottom line.

Think outside the heart-shaped chocolate box and source products for platonic relationships, pets, and paranoid lovers seeking a cheating partner. And don’t forget about his-and-her products for those types of couples.

Also, consider offering gift wrapping and gift messaging options for buyers. You can even charge extra for these added services to further pad your profits.

And, don’t forget to optimize your product descriptions for search by including “Valentines Day” in the title. Even inferior products can become top sellers when they’re set up to appear high in Amazon’s search results.

(SOURCE)