Getting Your Stock Ready for Christmas Sales

November is the time to start moving. Christmas is five weeks away and if your stock isn’t ready, problems during peak trading are pretty much guaranteed. Whether you’re shipping jewellery, skincare, or high-end fashion, there’s no room for missed deliveries or stockroom confusion this late in the year. Online shoppers are already browsing, clicking, and expecting festive touches with their orders. Brands that wait until December to sort stock levels often find themselves boxed into rushed fixes and late dispatches.

That’s why early preparations matter. Christmas sales can end up making up a big part of your yearly profit. Making the most of that means having the right stock in place, picking and packing processes that actually work, and reliable support behind the scenes. A steady, well-organised flow of parcels in and out makes a difference when orders start surging. Below are a few steps to get your stock situation sorted before the festive rush takes full swing.

Assessing Inventory Levels

Before you can plan anything, you need to know where you stand. A proper look into current stock helps avoid last-minute stress or over-ordering items that won’t shift. It’s not just about counting what you’ve got in the warehouse. You need to know what’s been moving fast, what’s been sitting idle, and what items buyers might expect this Christmas.

Start by checking:

- How many units are available by product type

- What sold fastest during last year’s holiday period

- What stock got returned or marked as damaged

- Which styles, shades, or sizes received the most reorders

Look out for gaps between what’s listed in your system and what’s physically in stock. Discrepancies are common, especially if the systems haven’t been updated frequently. Make sure your digital records match what’s actually sitting on the shelves or in crates. If items are missing, now is the time to report or replace them, not when deadlines are tight.

It helps if you're using a system that tracks stock in real time. Automated alerts, barcode scanners, and pick-confirm processes are handy for keeping things accurate. Even with tech involved, it’s a good idea to do a manual check across one or two high-value products just to be safe.

If you sell in sets or bundles like skincare kits or jewellery trios, make sure you're managing those components properly too. One missing piece could lead to the delay of an entire order. Getting your stock aligned now means you’ll send out complete orders quickly when the real surge hits.

Forecasting Demand

Guesswork and last-minute top-ups won’t get you far once orders start rolling in. Having too little stock leads to missed sales, while too much ties up your cash and storage space. Getting your forecasting close to right lets you plan smarter and keep your back office smooth during holiday volume spikes.

A good starting point is last year’s data. Break it down by:

- Product

- Week

- Order channel

You’ll often spot small spikes that may happen year after year. Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the last full weekend before Christmas all tend to bring in more traffic, so checking how certain items performed then can help you predict what to re-order.

Alongside historical numbers, pay attention to trends this year. Has there been more interest in a particular colour or collection? Have customers been commenting about certain items on your social posts? Search behaviour can shift, so what was slow before might be popular now.

When placing your reorders:

- Stick to your core bestsellers, especially ones that worked last year

- Bring in small quantities of anything experimental or seasonal

- Factor in your lead times, noting how long restocks will take during peak

- Check packaging supplies and gift cards, especially if offering customised options

Forecasting doesn’t mean you’ll get it perfect every time, but it helps reduce surprises. Balancing stock volume with storage space becomes important as warehouses get full and picking paths get crowded. Running lean but ready can help you dispatch faster, avoid chaos, and still keep up with buyer demand.

Organising Your Stockroom

Once you’ve got a clear picture of stock levels and incoming products, it's time to get your space in order. A well-arranged stockroom saves time, especially when you’re under pressure to pack and send items quickly.

The best place to start is with fast-moving products. These should be kept closest to your packing stations, ideally at chest height so they’re easy to grab without the need for ladders or long walks. Slower-moving or seasonal items can go higher up or towards the back, where they won’t get in the way.

Here are some quick fixes that help:

- Label all shelves properly and make sure labels match product barcodes

- Return misplaced inventory to the right shelves

- Clear any boxes, packaging, or clutter from footpaths and trolleys

- Prep empty shelf space for restocks before the pallets even arrive

- Remove discontinued or expired stock from pickable areas

It helps to arrange items logically too. Keep all variations of one product together, like the same handbag in different colours, or group home fragrance items by scent family. That way, your pickers aren’t darting around looking for matching items.

Also, plan for incoming deliveries. It’s common for Christmas stock to arrive in bulk around early November. If your warehouse is already full with leftover ranges or poor layout, processing these arrivals gets harder. Even if temporary, a rearranged stockroom with clearly marked zones can help keep those new items flowing smoothly into kits, boxes, or direct-to-door shipments.

Enhancing Your Packing Process

Packing becomes one of the busiest touchpoints during Christmas sales, so having this step refined early can save hours later. The way items are packed plays a direct role in both presentation and protection. Customers buying luxury products want more than just safe delivery. They expect it all to look and feel special.

Start with materials. Choose boxes that fit your items snugly to prevent shifting in transit. High-quality void fill like shredded paper or foam inserts adds both cushioning and a sense of care. When products come in sets, pack them tightly together inside a tray or sleeve to stop things moving around. This is especially useful for things like skincare kits or candle trios where broken packaging affects the overall impression.

Bespoke packing extras such as colour-themed tissue paper or branded gift cards also carry weight. These aren’t just for style. They show attention to detail and build loyalty at a time of year when customers are gifting to others. Coordinated packaging elements can help deliver a polished look that fits your brand, which matters when people post unboxing videos or reviews online.

Make the process easier too. Map out a table layout that flows well:

- Place packing tools and materials within arm's reach

- Pre-fold or pre-tape boxes in batches

- Store popular message cards near relevant stocks

- Separate fragile items onto their own packing line

- Keep printed order slips in order of pickup to avoid confusion

Even small changes to your packing station layout can cut down wasted steps and reduce mistakes. Train everyone handling orders on how to fold and fill packaging properly. It removes guesswork and keeps quality consistent, especially when activity levels pick up.

Partnering With a Fulfilment Company in the UK

Christmas volumes push operations beyond the usual pace and it's easy to get overwhelmed. That’s why partnering with a fulfilment company in the UK can free up time, space, and energy for your team.

A good fulfilment partner will handle storing goods, picking, packaging, and shipping all through systems built for handling volume. When large bursts of gift orders, returns, and reorders pile up in a short time, extra capacity makes all the difference.

These services usually include live inventory tracking and smarter delivery forecasting, letting you make better decisions even when your hands are full with customer interactions. It cuts down on stress, shortens dispatch times, and improves customer satisfaction when timing matters most.

Delays are common this time of year. Couriers get busy, roads clog up, and parcels can go missing. Fulfilment centres often work with multiple couriers, so they can route parcels more flexibly. They’re also set up to manage delivery issues quickly and raise alerts before problems escalate.

If you’ve ever had to send five apology emails in a row to late customers, you know the toll. With a fulfilment team prepared for Christmas pressure, those situations drop and you spend more time focused on growth, not damage control.

Now’s the Time to Take Action

Planning early for Christmas sales isn’t just helpful. It sets up your team for success. Keeping track of stock, tidying your warehouse, improving how you pack, and getting the right support can make December less about panic and more about profit.

It doesn’t take a flawless setup to impress festive shoppers, just one that works smoothly. Making the right adjustments now gives you room to breathe later. Orders move faster. Mistakes slow down. Customers are more likely to return.

Christmas should be a time where your behind-the-scenes work smoothly supports what the customer sees and feels. Make your checks, sort your flow, and prep your parcel line. Pressure is a part of the holidays. Being ready is what keeps it from turning into chaos.