How to Prepare Your Store for the Winter Holidays: An 8-Week Plan

Start preparing for the winter holidays by checking stock, the purchasing budget, and delivery lead times. Then coordinate gift sets, staff schedules, packaging, and dispatch. Before the busy sales period begins, the store should know how much stock it can sell and how many orders it can prepare on time.

Count back eight weeks from the expected start of the sales peak. If a supplier needs more time, place the order earlier. Assign an owner, deadline, and deliverable to every task: a confirmed order, checked stock, a finished sample set, or an agreed schedule.

What information to gather before purchasing

The store owner or manager sets the budget and preparation calendar. The buyer gathers supplier terms, the stockroom employee checks inventory, and the senior salesperson prepares the schedule. In a small store, one person may handle these tasks, but record deadlines and deliverables separately.

• Sales by week during the previous holiday period: quantities, prices, discounts, and returns.
• Actual stock: saleable items, damaged units, and orders already reserved.
• Purchasing terms: price, minimum order quantity, lead time, payment terms, and whether reorders are possible.
• Order costs: packaging, payment processing fees, and delivery paid for by the store.
• Team capacity: available shifts, and the time needed to assemble sets and prepare dispatches.

If you have no sales history, plan a small first batch and agree on whether it can be replenished. Prepare a cautious and a higher-demand scenario separately. Do not pay for all the stock required by the higher-demand scenario without assessing what you will do with unsold items.

8-week preparation plan

How to calculate purchasing needs and safety stock

Calculate the need separately for each item. Working formula: quantity to purchase = forecast sales before the next replenishment + safety stock − available stock − confirmed deliveries during that period. If the result is negative, this calculation does not call for an additional purchase.

Available stock excludes damaged goods and units already set aside for customers. The sales forecast in this formula must also exclude orders for which goods have already been set aside; otherwise, they will be counted twice. Include deliveries only when the supplier has confirmed the quantity and timing. Also check whether available stock will cover demand until each delivery arrives: a delivery at the end of the period will not cover orders that must be fulfilled earlier. Set safety stock with possible delays, product shelf life, and the likelihood of selling the stock after the holidays in mind.

Illustrative example: before the next replenishment, the store expects to sell 80 units and keep 15 units as safety stock. Available stock is 25 units, and a confirmed delivery is 20 units. Additional purchasing need: 80 + 15 − 25 − 20 = 50 units. This is a calculation example, not a recommended safety stock level.

Check the payment calendar too. After paying for purchases, there should still be funds for the store’s agreed expenses: wages, rent, packaging, and dispatch. Do not reorder slow-moving stock just to make the holiday display larger.

How to prepare gift sets

Create a product card for each set: name, list of components, quantity of each item, packaging, price, and possible substitutions. Agree on substitutions with the customer before collection or dispatch. The photo must show the exact contents the customer will receive.

The number of sets is limited by the component with the smallest available stock. Illustrative example: there are 40 cups, 30 packs of tea, and 50 boxes. If each set contains one of each item, you can assemble 30 sets. If the cups and tea are also sold separately, decide in advance how many to allocate to the sets.

Assemble a sample and measure the work time. Check that the items fit, do not move around inside, and can be checked easily before the box is closed. Prepare the agreed batch first. Assemble the rest against actual orders if the promised lead time allows it.

How to check a discount before a promotion

Assess how much money remains from each sale after the purchase cost and variable expenses. Variable expenses are costs incurred with each sale, such as packaging or payment processing fees.

Illustrative example: the product price is UAH 1,000, the purchase cost is UAH 650, and variable expenses are UAH 50. The contribution from one sale toward fixed costs is 1,000 − 650 − 50 = UAH 300. This is not net profit: fixed costs and taxes are not included in the example.

A 10% discount reduces the price to UAH 900. If the purchase cost and variable expenses remain the same, the contribution is 900 − 650 − 50 = UAH 200. To preserve the total contribution, you need to sell 1.5 times as many units: 300 ÷ 200 = 1.5. For example, 150 units instead of 100. That volume is not guaranteed, so check stock, team capacity, and additional expenses before running the promotion.

How to organize shifts, packaging, and delivery

Build the schedule around expected demand at specific times. Decide who advises customers, who works the till, who picks online orders, and who checks dispatches. Assign cover in case a colleague is absent and agree how unfinished tasks will be handed over between shifts.

Check the number of orders the team can prepare in practice. Illustrative example: packing one order takes 6 minutes, and 3 hours are allocated to this work. The calculated capacity is 180 ÷ 6 = 30 orders. Set the actual limit lower, allowing for checks of order contents, error corrections, and breaks.

For reservations, record the order number, product, quantity, customer, and reservation expiry. Agree who confirms the reservation, who monitors its expiry, and how the product returns to available stock when the agreed period ends.

Before accepting an order, tell the customer the set contents, full price, packaging and delivery costs, payment terms, and preparation lead time. For corporate orders, agree separately on quantities, personalization, a sample, documents, and the schedule for handing over batches. Cancellation, substitution, and return terms must comply with the contract and applicable requirements.

Distinguish the dispatch date from the expected delivery date. Set the cut-off for accepting holiday orders based on assembly time, the carrier’s schedule, and a time buffer for delays. After that cut-off, offer only fulfilment options the store can meet, such as collection of ready stock.

Stock control and holiday promotions in Torgsoft

Before purchasing, open «Склад → Стан складу» (Warehouse → Stock status) and select the required accounting center. Here you can review product quantities, selling prices, and cost prices. To check physical stock, generate an inventory statement for the required products or types. Before counting, check the «Враховувати кількість товару на складах 3 рівня» (Include quantities at level 3 warehouses) setting: if you are also counting stock from subordinate warehouses, including reservations, enable it. The recorded quantity and physical count must cover the same warehouses. If the store remains open, «Блокувати товар після першого сканування» (Block an item after its first scan) temporarily blocks an item once counting has begun. When counting is complete, set its status to «Закінчено підрахунок» (Counting complete) — the item will become available for sale again.

Before closing the statement, recount products with discrepancies and check for any omitted items. After closure, Torgsoft creates documents for surpluses and shortages and adjusts stock to match the count. An empty statement populated only by scanning items found will not detect missing units that remain in the records. A starting list is needed for a full check. The steps are described in the product stocktaking guide.

In Torgsoft, you can configure holiday promotions by period, quantity, amount, or individual product, and choose how the final discount is calculated. Before launch, test a sale using the discounts sales staff will apply. The available tools are listed on the Torgsoft marketing features page. Calculate the sales contribution separately, using expenses specific to your store.

What to check during holiday sales

Every day, the manager or assigned employee reviews available stock, confirmed deliveries, reservations, and orders that have not yet been prepared. If stock or team capacity is running low, promptly update the available quantities and lead times shown in customer offers.

• Compare actual unit sales with the forecast.
• Check stock of gift set components and packaging.
• Find orders approaching their promised deadline.
• Check reservations that are about to expire.
• Compare prices and discounts with actual variable expenses.
• Confirm that the next shift knows about unfinished orders.

After the holidays, count unsold stock, returns, and preparation costs. Record which products had to be reordered urgently, where packaging was delayed, and which sets customers chose. Use this information for the next purchasing plan and work schedule.