What is a practical Sankranti prep checklist for a small seller?

When a festive rush arrives, you want decisions already made. This checklist is arranged by area of work, so you can tick through it over a couple of weeks. It does not assume any particular sales number or what shoppers will pick, because those depend on your own shop.

Stock

• Count what you hold today for every product you plan to push. Use the method in doing a weekly stock count in 30 minutes.
• Estimate extra need from your own past weekly sales and a cautious lift.
• Note your supplier lead time and place orders with a safety margin.
• Decide what happens to leftovers after the festival.

Pricing and offers

• Work out the margin on any discounted or bundled item before announcing. See coupon minimum order value maths.
• If you use a code, set an end date. In Varchas Stores, coupons have an expiry and an active switch in the admin.
• Decide your free-shipping threshold and check the shipping fee in Settings.

Listings

• Refresh photos for the products you are promoting.
• Check titles, sizes, weights and descriptions for errors.
• Add a short line on gifting use if relevant.
• Hide or mark items you cannot supply in time, so nobody orders something that is gone. Read dealing with overselling and out-of-stock orders for what to do when it happens anyway.

Packaging

• Count cartons, mailers, tape, fillers and cards against expected orders.
• Pack one sample of each product and test it.
• Prepare any festive extras, such as a card or a wrap, well before the rush. Packaging ideas for a better unboxing without extra cost has cheap options.

Shipping

• Confirm your courier setup and pickup arrangements work.
• Set a cut-off date with a buffer, and a different one for far-away customers.
• Check addresses on arrival for pincode errors.

Customer messaging

• Write the cut-off message and post it in your store, on WhatsApp and on Instagram. Use how to announce festive shipping cut-off dates.
• Save ready replies for where-is-my-order and delay questions.
• Plan one reminder before the cut-off and a last call on the final day.

Time and people

• Decide how many orders you can pack per day.
• Line up help for packing if you need it.
• Block time for replies so messages are not left waiting.

After the festival

• Thank customers and ask for reviews. See review request message templates for WhatsApp.
• Note what sold, what did not and what you wish you had done earlier.
• Plan the next restock using real numbers.

A note on dates

Take the festival date from a calendar and set your own deadlines from it. Do not copy someone else's cut-off, since your supplier and courier times will differ.

Work through this list in the order given, starting with stock and listings, since those take the longest to fix when found wrong late.