If you are a retailer and you have too much of goods lying around, it is not a good thing. If you have surplus stock, it not only takes up room in your storage but it also holds value that you may use to reinvest in your retail business.
This is the main reason why most retailers pay close attention to their sales statistics. These statistics reveal how and which products you are buying and selling and which products are selling better than other and which are just lying around as surplus inventory. Keeping a tab on your sales and inventory reports is important to find out if you have surplus inventory and what are the reasons for that so that in future you may not buy inventory that is not required.
However, even if you are up to date with your statistics and keep tabs on which products are selling and which are not, there can still be surplus inventory in your storage due to multiple reasons you don’t have control over like trend changes, market fluctuations, wrong predictions, etc. If you are in such a situation, you need not worry if you have surplus inventory lying around. This article explains you how you can liquidate surplus inventory.
Ways You Can Liquidate Surplus Inventory
Refresh The Marketing Of The Product
If you are not able to sell some items in your inventory, it does not necessarily mean that the item is not suitable to sell. Many times, the issue is how you present that particular item to the customer. You should make an effort to remarket the item differently to the customer in order to sell the product which is slow-moving.
One of the many methods that you can apply to sell surplus inventory is to relocate the item to a different area in your store. It could be shifted up to a shelf where it is more visible or near the hotspots where there is a higher chance that the customers notice the product. Many experts in the field suggest that remarketing a product is one of the many sureshot ways of selling the product which is moving slowly.
Strategically Lower The Prices
If somehow, remarketing the slow moving product doesn’t work as you would like and there is still surplus goods in your inventory, then you should consider lowering the prices of those products. Experts suggest that you should start strategically giving discounts on slow moving inventory by starting with small amounts like a thirty percent discount off the sale price.
You can also have a sale event that you advertise heavily to attract more people on their fear of missing out on offers that are only once available in your shop. This can help move your slow moving items and if the sale goes well, will increase the reputation and brand value of your business as well.
Sell Items In A Bundle
Bundling is a method of moving surplus inventory used by retailers heavily. It is seen as the next move that the retailers take to liquidate surplus inventory after giving discounts. According to a survey conducted by a research firm, they found out that over ninety percent of the store owners they surveyed implemented bundling to liquidate their surplus inventory.
You can bundle some of your slow moving inventory together and offer it with a discount on the bundle which will help save the buyer money if they buy them together but not when they buy them separately. This will help you in liquidating surplus inventory without really affecting your profits much.
Use Surplus Inventory As Incentives
If you have a lot of slow moving inventory that is low priced and are having a tough time selling them, then a clever way of using it is by offering it as an incentive for people to do an action like signing up for your mailing list or by buying a certain minimum worth of items to get that product for free. This way, even if you don’t get a profit on the product, it helps to improve the sales of other items in your inventory.
Check If Returning The Products Is An Option
You should contact your vendor and ask them to return the product and exchange it for other products or credit. They should consider your request if they have sold you a product that doesn’t have a market in your store. If the merchandise that you want to liquidate is in a good condition and sealed, then you should have no problem with returning it to the vendor. At the end, you are a valuable customer to that vendor and they will not risk losing you for some surplus inventory that needs to be returned.
Conclusion
Having surplus inventory lying around is bad for your business. It not only takes space but is also a waste of money that can be used to improve your business. You should liquidate your surplus inventory by many ways like remarketing your products, offering a sale, selling them as a bundle or returning the products to the vendor for new merchandise or credit.