Low sales are not the only problem for businesses with a large inventory. More than anything else, their income statements are also heavily impacted by slow-moving products; these are products that take up shelf space in the stock room or warehouse. It is not only a waste of space, but it is also a waste of opportunity. In some cases, this might even be more of a nightmare for businesses than low sales because slow-moving products tie up your capital and leave you with insufficient funds to use for the business.
Inventory should be sold in 90 to 120 days. If some of the items in the warehouse haven’t moved by the 120th day, it is time to get rid of them through sales and freebies. Remember that it is okay to simply break even with slow-moving products than for them to completely take up shelf space you could otherwise use for more profitable products.
Fortunately, there are now many ways to market slow-moving inventory better. You can’t let these products bring you and the business down. You can still earn a profit from it as long as you understand how powerful marketing campaigns can be.
Plan a Sale
The most obvious way to get rid of old inventory is to apply huge discounts on their sticker prices. Consider offering them for less than 50% to 70% of their original price. You don’t have to turn in a profit for them. The goal is to get rid of the products and free up shelf life. You will learn from this situation which products you should not stock up on. Sales are a great way to drive consumers to your stores, physical or eCommerce. But remember to keep the frequency of sales in mind. If you have too many sales in a year, they will lose their appeal to customers.
One of the most popular ways to sell slow-moving products is to bundle them up with fast-moving items. Although some customers may not like the slow-moving ones, they’ll be willing to pay a bit more for a chance to get more bang for their bucks. And true enough, this is a win-win situation for your business since it allows you to move the products from their shelves while your customers get to experience these items.
Another thing you can do is to create curated gift boxes. This is something that’s been going on for a few years now. The idea is for businesses to create thematic boxes with items that complement each other. An example of a curated box is a Korean cosmetics box that will combine all the bestsellers of Korean beauty products.
Remarket and Reposition
You might be having difficulty marketing your products not because they are unsellable but because you have the wrong understanding of who the market is. Who are you targeting with these products? Freshen up your campaign game by taking a look at who would benefit from these products and services. Have you ever tried using these products yourself? Are you sure you’re targeting the right audience?
You can take newer and better product photos to reach a new breed of customers on Instagram. You can also place them under the “new releases” on your eCommerce site and rebrand them so that they can get a new rep. They might not be selling well also because of the wrong meta information. Consider upgrading the meta title, meta description, and other details of the products.
Organize Giveaways
There’s nothing like giveaways to attract more customers to your business. You can try using slow-moving products as incentives for loyal customers. Since the holidays are fast-approaching, they’d love nothing else but to receive gifts from the businesses they patronize. Even small incentives can be powerful in driving the desired results for these slow-moving products.
To make customers aware of your freebies and giveaway, send out a holiday email newsletter to let loyal customers in on the secret that they will get a reward for shopping in your store this holiday season. You can also offer some freebies when they subscribe to your newsletters. This will be beneficial for your company in the future because you can easily reach out to your customers.
You should not allow excess and slow-moving inventory to pull your sales down. There’s always a way how you can get rid of these without losing much money and capital. Deliberately, make it a point to identify what products are not selling fast enough for your liking. This will give you an idea of what to order more, order less, and not at all order in the future. That will make your inventory more concise.