Is your Inventory weighing you down?
If you are selling products to your market and have to track and manage inventory, there comes a point where you have excess inventory lying around that you're not 100% sure what to do with; larger corporations and retailers exerience this on a regular basis. If you're a solo entrepreneur or a small business, maybe you have really great products (such as candles, beauty products, apparel, toys, etc. ) but they're just not flying off the shelf fast enough. There are 6 things that you can do to actually help you sell your products faster and make room for the new product offerings that you have putting off for quite some time:
· Apply the 80/20 Rule
Not everyone likes to crunch the numbers, but it's important for you to go with facts and not just emotions when it comes to tracking your inventory. The numbers actually tells you exactly where your customers are putting their money. If your vanilla-scented candles sold out in two weeks but your cranberry-scented stayed on the shelf for 6-months, don't view your cranberry sales as a failure but see it for what it is - feedback. Less sales in one product means that your customers have a stronger preference for that so it makes sense for you to give them more of what they want and cut-down less of what they don't want. I was watching Shark Tank and a business owner who sold pies needed additional funds to keep up with demands. The investors asked him how many different types of pies he sold, it was between 10-15. They then asked, which is your best selling pie; by far (over 80%) his sweet potatoe pies were doing the best. The investors didn't offer him the money, they told him, stop wasting time, money, and energy creating and marketing the other pies. Focus on building and offering more of your sweet potatoe pies.
· Ramp up your marketing campaign
Sometimes you have excess inventory because no one really knows about all of your product offerings and there are some that just gets lots in the mix. Typically with retail stores there are so many different options, categories, that it's really hard for the consumer to appreciate all of your product offerings. If this is the case, ramping up your marketing for your product and giving it the spotlight it deserves could very well increase sales. Featuring your product on the home page is one of the best ways to make your product stand-out. You can also create a separate marketing capaign that lists benefits, testimonials, stories, etc. for that product. Another great way to ramp up your marketing is to get product reviews. Offer your products to focus groups, bloggers, and affiliates so that they can provide their own feedback of your product to their audience. This increases your visibility, reduces your inventory, and boost sales. Total win-win!
· Re-package and re-offer
Sometimes your packaging needs a little revamping so that the product is more appealing to your customer. I'm not talking about the physical packaging although that could help tremendously, but I mean the way that it's being presented. Sometimes you need to tell a different story so that your customers are interested in buying. Some common ways to do so are by having a going-out-of season sale or a holiday related sale. Those are proven to work very well but you can add a touch of creativity to peak your customers interest especially if you're a solo enterpreneur. You can actually pair your excess inventory with another hot ticket item and bundle your offering. This is known as upselling or downselling. Upselling is where you offer an additional product at or close to the point of checkout. You may see this in the "recommended products" area of your shopping cart. Downselling is when someone chooses not to purchase a high-priced item, but you can offer them your excess inventory at a lower price point. It's a great way to show your customers you appreciate their business no matter how little money they spend with you.
Have you ever dealth with excess inventory? Please share your experience below.
Replace the subject line and body with your first blog post and hit send! Include pictures, an mp3, or anything else you want to share. It's just that simple.
