Retail businesses, whether they are online or in a store, have to keep extra stock on hand. Even if you use past data to carefully plan your wholesale purchases, you might end up with too much inventory. This can be a big problem for businesses of all sizes, which is sad. In our last article about mistakes and tips for buying wholesale, we talked about the dangers of having too much inventory on hand. Head over to that article if you want to do your best and try to avoid having too much inventory. But don’t worry if you already have too much stock and need to sell it. It happens in every store, so we made a guide to help you figure out what to do when you have too much inventory. You’ll also learn how to cut your losses as much as possible and sell your stock at a price where you still make money. In the end, this will help you improve your bottom line.
Why do you need to get rid of your extra stock?
First of all, having too much inventory can take up valuable warehouse space. This will make less room for your new season’s stock or force you to pay more for more space. Secondly, storing the overstock inventory can cost you money, and also there’s the fact that your money is stuck in it. This can lead to problems with cash flow and less money to buy new stock. Which can cause problems with product management and getting ready for the next season.
How to deal with having too much stock?
There are many ways to deal with your extra inventory and keep your storage space from getting too full. Here are some ways to do this. Read through them and decide which one would work best for your business. Also, keep in mind that you can not only use one of these at a time but can combine multiple strategies for better results.
Sell online
If you operate a brick-and-mortar store, taking your unsold merchandise online can be a great opportunity to get rid of overstock inventory. Even if there is no interest in your excess products on the local market, with an online store you can target a much wider audience. You can easily set up your Shopify store or, you can simply use intermediary platforms such as Amazon or eBay. If you have way too much of one or more things, you might want to try selling them on eBay, where you can set a fixed price and also let people bid on them. You can start an auction with as little as $0.01 for an item. This will not only make sure that you sell your goods, but it can also get people talking about your business. This way you might even drive shoppers to your actual store. You won’t make a lot of money with this method, but you can be sure that you will at least make some money from your extra stock. At the end of the day, you’ll also save money on storage costs, which will help your bottom line.
If you already have an online store or only sell on the Internet, you can still make money by keeping doing what you’re already doing. In this case, make sure that you offer competitive sales. If the product isn’t selling well, try to cut the price by at least 60%. This will definitely make people more aware of your site. Also, people are more likely to buy something that doesn’t cost a lot of money. Also, you might bring in new customers who end up coming back to your store. Or, you could just offer discounted products to get them in the door, and they might end up buying more than just what they came for.
Get ready for ads and sales
When you want to sell seasonal items, you must have a sale. Set up a sale and get the word out if you have too much stock that you need to get rid of. At the end of the season, you can increase your chances by having a clearance sale or a flash sale. Putting a time limit on your offer will put pressure on the customers. People are more likely to buy when they see that an offer is only good for a short time and that goods are on sale at big discounts.
On the other hand, if you have some products that just won’t sell, you can put them on sale. Whether you have an online store or a store with real walls and floors, promotions can be a good way to get customers to notice you and come into your store. Promotions can also be a great way to get people to buy more things or buy things that are more expensive. You can give that item away for free if a customer spends more than a certain amount in your store. This will oftentimes encourage your customers to spend more to meet that mark and be eligible for the promotional gift. In the end, you will not only be able to get rid of your extra stock, but you will also sell more stock.
Offer bulk discounts
Selling in bulk has numerous advantages apart from getting rid of your overstock inventory. When one customer buys a lot of items, you only have to pack and ship one package to one address, which can save you some money. If you have too much of a certain product or category, try selling it at a price close to wholesale so you don’t lose money on your purchase price. If you can’t or don’t want to do this, you can still offer a good discount for buying in bulk.
You can try to make your bulk deals even more appealing by giving customers a discount based on how many items they buy at once. For example, if a customer buys two or more of a certain product, you can give them a 20% discount, and if they buy five or ten, you can give them a bigger discount. These kinds of bulk discounts can help you make more sales and get rid of your extra inventory faster.
Offer groups of products.
If you have too much of a certain item, putting it in a package with something that is selling like crazy can help you get rid of it faster. Try to create bundle offers of complementary products of the same brands to make them appealing to your customers. You can also group things by how they change with the seasons. If you run an online store, make sure to offer the bundle option to customers who have already started the checkout process.
This way, you won’t give your customers too much information when they’re still not sure about buying. Also, it will be hard for them to say no to an offer that only requires them to add a small amount to their cart. In a store with real walls, you can put the item that goes with the bundle near the cash register. This will have the same effect on your customers when they are already heading to make the purchase.
Sell off the extra stock
You can still decide to liquidate your overstock inventory if you can’t sell it to your customers, even with a sale or a discount. A liquidator can be any interested buyer who is willing to buy your off-season stock in bulk from you at a discounted price and then sell it through their own channels. This can not only help you to get rid of a large amount of inventory quickly but can also give you a much-desired cash flow boost before you start a new season. Before you write off any extra stock as a loss, you should definitely think about this option. But it is always important to know the value of your stock and determine the lowest price you are comfortable selling it at. Once you know this price, you can start to talk with the liquidator. Always try to start with a higher price so you have room to negotiate and don’t have to sell your unwanted stock at a price that is too low. Also, this kind of selling can help you make good connections over time, so you’ll always have someone to turn to if you end up with too much stock you can’t sell.
But be careful about using this method to sell branded items, especially if they are designer items. When you work with a liquidator, you won’t be able to change the price they charge the end customer for the goods they bought from you. This can be very bad for your business and brand, because when you sell designer items, you’re not just selling a product, you’re also selling the image of the brand. If someone can find a new, unused luxury brand product online for a much lower price, it can hurt your pricing power and how much people think your products are worth.
Join programs for recycling
Textile recovery companies can take care of your extra stock if it is made of polyester, cotton, polycotton, or a combination of these. They have ways to recycle things that didn’t sell in the first place. Customers are more concerned than ever about what happens to overstock items that don’t sell because of new trends in sustainability. So, this could be a good way to deal with your trash that will also make your customers happy. This way, your business will have less of an effect on the environment and send less trash to landfills.
Also, if you recycle, you don’t have to pay to take care of these things as trash. However, some recycling or recovery companies might ask you to pay certain costs related to handling. If you decide to recycle your unsold items, don’t be afraid to tell your customers about it in blog posts on your website or on your social media pages. You will see that they like what you’re doing, and you’ll be able to not only protect but also improve the reputation of your brand.
Give away what’s left.
If your business is doing well and you don’t want to make extra money by selling extra stock, you can always donate it. You’ll be proud to know that your business helped someone in need. But even if it costs you a lot to buy wholesale products for your store and you don’t want to give away your extra stock for free, you can still make money by giving to charity.
Many governments will lower your taxes if your goods go to a charity that doesn’t get paid for it. Remember that giving things away is always better than burning them for money, throwing them away, or breaking them so that people in need can’t use them. If your customers find out about this, it can also hurt your reputation. You probably remember the scandal that happened when some well-known brands were found to have burned unsold stock to protect their brand image. And you don’t want something like this to happen to you.
If you decide to give, you can also use it to help you market yourself. You can tell people on social media about your donation, which will make your business more appealing to customers. As consumers become more aware of social and environmental issues, this can be a good way to make your brand seem more valuable and show the human side of your business.
Also, if you want to sell the extra stock and do something nice at the same time, you can create an email or social media campaign telling customers that a certain percentage of the price of a product will go to a charity. This way, you can still give money to charity and bring people’s attention to the items you haven’t sold. This will make them more likely to buy them, and at the same time, they can help a good cause that your company supports. This will also help your business’s reputation and help you get rid of items you have too much of.
Conclusion
Having too much inventory can be hard to deal with at times. When you have items that don’t sell, the first thing to do is figure out how your customers think. Make sure you know how your customers react to sales, bundles, or donations so you can choose the best way to run your business. If you do it right, selling off your extra stock can be good for your business. You can easily turn your loyal customers into repeat customers by giving them great deals or free products that they will enjoy in the future. Just make sure that your brand and the brands you are selling come first at all times. As we’ve already talked about, you wouldn’t want to hurt the brand’s reputation and make it harder to sell something at full price in the future.
