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June 20, 2023 8:12 am
It happens to every reseller from time to time. No matter how well you try to manage your inventory purchasing, you may end up with slow moving products that just don’t sell.
This can happen for a variety of reasons. An unexpected weather change, a regional economic slowdown or a major employer closing its doors can put a hold on sales of nonessential items.
When you’re stuck with slow selling products, don’t give up. Here are six ideas to get those goods moving.
Tips on how to move slow selling merchandise
Rethink your marketing strategy and promote slow selling products and excess merchandise more heavily in your store and your marketing materials. Move it to the front of the store or even to a sidewalk display to attract shoppers in. Use big signage to get customers’ attention.
Make sure the merchandise is well organized and neatly displayed – shelves or racks that look all jumbled will not attract many shoppers.
This is the most obvious tactic to move slow selling products, and one you’ve probably already tried. However, to get slow selling products and overstock out of your store, you’ll need to do something really special. Try holding a one-day “flash sale” or “end of season sale” and making it a major event. Send out invitations to your email list and post them on social media, then offer rock-bottom prices that make the merchandise stand out.
It’s important to remember not to make a habit of letting slow selling products and merchandise sit out at a huge discount for weeks on end every season. If so, shoppers will come to expect this and will “wait you out” to get the deals.
Another effective way to use is bundling slow selling products with fast moving ones boost sales of both products. Product bundles are more attractive to shoppers that separate products.
You can also consider combining high margin products with lower margin ones. Another option is to combine several slow-moving items in a heavily discounted package.
If you have a physical store, try listing the slow moving items online. There are a couple of ways to do this. You could sell products online on eBay or Facebook Marketplace, but this can be time consuming as you’ll need to create listings for each item or type of item, take photos and monitor your accounts.
Another option is to set up your own ecommerce site just for overstocked products. This can be a smart way to not only benefit from overstock, but also test the waters of ecommerce in general and help build your brand.
Sometimes looking at your inventory in the form of a raw material can help. In some instances, products can be unpackaged, slightly altered and then remarketed as a different product or variant in the same product set which could be more appealing to customers. For example, you can create a kitchen accessories set or a home decoration set.
You can even give away overstocked items for free – as free gifts with $X amount of purchase, as part of your customer rewards program or in return for signing up to get your emails. On long term, expanding your customers network can turn up to be very profitable.
If nothing works, consider using your overstock or slow sellers as part of your business’s charitable outreach. For example, you can donate toys to a local children’s hospital. This will help you boost your image as a socially responsible business and get awareness in your community.
Reach out to us to help you deal with your inventory and find resources to manage your business in a profitable way. Check out more tips here.