5 Clever E-commerce Ideas to Sell off Old Merchandise
One of the biggest nightmares for e-commerce sellers is ending up with excess or unsold inventory from the last season. Yet, this is also the inevitable truth of any business. Having too much leftover inventory is a big no-no for any business as it takes up warehouse space, obstructs cash flow and prevents you from investing that tied up money on more important business needs.
Accumulating excess inventory from the previous season is not a favourable thing; therefore, to ensure that doesn’t happen, you should deploy an inventory management system in place, which gives you real-time stock level alerts and keeps an account of every piece in your inventory. However, sometimes due to unavoidable circumstances, excess merchandise can accumulate for your e-commerce store. But don’t fret, there are a number of ways in which you can turn your older merchandise into cash.
1. Get a fresh approach
Many times it’s not because there is something wrong with the product that it isn’t selling. The issue could be how the merchandise looks on the shelves. It is important to refresh and revise merchandising and marketing efforts for older and slow-moving inventory.
Sometimes the simple act of repositioning the product, and remarketing them differently can do the trick. Some handy tips could be to freshen up displays, move things around, adding colourful signage and replacing worn out tags. This way even though customers may or may not have seen those items previously, they will perceive them in a new way and might be tempted to make a purchase.
2. Break it up or Bundle it
It’s a good thing to piece out your inventory. Break up a package and sell each of the items individually. Bundled products might be slow to sell because customers might not be interested to pay for two products just for the one they want. Breaking up a package allows customers the freedom to buy what they want. It’s a no fuss approach- nothing more, nothing less.
On the contrary, the reverse method also works well. Bundling items in your e-commerce store that are complementary to each other and offering them at discounted prices could be a clever way to interest customers in experimenting with new products outside their preferences.
3. Discount items
Whether you have an e-commerce or brick-and-mortar store, the most obvious step to take in order to quickly move older inventory is to offer them at discounted rates, in short put them on sale. Sales have a positive psychological effect on buyers because it motivates them to buy more and well, who doesn’t love a good deal right?
Discounted items on sale are a cost-effective way to dispose off older merchandise and possibly earn a profit or just break even.
Intimate customers about the sale by posting it on social media, SMS Marketing and special previews for loyalty card holders and regular customers.
4. Incentivize products
You can offer low-cost items at freebies or incentives. ‘Bribe” customers into buying certain products with schemes like ‘ Get a discount voucher by spending $100 or more on purchase of $500.’
This tactic also works by setting up older inventory that has gone ‘cold’ as giveaways in exchange of asking customers to sign up for your newsletters.
5. Return, Exchange or Donate
Ever wondered why experts stress on maintaining a good relationship with your vendors and suppliers? It’s because they can save you from losing tons of money by allowing you to return old inventory or exchanging it for new items.
Donating older merchandise can cure the headache of storing it and also shed a positive light on your brand name and increase goodwill as customers like to associate with companies that are active in community betterment.
Donating items as gifts-in-kind to schools, non-profits, churches can help you earn a significant tax deduction, and provide much needed CSR publicity. Sounds like a win-win situation!
Conclusion
Selling off older merchandise doesn’t necessarily have to be a difficult task. You can make a decent profit by selling inventory from the least season in creative ways without having to dispose or writing them off.
