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You Can Do Without a Cheesy Ad and Still Turn Excess Inventory
August 1, 2007
A local furniture storeowner sold his stores to a larger company. The owner was ready for retirement and probably received a very good offer for his high-end retail stores. Being that new ownership is in place, they have made some good and bad changes. For one thing, their company has been advertising much more, but their advertising has turned cheesy.
The radio ad went something like this: New management has retired and we have merged with X store so now we are “busting at the seams with excess inventory.” Come view our excess inventory at discount prices.
With commercials like that, all you’re doing is saying your inventory is not worth the retail price and trying to use the excuse of offering this huge discount because of a merger. Consumers aren’t oblivious to the truth.
We all end up with excess inventory at one time or another, slow-turning inventory, or inventory that’s just not in style anymore. You should and need to try to move slow-turning inventory so you have the cash to invest in new styles, but I believe this can be achieved tactfully.
- Declare an annual sale every year. At the annual sale offer glasses of champagne with wine and cheese all day. You could place little tags on each piece of merchandise with a different percentage off based on the type of product.
- Make it special and invite your best customers by requiring them to RSVP.
- Hold an auction. Auction off slow-selling merchandise and donate a portion to charity. You might not get as great of a return but you’ll probably come by the money you paid for it and in return will be able to purchase items that are popular today.
- An example for a jewelry, accessory, or clothing store—reduce the prices of slow-turning inventory and offer them as add-ons.
- Designate an area or display case with a number of slow-turning pieces. Add and/or remove pieces on a monthly basis and try to draw attention to the case with humorous anecdotes or cute sayings, like…”gifts that won’t break the bank or leave you with an empty wallet” or “gifts that will have your wife sending the kids to grandma’s for the weekend.”
Posted by Shanu Singh Guliani on August 1, 2007 | Comments (0)
