With the year rapidly drawing to a close, many business owners are scrambling to align their Q4 earnings reports.
Wall Street keeps a close eye on retailers’ inventory levels when quarterly reports are released. So, your end-of-year inventory could largely affect stock prices at the start of the year.
To move inventory at the year’s end, business owners have traditionally relied on heavy discounts in the last two weeks of December. Think about the all-too-familiar discounts on cars or appliances before fresh editions are released in the new year.
Source: https://www.sears.com/appliances/b-1020003
While an end-of-year heavy discounts could help clear your stockroom, it also crunches margins. So, we thought of a few better ways. Read on for our seven best tips to win the last-minute race to clear inventory.
Clear out excess inventory with a few readjustments to your product categories. Interspersing excess inventory among your bestsellers can significantly boost their sales in the last few weeks of the year. Additionally, try to award 10% to 20% of your top positions in each category for these products.
Refreshing the product pages for excess inventory items can help move them off of your shelves. Start by providing new added-value tips, such as new applications for the product. Or, consider showcasing celebrity or influencer endorsements.
Bundle excess inventory items with best-sellers to encourage sales. You can even partner with another business to create a unique end-of-year bundle deal.
An excellent strategy for moving inventory in late December is to offer excess inventory as a free gift with a minimum purchase amount. For example, customers may earn the gift after purchasing $100 or more. With this method, the average basket size increase may even exceed the cost of the free gift item.
Take a page from Amazon’s book by announcing special, highly-promoted sale days. These flash sales can effectively move excess inventory, especially when they’re strategically aligned with your customers’ holiday shopping habits
Source: https://www.wayfair.com/daily-sales/end-of-year-clearance
Look over the agreements with your suppliers. It may be possible to return or exchange inventory, which can turn a higher profit than selling the items with a heavy discount.
Donate your excess inventory to earn a sizable tax deduction and an attention-grabbing story for marketing purposes. Donations can help you reach new potential customers and demographics. For example, if you donate supplies to young students, you can create a page on your website that provides information for their parents.
In 2023, implement the latest technology and AI solutions to upgrade your stock monitoring and management. With a proactive strategy, next year’s Q4 earnings report can be drawn up quickly, without having to worry about inventory issues.
Take Walmart, for example. This massive company uses AI and ML support logistics to simulate Black Friday and predict obstacles before they appear. The technology analyzes factors including customer trends, seasonality, popular products, and shopping trends.
With budgets opening, you have a fantastic opportunity to present an improved strategy for organizing your budget with the end of the year in mind. That way, you won’t have to slash prices in half to move excess inventory.
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