How to Make the Most of Excess Inventory

Excess inventory doesn’t have to affect your business negatively.

Whether you keep stock in warehouses, shops, or both, your space is valuable, and there is rarely any room for excess inventory.

For any business supplying physical goods, you’ll know that no two products that you stock will have the same turnover rate. Goods that usually sell at a slower pace than others will likely turn into excess inventory.

No matter how defined your inventory planning, all retailers will experience unexpected changes in inventory.

Here at Bray, we have provided some tips for making the most of excess inventory:

Offer bulk discounts

Everyone loves a bargain. Pairing a bestseller with slower inventory and selling them at a discounted price is a great way to keep even the slowest items moving off the shelves. Consumers love to spend money if it means they’re getting something for free or cheaper than usual.

Use excess inventory as an incentive.

Use your products or services as an incentive to get consumers to encourage their friends to buy from you. Offers such as ‘Get one free product when you refer a new customer to us’ will work wonders. The clothing company, Next, encourages customers to invite friends. But it doesn’t stop there. Once that friend has spend over £40, Next offers £20 off yours and your friend’s subsequent purchase.

Refresh your marketing

If a particular item is not selling, consider doing some kind of remarketing tactic, or put some ad budget on it. If you have a website set up, place the item on your homepage, or make it a featured item. 

You could also place it in multiple categories around your website, or use it in a blog post to display the product. Run tests on where it is on the site and take it from there. 

Sell it online

Why not sell your excess inventory to liquidators who will sell them on your behalf? It is a useful B2B marketplace where your stock is listed in an auction. By auctioning your excess inventory, you could sell the products for a higher price. Make sure to understand the value of your inventory before selling at auction and stick to a price before you go to a liquidator.

If you don’t have enough to sell to a liquidator, try selling on third-party sites such as eBay, Facebook Marketplace or Gumtree. Selling them at a lower price will encourage customers to purchase them on the third party site where it’s cheaper compared to your store. As long as it sells somewhere!

Donate to benefit others and yourself at the same time. 

If you have tried these methods and cannot seem to shift the products, why not donate them to organisations to raise your visibility? You could give products to schools, public libraries or even local events in the community. Not only are you helping those in need, but you’re also promoting your business in a positive light to potential consumers.