Inventory doesn’t last forever. Whether you sell office supplies, food, or beauty and health products, you will have to deal with expiring inventory sooner or later. Before products that are nearing the end of their shelf life start costing you money, you can use several effective strategies to liquidate them. The key is to act fast, before the products have a chance to spoil. Using a small business inventory management app will make everything easier.
• Create “buy one, get one free” sales
It’s a simple and effective way to liquidate expiring inventory before it becomes a problem, and it works with many different kinds of products. You only have to make sure that the products you pair go together well. An inventory control cloud app like DataQlick can help you effortlessly create and manage product kits and bundles for such sales.
• Offer discounts of at least 50% on expiring inventory
You will not recoup the full cost of your inventory, but you can minimize losses. It can also be a powerful incentive for attracting customers who may discover and buy your other products. With a small business inventory management app you can manage discounted inventory quickly and easily across locations, within a single intuitive interface.
• Sell expiring inventory in bulk
Local businesses may be interested in buying expiring inventory at a discount. You can either contact businesses you think may be interested, or else place an add online or locally. Either way, make sure that the products you offer can be used by the businesses you target.
The first approach is the more prudent and you may want to start with it. Consider starting the search in your own professional network.
• Offer free gifts to customers
With this approach, giveaway products are given to all customers regardless of what products they buy. You won’t be recovering any costs, but you can boost customer loyalty as well as eliminate the need to dispose of the products in question. If you have a large number of giveaways, consider distributing them across your different locations. Or you can restrict them to your online store to drive online sales.
• Give products for free to employees
Instead of throwing away products you can’t sell, it may be better to give them to employees for free, provided of course that they have not yet expired. Also important is to ensure a fair distribution. If the number of products is limited, consider organizing simple contests.
In the end, remember that it’s better to prevent ending up with expiring items than having to liquidate them. To avoid the problem of expiring inventory in the future, use an inventory forecasting cloud app like DataQlick that combines sales, inventory, and purchase order data to accurately predict future inventory levels for each item in stock. This will help you understand what products don’t sell and help you reduce the inconveniences and costs that come with overstock.
