It’s November and the end of the year is fast approaching. It’s time to move out inventory that has been sitting in your warehouse and not selling well. There are a number of good reasons to reduce your inventory this year as opposed to waiting until next year. Some of these include:
Generate cash before year-end. It’s usually beneficial to bring in cash rather than have it invested in inventory of slow-moving product than to continue to keep it in your warehouse and carry it on your books.
If you have goods that have not been selling through your normal channels, there are alternate channel retailers who might be looking for these products to round out their Holiday sales offerings. By selling to the appropriate accounts this will not affect the sales of your current customers.
Discount and alternate channel retailers are looking for products they can buy NOW to sell for the Holidays. Once they fill their open-to-buys they may not have the money to purchase until after the New Year. The sooner you can offer products at the end of the year, the better the opportunity to sell them.
January is often a time when retailers clean out their remaining Holiday stocks which can delay their purchase of new items. Consider selling your overstock products now which might be a better time than after the first of the year.
Being watchful of product dating is always important. If you have products with Best By or Use By Dates of March or April, you should be able to generate more money for them now with longer dating, rather than waiting until January or February to sell them.
Your company may have some tax reasons to reduce your inventory before year-end. If so, now is the time to do it. (Be sure to check with your tax advisor on this point.)
You could have small quantities of a variety of items that have just been left over from previous orders or even returns during this year. If you can group together you can offer smaller second level accounts a good product combination which they could use as Holiday offerings. This would clean-up some small quantities of products in your warehouse.
Now is a good time to generate end-of-the year CASH !! Plus, give your warehouse a Holiday present by cleaning it up of older inventory!!
To discuss overstock or problem products you want to sell, contact Dick Lansing at
The Lansing Group:
Email: dlansing@thelansinggroup.com
Phone: 312-524-6117