If you been using FBA or a 3PL’s for any amount of time you’ve encountered this issue. The product you expected to sell 100 units a day is only selling 10 per day. So what you expected to be a 4 month supply has turned into a 3 year supply.
This is not an if, but when. If you sell multiple products you are bound to have an unanticipated slow mover. Slow movers are the nemesis of financially healthy businesses. Not only do the accrue monthly storage fees that chip away at your bottom line, they also tie up cash that could be used for higher performing products or other investments.
Worse yet these low performing products cannot be ignored. Amazon and many 3PL’s compel businesses to remove inventory by assessing expensive long term storage fees, or even mandating removal.
So when you inevitably encounter this situation, you typically have two bad options. Option 1 is to remove your inventory. If you use FBA you’ll pay a fee ranging from $0.20 to as much as $2.00 or more per unit for oversize items. If you have warehouse space the bad news ends with the removal fee. If you’re running your business out of your house you’ve got another problem. Suffice to say you’ll likely be parking your car outside while your inventory fills your garage.
Option 2 is even more intolerable, the disposal order. As it sounds this is when your inventory is literally thrown in the garbage. That is your investment in the inventory turning into a complete loss. Worse yet you’ll be charged for this service. Each 3PL will have their own rates for inventory disposal, and Amazon will charge the same $0.20 to $2.00 per unit fee they asses for removals.
The strategy of quick inventory turnover and proactive resolution to slow moving inventory is one of the little known commonalities between the most successful merchants. The unsurprising solution to slow moving inventory is discounting. At the right price almost any product is an attractive offer to shoppers. But before you go slash your prices on Amazon or Walmart, be aware that your likely headed towards a dead end, here’s why.
In most cases slow sales can be attributed to your products visibility. If your product listing is on page 7 of the search results, you’re not going to generate many sales, regardless of how much you lower your price. So you need to get eyeballs on your product and offer a compelling offer to encourage large numbers of shoppers to purchase it.
Scheduled for release on June 1st
We are excited to announce the upcoming release of the Rebaid Liquidation program which solves the exact problem framed above. Rebaid has been amongst the largest and fastest growing rebate based launch platforms for the past few years.
Our large audience of shoppers are eager to find great deals whether through cash back rebates, or discount codes. It was on this basis that we have developed a discount code based campaign type specifically for sellers looking to liquidate excess inventory.
Importantly this program solves the issue of eyeballs. To reiterate the point made earlier, it doesn’t matter how much you discount your product if no one sees it. Discount campaigns created on Rebaid will generate broad visibility from our large shopper base. Simply offer a compelling discount percentage and watch your excess inventory quickly sell through!
Simply create discount codes for the product(s) you intend to liquidate. If you’re selling on Amazon you can create discount codes under the Promotions tab. Sellers who use other marketplaces or independent websites can also use this program so long as they support discount codes.
Enter basic information about your product including pictures, description and the discount amount(s) you intend to offer. To liquidate faster you can encourage shoppers to purchase multiple units of your product by offering tiered discounts.
Best of all you can create discount campaigns on Rebaid for free for a limited time! Sign up today using the link below and stay tuned for the official release scheduled for Tuesday June 1st! CruxFinder readers sign up here.