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Retail Store Managers: Maximize Seasonal Inventory Year-Round!

Posted by Heather Brautman | Thu, Oct 24, 2013 @ 08:00 AM

ShoppingCartMoneyYou know how you snicker when you drive around your neighborhood and see houses with Christmas lights still up in May?

It’s sort of like when you’ve still got all that red and green on your store shelves a few months after your most-discounted seasonal sales. Without giving the stuff away or taking a hit to send inventory back, how do you turn seasonal inventory into true "shopportunities" throughout the year? We’ve got a few tips for you and we promise, none of them are “Christmas in July” sales.

  •  Don’t wait for the sale. It may sound counter-productive to discount seasonal material before the holiday, but it’s a way to set yourself apart. When every other retailer has its boxes of Christmas cards, Valentine’s candy, and family Easter shoes at full price, you can capture a piece of the market marking them down the day or week before. You’ll thrill last minute shoppers and have less to discount – with the potential for even more loss – after the holiday.
  • Wear out your warehouse. Depending on your vendor agreements, your merchandise may be your merchandise until it sells, period. This means you don’t have to get rid of it in the days after a holiday. If you’ve got a place to store it, do so. Then you’ll be ready for its resurgence. For example, got a leftover supply of fireworks after Independence Day? Think ahead to when customers are going to be looking to buy fireworks again: New Year’s Eve!
  • See red! One of the predominant themes of the Christmas holiday season, red, gets a near-instant replay less than two months later on February 14. Set up a scavenger hunt for employees to gather all red-related items on December 26 and put them aside for Valentine’s Day. You can, of course, prune out all the Santa-themed merchandise, but you’d be surprised how many of December’s red shirts, tableware items, and gifts would look fresh and ready for purchase on your shelves in February.
  • Stabilize the shelves. Got groceries? Remember the old reduce, reuse, recycle, and focus on the second one. After the Thanksgiving rush, plenty of items lingering on your shelves are ideal for that next great holiday meal. Check expiration dates on pumpkin pie filling, green beans, marshmallows, canned ham, stuffing, pie crusts, and other stable staples (aka mostly canned goods with long shelf lives, nothing fresh or needing refrigeration). Then make sure they remain front and center for shoppers who are taking on the plans for their holiday baking.
  • Keep an eye on the community calendar. You never know when anretail store manager “Ugly Sweater” fundraiser party is going to crop up. Or when the local community theater will announce its plan to stage a show that your store would be ideal to help furnish and clothe. Don’t forget high school and college drama departments, too!
  • Donate, donate, donate. You may already have set up a program where you donate items as fundraisers or charity. Remember the adage, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Just because certain items haven’t sold during the holiday season, doesn't mean they’re not inherently giftable any time year-round. This means that you won’t have as much of a loss by donating brand-new merchandise. Instead, offer post-seasonal goodies. A donation is a donation, and will be appreciated.
  • Act like a “general” manager. Change the way you think about seasonal items. Certain products lend themselves to year-round sale-ability, you just have to change your mindset. Rolls of leftover gift wrap covered in hearts will stock up quite well with the rest of your wrapping paper. Someone buying a gift for a loved one may just want to wrap that present with an outpouring directly from the heart! Sparkly sweaters can brighten up even a spring day, and funky skeletons will thrill the goth and emo crowd year-round. As long as your goods don’t scream season or holiday, such as “Happy St. Patrick’s Day, 2013” on a beer stein, we challenge you to see how else you can merchandise them.

There’s one way you don’t want inventory moving out your door – when it’s being stolen. As much as you’d love to get rid of those plastic Easter baskets or heart-emblazoned sweaters, you still need them to be paid for. Unfortunately, battling shoplifters is also a year-round process. To help you fight for what’s yours, we produced a free eBook filled with tips on preventing shoplifting. This kind of intel is in season all year long, so "steal" your copy here:

shoplifting prevention tips, shoplifting profiles

Topics: Retail

Written by Heather Brautman