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Implementation of residuals

If the product residues are still formed, the question of implementation arises. By and large, there are not so many ways to get rid of excess, and, as a rule, they are well known to everyone.

Let's start, of course, with sales. The usual seasonal sales begin about a month before the new collection arrives in the store. They usually take place in several stages: from a small reduction to total discounts reaching 75% and even 90%. At the same time, the result of sales of a particular item during the season is considered, because prices for popular models can not be reduced much, and the sale of the rest should be stimulated by large discounts.

In addition to their direct function of getting rid of drains and returning at least part of the invested funds, they can attract additional groups of buyers who could not purchase the presented product at full price. That is, in this case, sales can also solve marketing tasks.

The contingent of visitors to the store during the sales period differs from the usual one. Loyal customers are interested in the new collection at the end of the season, waiting for its appearance on the shelves. And sales are often attended by people attracted by discounts, not by the brand name, casual visitors who are ready for a spontaneous purchase.
Whatever the goals of the sales are, getting rid of leftovers or attracting new customers, you should not look for benefits due to revaluation, raising prices on the eve of the sale and calculating discounts based on new, "increased" prices. At best, this can cause confusion of customers and the loss of regular customers. And do not forget that a satisfied client will recommend you to a couple of his friends, and a dissatisfied one will complain to ten.

In pursuit of successful sales, retailers invent and implement various creative promotions. For example, you can hold a promotion when the discount increases in proportion to the number of items purchased, for example, when buying two items, a 20% discount, three 30% discount, etc. You can make a discount on different groups of products on certain days of the week. For example, on Tuesday a discount is given on skirts, on Wednesday on jackets, on Thursday on trousers. This scheme forces the buyer to come more often and buy more.

Also very successful are the promotions «gifts when buying », «the second thing – for free», «gifts for the purchase of a specific amount », «bring a friend and get a discount».

Although the time of receipt of the new collection and, accordingly, the start of sales are determined in advance, the exact dates are set every year depending on a combination of factors, the most important of which is the weather. For example, spring can only begin in April, so despite the appearance of a new collection in the hall, in March you can leave a corner with winter things that will continue to be popular. At the same time, it is very important not to delay the time of the transfer of the store to the summer time, so as not to lag behind the competitors.

The simplest way to get rid of commodity residues is to destroy them. This method is chosen by trendy brands that dictate the trends of high fashion and are ready for serious monetary losses in order to maintain a high image. For these brands, the most important thing is chic, putting dust in the eyes of the consumer. They would rather destroy the old collection than make it available to "ordinary" people.

One of the most relevant ways to sell leftovers is the opening of branded outlets in outlets. This is a fairly prestigious placement, thanks to which you can avoid a total price reduction and make such a store a source of income. "I find this format really one of the most popular today for the sale of commodity residues, and with each season it is gaining more and more momentum and its constant adherents," Oksana Prokofieva notes. But here you need to understand that, as a rule, these are single models/sizes of the collection, and not full-fledged bows that represent stores in the season, so here everyone makes their own choice for themselves.

"The format of outlets has fallen in love with Muscovites," says Anastasia Vasilkova, Development Director of TM Choupette. But, it seems to me, it is effective only if you maintain the discount pricing policy, that is, do not discount new collections, as, unfortunately, some residents of outlets do. The outlet can also be an interesting phenomenon in the sense that fans of brands sometimes go there not for a discount, but for brand rarities, hit models of past collections that can no longer be found anywhere.

If there is a retail network with at least eight stores, it also makes sense to talk about opening your own discount store. Its existence is especially relevant if the brand offers a lot of narrow-season products that are dynamically changing. When selling such goods, the risks of commodity residues are the highest.

Opening a discount store is especially important in a crisis. This is a strategic step that helps to solve several problems at once: to get rid of product residues that take up space in the warehouse and make a profit. At the same time, companies whose network is not developed enough to provide their own discount with uninterrupted supplies of surpluses can sell all the remnants in bulk (usually for a song) to a multi-brand stock.

The presence of its own stock allows for a more flexible and operational assortment and pricing policy. When a company has its own stock, it gets the opportunity to independently play on prices depending on demand, raising or lowering its profit margin. In this case, it can not only promptly dump the product residues, but also "recruit" new customers into its ranks: today the buyer is tempted by the remnants, and tomorrow he will come to the main store. At the same time, separate stock advertising is not required; it is enough to post information about the presence of such an institution in the trading floor of the main store and on the website.

Sometimes the products that have got into the warehouse return to the sales halls of stores after a year. The main thing in this case is not to deceive the consumer by passing off old things as a new collection, as sometimes happens in small stores that do not have a permanent loyal audience. The easiest thing to experience is the return to the store shelf of "transitional" models. Each collection has a basic segment (basic) – things that do not change from season to season.

Items from old collections can not only return to the trading floor during seasonal sales, but also stay in it permanently in a specially allocated space.

Author: Svetlana Michan

Photo: Shutterstock.com