Shoot While the Ducks Are in the Air
2. Be part of the e-commerce marketing team. Provide them with daily visibility of your inventory ownership. Focus on the the best-selling products where you have adequate inventory to support additional marketing via emails, feature positions on your website, web ads, etc. You're competing with the world for your customer's holiday spending. Make sure you put your best possible products in front of them every day — every minute if you can manage it — since online marketing isn't time constrained.
3. Discount your overstocks NOW! The next six weeks present your best opportunity to sell through excess inventory at the highest margin. Consumers are shopping, and the "ducks are in the air." Your best chance to sell problem inventory is now; don't miss it.
"Ducks are in the air!" Your success from now until the end of the year may well depend on how quickly and accurately you "aim and shoot," by proactively aligning your inventory ownership with your marketing events.
Joe is Vice President of Product Solutions at Software Paradigms International (SPI), an award-winning provider of technology solutions, including merchandise planning applications, mobile applications, eCommerce development and hosting and integration services, to retailers for more than 20 years.
Joe is a 34-year veteran of the retail industry with hands-on experience in marketing, merchandising, inventory management and business development at multichannel retail companies including Lands’ End, LifeSketch.com, Nordstrom.com and Duluth Trading Company. At SPI, Joe uses his experience to help customers and prospects understand how to improve sales and profits through applying industry best practices in merchandise planning and inventory management systems and processes.
