Tips to Effectively Manage or Repurpose Dead Stock
Dead stock can accumulate in a warehouse. Before you realize it, several seasons or years have passed, and you are left with a significant number of unsold products. It not only takes up room, but it can put financial strain on your organization. Fortunately, it does not have to be as intimidating as it appears. You may better manage your dead stock by tackling the issue one piece at a time.
1. Develop a Plan: Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up to a warehouse free of dead stock? Unfortunately, this issue cannot be resolved overnight. However, you can create acceptable goals with time constraints to help you get out of your dead stock scenario. It will not all disappear at once, so examine minor bits at a time and see how they are handled.
2. Check your Sales History: If your dead stock matches up with specific products, you may need to reconsider your order quantities. Look at historical sales history over the last few years to help influence your future orders. If the same things are appearing in your dead stock, it may be time to cancel these purchases. Analyze your history carefully to avoid future dead stock concerns.
3. Talk with your Suppliers: If you have an excellent relationship with your suppliers, you might ask to return the goods. Suppliers may be able to repurpose the products, use components of them for another item, or sell them to a firm that can use them; this ensures that both sides gain from the return. This should not occur frequently, but in extreme situations when dealing with dead stock, it may be a realistic choice.
4. Sludge: Sludge refers to dead stock things that are too old and out of date to sell. It is time to get rid of them from the storage facility, but there are more effective ways to dispose of the objects.
5. Sales: Getting rid of dead goods is not the same as running a sale for clearance. Because there are fewer buyers for the goods, you must price it differently and only provide a limited quantity for sale at any given time. Too much dead stock inventory on hand will turn customers off because they will have to go through mounds of obsolete and unappealing products. At the proper price, just a few at a time may pique their curiosity.