We've longed learned that not everything you sell online is going to sell..
If you're buying wholesale/liquidation pallets, this is just a part of business is knowing that at some point you will have to take those products and sell them elsewhere to get rid of them.
You don't have to "Take a loss" in this process either. Let's discuss some of the reasons your inventory might not be selling, and then discuss what steps to take after.
Reasons for all of your inventory not selling could be:
1- Low demand for that item - Not every item is desirable in a pallet you receive. There are plenty of times when we have opened pallets and I have found a pair of UGLY shoes that I don't feel like ANYONE would buy..
Sometimes that's a wrong assessment, as we get surprised and sell things that I didn't believe would EVER sell.. Other times, I am right, and the item doesn't sell.
2- Not enough traffic for that specific item/brand - Maybe you have an item that holds a brand which isn't a household name. There may not be enough people searching that brand to bring traffic to your item.
3- Bad listing information (description, pictures, SEO) - If you don't have the proper information in your listing such as a solid description, good pictures, or any SEO such as keywords, then there's a good chance that your items may not sell and you could be missing out on sales.
4- Returns from a customer that come back damaged - We see this happen all the time. A customer online orders a pair of shoes, wears them once, and wants to return them.
Though it's annoying, it's also unavoidable.
5- Item damaged after listing - Sometimes we list products that are in perfect condition, and when we check them later the item has been damaged. This may happen while transporting from one side of the warehouse to the next, or even during the quality control check and listing process.
6- Upcoming product expirations - We don't deal with this issue, but we know others do. When you buy items like food, they come with expiration dates. When you get close to that date, it's time to liquidate.
So how do you liquidate?
Just like Wal-Mart, Target, and other "Big Box Retailers", you must also liquidate your inventory after its sat and not sold.
If we don't sell the products on Amazon, we take them to Poshmark, and if they don't sell on Poshmark then we will sell them at our local "Parking Lot Sales".
We offer these products at DEEP discounted prices, which does 2 things:
1- Attracts a large crowd
2- Allows us to turn the inventory quickly
Parking Lot Sales are a type of liquidation event that we created ourselves. We don't have to go anywhere besides our own parking lot.
Parking Lot Sales are done about once a month until it gets too cold to hold them outside.
The local public knows that when we advertise for this event that they better come, or they'll wait another month before we do it again.
We always have big turnouts, and don't spend any money advertising for this event.
We use local social media groups to promote our event, and let word of mouth spread from there.
You can use a budget to advertise, as you'll reach a larger crowd of people, but that will also cut into your sales.
REMEMBER: All of this inventory that you liquidate out should have already attempted to have been sold on 1-2 platforms before you sell it at or below cost.
Attempt to sell the inventory on Amazon, then Poshmark, and use a consistent price dropping strategy.
List the products with a good description, good pictures, and good SEO.
Allow them time to sell, but don't be afraid to create a space like we do monthly to sell items that do not sell.
If you follow that strategy, then no matter what you sell the products for, it will ALL be profit!
The biggest thing you have to remember is that all of this took us YEARS to put together.. Your recipe for success won't be created overnight.. It'll take time to perfect.
Don't be so hard on yourself, but always look for ways to improve.
Need inventory to resell? Check out our manifested pallets on the website. 👉 https://www.wholesaleuniversepage.com/collections/in-stock-manifested-pallets
