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- Parent Category: Retail Tips
How to Run a Buy-One-Get-One Sale
Tip #436 - A Great Way to Move Merchandise
Dear Tip of the Weeker,
We know you're getting tired, but the end of holiday madness is in sight! Bob's post on our Facebook page this week says it all...
"It's absolutely critical that you show leadership down the home stretch. Your team is watching you. If you treat a customer badly, it gives them permission to treat someone badly. If you stay focused on selling, they'll stay focused on selling. If you stay cheerful, they'll stay cheerful. A leader shows the way."
Holiday shoppers are making their final purchases and you're (hopefully) watching your inventory shrink. But no matter how good you are at assortment planning, there's bound to be a few items that didn't sell like you hoped they would.
Time to take the markdown! You want to free up the cash in those slow-movers to buy new, better selling items for spring AND you want to lower stock levels so you don't have as much to count during your physical inventory in a few weeks.
One particularly useful markdown at this time of the year is "buy-one-get-one free." This promotion accomplishes two major goals:
- Deep discount (up to 50%) encourages customers to buy
- Moves twice as much merchandise to lower stock levels
Here are some ways to use the buy-one-get-one deal to strategically get rid of your slow-moving stock.
- You have a lot of one particular item: Do the standard, buy one widget, get one widget free. Gift givers often have multiple people to buy for that they'd like to give the same or similar gifts. This promo makes it a no-brainer for them to choose.
- You have some slow moving colors in an item: Buy an aquamarine widget (the slow moving color), get a second widget of any color free. This will help move all widgets, but specifically the aqua widget.
- You have some slow moving sizes: Buy a large widget (the slow moving size), get your choice of small or medium widget for free. This one's good because the markdown will be less than 50% and you will be pushing that least popular size.
- You have two similar items that are overstocked: Buy a widget, get a thing-a-ma-jig for free. Again, great for gift givers who want to give similar but different gifts to 2 sisters, 2 teachers, 2 neighbors, etc.
- You have a bunch of unrelated, but slow moving items and not enough of any one to do a good single item BOGO: Buy any one item on this table, and get a second item from the table for free. Gift givers love this one and you'll move a lot of merchandise in a hurry!
By the way, a buy-one-get-one deal will work great as one of your 12 Days of Christmas specials. Have fun with this one and watch your cash accumulate while the stuff left to count in January disappears!
Wishing you great sales and lots of fun,
