For any retailer, Christmas can be the most profitable time of the year. With millions of people actively shopping for the perfect festive gift, delicious foods, new outfits and a couple of extra treats, there is room for savvy retailers to boost sales.
Customer Expectations
Shoppers don’t just expect great goods and services, they also want a quick turn-around. If you don’t have the latest toy, gadget or luxury food item in stock, you miss out. As shoppers are also drawn to make additional purchases in the same store on online shop, an out of stock item could have a significant impact on profits.
In order to offer everything to your potential customers when they are ready to spend, you need to stock up. Being able to use data on past purchasing patterns, consumer surveys and other industry insights gives you the best chance of predicting the popular items, buying trends, peak purchasing days and other information. This can be useful in helping you to order the right volume of stock.
Many shoppers will be using the internet to make some if not all of their Christmas purchases and these customers are expecting a speedy delivery times. They may be leaving their purchases until the last minute, but they still want something to wrap and give on Christmas morning. As an online retailer, additional delivery services are likely to be required in order to maintain customer satisfaction.
Stock Clearance Sales
They used to be known as the January Sales, but many sales start before Christmas and Boxing Day is now considered the ideal opportunity to pick up a bargain. No matter when your company starts their sale, the purpose is to clear as much as the left over stock as possible. With great discounts people are tempted to buy. This allows you to clear some much needed space and begin preparations for the next season’s stock.
If you are left with a collection of items at the end of the season, it can get in the way of operations, until it goes back on the shelf at the next sale. You may decide to donate these items to a charity organisation that could either use them or sell them, or you may be looking for a different storage solution that frees up your space.
No matter what items you have, the storage of new goods has to be clean and dry; damaged goods will never sell. It also needs to be secure, so that no one else can gain unauthorised access to your products, although you will want access at times that are convenient to you.
An ideal option is investing in self storage. Oxford based Barretts Self Storage offers a wide range of different sized units to cater for all business needs. Whether you need a space for a few boxes of stock or lorry loads, we can assist. From a temporary solution to a long term space for rent, we can help with stock management and other business requirements.
