20 Apr 09 Overstocked? How do you deal with the excess?

When I got home from our shop this evening, I switched on my pc and checked my email. So far so good!

Among my emails was a mail shot from Rick Segel entitled “What Could Your Best Vendor Do?”

Rick proceeded to outline a dilemma being faced by one of the members of The Retailers Advantage. The store owners had built up a good business with one particular supplier over the years. Then customers started to approach the store owners about the same product line being deeply discounted at a bargain outlets. It turned out that the prices for the goods were well below trade price. The store owner had not been offered any of the discounted merchandise prior to the manufacturer dumping their product.

I recently had a conversation with one of our own suppliers more or less on the same vein; they said that there was an overstock of some of their goods and were wondering how best to dispose of the overstock items. Having read Rick’s email tonight, I decided to forward the message to them because a supplier’s reputation is very fragile and, in these testing economic times, it is important to maintain a good relationship with your bread and butter income.

There is a survey at The Retailers Advantage – and I’m going to add my thoughts to the conversation there in just a minute or two. I’ll let you know how I voted after I’ve seen the survey questions.