Stock discipline is a really key issue for any small retailing business and yet it is often overlooked.
It’s worth remembering that keeping stock does in itself represent an expense. Whether it’s the price of storing items that aren’t moving, the cashflow you are failing to unlock by keeping hold of old stock or the fact that for as long as you hold it you can’t get new stuff in, it’s all holding you back. We wrote about stock discipline earlier this year.
It’s one reason why you see liquidation sales and sell offs so frequently from big retailers. When the bigger gambles don’t pay off it does make sense, in the grander scheme of things, to shift it and make what you can. And yes, even if that’s sometimes below cost, it’s a good thing.
Channel Advisor have produced an interesting ebook that covers these issues with an ecommerce hat on. They examine the ideas of repricing, flash sales and much more.
