As you read, bear in mind that retailers and wholesalers of all sorts go through this every year. Excess stock is not exclusive to sunglasses. Wherever there is retail, there tends to be stock left over after the annual holiday shopping season.
Deeply Discount the Stock
You could attempt to sell the excess sunglasses as quickly as possible by deeply discounting it. Pair your discounted prices with aggressive sales that encourage customers to buy before all the best styles are gone. If you have a lot left over, consider a warehouse flash sale.
Run a special post-Christmas sale featuring rock bottom prices that get attention. Feature BOGOs and other sales tactics that have served you well over the years.
Product Bundling Is Worth Looking At
If deep discounts are not your thing, you might try product bundling. Perhaps you could offer a pair from your excess holiday stock alongside a pair from your spring stock, sold side by side at a special bundle price. You might even consider creating a family pack.
Imagine a pack of four pairs of sunglasses – one pair each for mom and dad and two pairs for the kids. Every family pack sale removes four pairs of sunglasses from your excess holiday stock. You can sweeten the deal by offering a special bundle price.
The bundling strategy seems to work well during the early spring, when families are starting to think about vacations. So if you're still struggling with that excess stock come late March, bundling is probably something to look at more seriously.
Product Liquidation
A third option is to liquidate the stock by selling it for pennies on the dollar. If you sell sunglasses exclusively, you may have enough stock remaining to interest a liquidation company. But if sunglasses are a side gig, you may have trouble garnering interest. A better bet might be to sell your sunglasses in bulk on a site like eBay.
Product liquidation may seem less attractive because you are not getting nearly enough money for the products. But if it is a choice between getting pennies on the dollar and getting nothing at all, a liquidation could be the better choice.
Supplement Future Sales Efforts
Yet another strategy is to use the excess stock to supplement future sales. You may choose to run a BOGO promotion in a couple of months. Throw some of your excess holiday stock into the mix and see what happens. Who knows? You might get a lot of bites. You can never tell what is going to happen when you run a special sale.
Store Them for Next Season
If all else fails, you could store the stock away until the next holiday season. Pull them out in late fall and get the jump on holiday sales with an early bird promotion. With any luck, this year's excess holiday stock will still have some appeal to next year's buyers. Strong sales would suggest you can invest in less stock next year, leaving you with less excess after the season.
Having excess stock is part of retail. It is part of wholesaling as well. We have our own excess stock of bulk sunglasses to deal with. But that's okay. It's better than not having enough inventory to meet the orders we get. And just like you, we will find a way to get it sold.
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