How to Avoid a Loss With Aggressive Merchandise Markdowns | Retail Today With Bob Phibbs, the Retail Doctor - Flash Briefing

 

Well, we've all had that time when you've had a great run on one piece of merchandise and it comes to the end and you have a couple leftover and suddenly people say, "What do I do with old merchandise?" 

You know, merchandise doesn't get better with age, and the one thing I always say is, if you're going to put it on sale, you can put it on sale for 20% off. That's fine. But when you get to clearance, that's the time to be aggressive. Put it on sale for 60% off, let's say for a week, and if that doesn't work, then get ready to donate it. 

But one thing people do is we hold onto the old merchandise too long, and the problem with that is it's your money sitting there. It's not going to get better. You're going to take the loss anyway. So just admit it, take the loss, and then your store's going to look fresher instead of a bunch of old stuff that's on sale. 

So today, I want you to clear out, closeout, and give away the merchandise that's been there for a long time. Another thing you could do is to color-code your tags if you don't have an updated computer system for that, and that'll help you as well.

If you love what you heard on Retail Today, connect with Bob by visiting retaildoc.com or send a message to bob@retaildoc.com. Thanks for listening!