There’s nothing worse than inventory that sits around, unsold. Not only are you paying fees every single month, but that’s also money that can’t be put towards growing your business.
Not to mention the longer the product sits, the higher chance of spoilage or quality degrading.
SO, today, I want to tell you some ideas to get rid of excess inventory. Whether you have a product that isn’t selling as well as you hoped, or you ordered way too much inventory for Q4, I hope this article will give you some tips to liquidate and get back on track.
Optimize Your Listing
Look: most listings are NOT set up correctly. It’s just a fact. Therefore, before you start panicking and insist your product is simply not in demand, let’s take a look at the most common places you can improve your listing first.
Who knows? You might have a dormant best seller on your hand, just waiting for the right moment to blow up.
Keyword Research
At AMZTracker, we are one of the only people who talk about the value of HUMAN keyword research.
It seems so obvious. But the truth is, when most people think of keyword research, they think of plugging their product into a keyword tool. Then using whatever it spits out. That’s a solid strategy, and we even have a keyword tool you can use. BUT, the problem is, it’s not going to find keywords that are wholly human in nature. Like slang, abbreviations, industry jargon, etc.
For example, did you know that JT is medical jargon for joint? Or IM for intramuscular? Or that K is the elemental symbol for potassium?
If you’re selling a joint pain remedy, it makes sense to include JT in your amazon description. Even though there are very few people searching this… and probably too few to show up in a keyword research tool, the people who are are highly educated and, more importantly, looking to buy.
Imagine if 20 people per month search for JT pain relief. And 18 out of those are buyers for any listing that really speaks that language. Those 18 sales could edge you out over the competition, causing amazon to rank you higher.
Not only that, but because the keyword is so small, there will be very little competition. So do a little cursory research. Find out the jargon, nicknames, and slang associated with your product. Then use them all throughout your listing. (If you are looking for places to start, check YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook Groups, etc… see how REAL PEOPLE are talking about your product.)
Copywriting
This is a MAJOR section in and of itself. Which is why we have many articles dedicated to it on the site. But the plain fact is that most fba sellers do not know their customers. They don’t know why they really are looking for the product. They don’t know their pain points and emotional hot buttons. So they don’t touch on them in the copy.
When you really speak to your customer’s desire though, it builds MASSIVE credibility. So much so that it can cancel out bad reviews or make up for a lack of reviews.
One of the most famous headlines in advertising is “Always a bridesmade, never a bride”. The language is outdated. But the concept is crystal clear. The emotion this phrase evokes is almost painful. And it understands the market so well the target is practically FORCED to read more.
If you don’t know your customers this well, don’t be surprised if your products don’t sell.
Liquidation Strategies
So if you try the above tips and you’re still not selling, here are some practical liquidation strategies.
Break Even
If you really are convinced your product has no hope of selling, try moving the price to the breakeven point. On Amazon, price is SUCH a huge deal to the customer. It doesn’t matter if you have 0 reviews. Or a 1 star. If your price is $10 lower than the competition, you’re going to make sales. Period.
Sell Inventory from Your Home vs. Amazon
For a small fee ($.30 – $.50 per item), Amazon will ship your items back to you. Why would you want to do that? Well, when you have the items in your home, you can sell them in other ways. Yardsales, craigslist, and Facebook marketplace can be great ways to sell product. In fact, for some products, they even work better than Amazon. So who knows? You might fail on amazon only to succeed with Facebook marketplace. Stranger things have happened.
Deal Websites
Another great way to liquidate product is to post it on deal sites. Here you give coupons for anywhere from 30% – 80% off. Then the website will show your product to all their traffic, sending thousands of new buyers to your listing. You might not make a profit, but you will liquidate… and fast!
Destroy It
Obviously, this is the last step we would recommend. But, if you REALLY can’t get rid of inventory, you can pay amazon to destroy it. Doing so will save you the fees that come with keeping dead inventory in fba storage.
Closing Thoughts
If you have a lot of excess inventory, it can cause you to panic. Don’t. Breath deep. This is a very common problem and there are tried-and-tested solutions. Try and save your listing first. If it doesn’t work, use one of the other methods and you’ll have that inventory off your hands in no time.
