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GDA Staff -- Gifts and Dec, 3/14/2011 4:35:03 AM
How do you handle excess inventory?
Jennifer Hill
BLACKSTONE'S OF BEACON HILL
Boston, MA
Blackstone's of Beacon Hill is a small store, with approximately 540 square feet of selling space. Our basement is modest and old, complete with low ceilings, so we have gotten creative with how we handle our stock.
In 2008 we remodeled the store, swapping our slat wall glass shelves for four cabinets with cupboards on the bottom. This solution enables us to keep minimal amounts of back-stock right on the selling floor.
For some merchandise, like Christmas crackers, we store the boxes on top of cabinets. Having seasonal merchandise like this visible to customers sometimes results in sales of products way before the season actually starts.
With the economy as it has been the past 18 months, we have been running with leaner inventory levels, so our basement storage is sufficient to meet our needs. We also reorder more frequently than we did five years back.
In rare cases we have had vendors drop ship product for us, but this is not a typical solution to our stock management needs.
Barbara McCormick
POPPY
Columbia, MO
We work with two types of inventory: outright purchased and consigned. If we're working with an artist on a 
consignment basis, I like to have the entire collection out on the gallery floor. I will not ask artists to consign work unless I have the space to accommodate it. Jewelry, for instance, is a very important segment of our business. We always have a large selection. Each case has drawers below the display where we can store duplicates or overstock. If we have more than will fit, we arrange the rest in trays so it is easily pulled out and looks presentable.
If we have outright purchased inventory and have duplicates, we have shelving in our office/storage room where it can be placed after it is inventoried in and accounted for. We try to make everything visible and easy to find.
Occasionally the packaging of an item is interesting in design, color or shape and we will incorporate it into the display. This can be both attractive and effective storage. Boxes can be used as pedestals or to arrange things at different heights and can add interest or information.
Dana Luque
FLORIDA HOSPITAL
RETAIL DIVISION
Orlando, FL
We have several hospital gift shops. Product ordered is delivered to a retail distribution center located on one of our hospital campuses, but not within the hospital. With multiple shops, the distribution center has proven beneficial in efficiency because we have a centralized process for receiving, data entry, tagging and distributing product to the stores.
Over the past two years, our buying philosophy has changed from volume buying, to reap the largest discount, to ordering for each storefront individually. One of our strategies is determining whether we believe we can turn the product ordered within 90 days. If there is any doubt, we do not order the product.
Our goal is not to have product returned to our distribution center to house for another season. We view product that is over one year old as obsolete, whether it is sitting in our store or at the distribution center. We are committed to closely monitoring the age of our product and developing a strategy to sell the product in a timely manner.
We would love your feedback!
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