10 Tips for Stocking Your Store With the *RIGHT* Kind of Items
What's inside? Are you looking for ways to ensure your store (online or brick and mortar) is stocked with the right kind of inventory? Inventory that you know your customers will want to buy? Check out these tips!
Do you have an online or small store that you would love to start stocking with amazing products? We've learned some things along the way and are here to share our top tips for keeping your shop stocked with amazing products that your customers will want to come back for!
HERE ARE 10 TIPS FOR STOCKING YOUR STORE WITH THE RIGHT KIND OF PRODUCTS!
1) Check out what's trending!
It goes without saying that you're going to want products that people actually WANT to buy in your shop. Keeping up to date on trends and finding ways to incorporate them into your business is a sure fire way to bring customers in.
For example, if you carry food products you might want to look into carrying vegan or sugar-free products. One of the best ways to stay current on trends is paying attention to what is doing well on Instagram and TikTok.
2) Ask your community what they want to see.
After all, they are the ones that are going to be doing the shopping! Put a call to action in your social media posts or add a question box to your Instagram stories for people to answer! Ps. It's is also a great way to increase your social media engagement - bonus!
3) Have a unique store style.
Having a consistent style in your business is not only great for marketing, but also for knowing what kind of products you should be carrying in your shop. Just because a certain product does well in one store, it could flop in yours if you have completely different audiences. Think about who your unique customers are when your deciding what products to carry.
4) Don't go OVERBOARD
It may seem like a good idea to have a big stock up at first, but sometimes too many choices isn't always a good thing. Start with simplicity so you know what your customers want to see and use that information to slowly add more products as you go!
5) Budget per quarter, not per month
In the retail world, as you know, we're planning for the big shopping holidays months in advance. Budgeting and planning out your stock per quarter can help ensure your store is stocked and save you time (and headaches) in the long run.
6) Create products using your own branding
One of our favourite ways to do this is by utilizing a company like Sticker Mule! They provide custom keychains, stickers, pins, magnets, buttons and more so you can create custom products for your customers to rep.
7) Maintain consistency
Try not to get out of stock on the core products and plan ahead for consistent stock replenishing. The worse things is realizing you're out of stock on a popular product and having to wait weeks for it to come in. Take note on how often you are ordering your stock and maybe increase the quantity or frequency of your orders.
8) Get products that work well together
Not only does it maintain a consistent theme throughout your shop, but it also increases your chances of selling multiple products in each order! Match products that go well together in your marketing so your customers can see how they would compliment each other. Some examples are different skincare products that can create a whole routine, or home decor products that all fit within a current style.
9) Use wholesale retailers like Faire or Girl Gang
We offer wholesale for some of our members and think it is beneficial for those popular product you know are going to sell. You can also check an online wholesale marketplace like Faire which features a ton of small businesses offering wholesale products. We also offer wholesale with some of our members - you can reach out to us at contact@thegirlgang.ca to learn more.
10) Ask your local community of small business owners
Carrying local products in your shop isn't only great for supporting other local small businesses owner (helllooo community over competition), but it also can increase your local reach. Think about it, the more small businesses owners promoting their products in your store, the more customers will come shop! It's a win-win for everybody.
And of course, be intentional. It's not always easy to know what to stock in your store but the more you review what's working and what's not, the easier better purchase decisions come.
Curious what Canadian products are killing it out there right now? Check out these blog posts for 10 Canadian Health Brands that are Killing it and these Low Key Canadian Brands You Wish You Knew About Sooner.