fbpx So you’re an owner of or a buyer for a store and you need to make purchase decisions on new inventory, but how do you know where to start? You’ll need to ask your vendors some questions in order to create an effective selling plan. We participated in a round table discussion at The Running Event which addressed some of these questions,  so we’re giving the answers to you!

Here is what you should be asking your vendors:

  1. “What should I be buying?” Your vendors should have a lot of insight into what is popular, what is selling well, and hot new items. Let them guide your buying decisions so they can help set you up for success.
  2. “What if I want to try something new?” If you want to try a new product, ask them for a ‘starter pack’ of their top five products in that category. That way you can test out your new idea on a smaller scale, avoiding the risk of making a big mistake.
  3. “Who else carries it?” You should know your market and what other people are doing. Will the item be unique to your store, or are your competitors selling it too? Find out what worked, and what didn’t. If you find out that a certain product is doing well in one of your competitor’s stores, then you should carry it in your store as well.
You can also make purchasing decisions by analyzing your inventory performance by running a Best Sellers Report and a Worst Sellers Report. Furthermore, you could do some research to find out how consumers are reviewing different products. If you see that one of the items you were planning on ordering is getting terrible reviews, save yourself some money and avoid bringing that product into your store. Finally, once you have the product in your store, remember that the placement of items matters. Make sure you’re strategic about where your items are located in your store. You may even consider heat-mapping to do things such as putting low-performing inventory in hot selling spots in your store. Good luck! To check out some other resources from The Running Event, click here.