4 Key Elements to a Successful Warehouse Sale

Wondering how dates and times can affect the success of your sale? First, it is important to verify if a competitor’s sale will take place before, during or after your sale. Naturally, if a similar sale takes place before your event, customers will certainly have fewer reasons to attend yours. Additionally, major events that take place at the same time as your sale could disrupt traffic, as people may feel it is not worthwhile to get stuck in traffic in order to get to your sale.

Weather is also a major factor. If your sale offers summer clothing in December, consumers may not feel the need to take advantage of your current deals. In addition, harsh weather such as snowstorms or rain can discourage people from taking the road.

When it comes to your event hours, consider making your sale as accessible as possible. Try offering hours outside of regular business hours. For instance, a sale that is open on Friday until 9 PM and on weekends is more likely to be successful than a sale that is open Monday to Friday from 9 AM to 5 PM.

The second important factor is accessibility and parking. The venue chosen to hold your sale must be easily accessible during its opening hours. If the venue is difficult to access and parking is limited, it may discourage many consumers from attending the sale. Contrarily, if your event is held at a venue near highways, major shopping centers, and parking is free and plentiful, you would be astonished to see how willing consumers are to travel the distance to your event.

Consumers who attend warehouse sales have certain expectations regarding merchandise that is being offered and the prices. If your sale does not correspond to their ideals, they might not want to attend another event held by your company. Thus, you must do everything that is possible to meet these expectations. For instance, the merchandise offered at your sale must be fairly new, in good condition and in sufficient quantity. As for prices, they must reflect a discount of at least 40%.

If you are simply unable to offer a 40% discount, you can use the terms promotion and rebate but you definitely want to stay away from the “Warehouse Sale” terms which are usually offering greater discounts.

Discounts of 20% or 30% can be quite interesting for certain items. Surely, there is a customer who will appreciate these types of promotions. Recognize that you will not benefit from attracting consumers through false advertising. Advertising discounts of up to 70%, when most of your merchandise is at 30% or 40% off, is a major “faux pas”. Subsequently, you are taking the risk of attracting the wrong type of customers. Even more importantly, consumers who attend your sale will feel cheated.  They may express their discontent with loved ones or even turn to social media to express themselves. Thus, creating bad advertisement and a negative reputation for your sale and company.