Most businesses worldwide struggle with the marketing budget for brand awareness. One of the most significant issues is keeping the right amount of inventory for promotional purposes. Since the supply chain complexities are increasing, it is tempting to stock up on inventory to avoid running out of promotional products. But, businesses often miss the mark and end up with dead stock; it is not a favorable outcome for any business. Solid inventory management for promotional items is necessary for brand awareness; the solution uses custom socks. This blog will explore how it can help eliminate the hassle and benefit your business.
Deadstock:
Deadstock or obsolete stock comprises promotional products that are unlikely to go out. Items usually become outdated after reaching the end of their lifecycle, losing their relevancy, and are no longer popular. Every limited edition promotional product has the potential to contribute to the problem. While it may look like these products are not doing any harm, it’s tying up companies’ finances; you can use the budget in a better way. Items usually go through various stages before becoming unusable. First, it starts as a hot product – everybody likes them, then becomes a slow-moving item and obsolete. E.g., fidget spinners – many organizations created with their logo, but soon, people got bored with them or were banned because of choking hazards. It is not the issue with custom promotional socks because it’s improbable suddenly, everyone will stop wearing them.
Top causes:
No matter how experienced a marketing manager is, it’s difficult to predict product demands consistently. Although the reasons vary according to industries, here are some of the common causes:
Poor product quality:
Poor quality is one of the most common issues for promotional products failing to reach out as you anticipated. Product quality, demand, and impression are intertwined. Customers these days have high standards, and if they are not satisfied with the quality, they are not likely to get them even if they are for free. If someone got a poor-quality promotional item like a t-shirt, they would tell their acquaintances, and it could hurt your image. People will avoid taking products from you, leaving you with declining demands and surplus stock.
Inaccurate forecasting:
Trends can shift overnight, resulting in excess inventory; businesses often overestimate these trends. E.g., the Soccer world cup is a few months away, and most small businesses will use some promotional products to leverage the event. But, the products will lose their relevance as soon as the event is over. Writing any date or theme on promotional products is a recipe for excess products. It would be better not to mention the date on your items; creating athletic socks for giveaway during the event is better.
Offering too many products:
People like options, but giving too many choices leads to confusion, resulting in deadstock. It is challenging to create and manage too many promotional products simultaneously. It would be better to regularly analyze and identify the best products and weed out underperforming items to tweak your offerings. E.g., if expensive promotional products like custom mugs, sunglasses, and phone cases are not performing well, it is better to create evergreen and budget-friendly items. Custom socks fit both criteria.
Poor marketing efforts:
If you create high-quality items, everybody will want them; word-of-the-mouth campaigns are still one of the most effective ways. But, if the promotional items are not moving quickly, it could be because of poor marketing efforts. You need to ask yourself some questions: Is your strategy thorough enough? Are your products providing value to customers? What kind of business image are you looking to create? Are you attending enough tradeshows or events? Some minor tweaks here and there in your strategies are enough to make a big difference. E.g., if you are looking to create a serious image, then the classical crew socks are ideal; if you are looking to target a younger audience, you need ankle-length or no-show socks.
Effective methods to avoid the issue:
- Choose on-demand custom socks: On-demand custom socks manufacturing is one of the best solutions to avoid the issue. It takes the point of having excess inventory out of the question. This type of method produces promotional items as you need them. It also allows you to create new things without the risk of upfront investments and inventory costs.
- Small order, less cost: Ordering small ensures you don’t have deadstock; this strategy has a caveat that if the product is in high demand, it will go out quickly. Custom socks solve the issue because it takes less time to create and ship them.
- Have a huge giveaway: If you already have a considerable inventory of promotional products, it would be better to give them at public gatherings, fundraisers, etc. It will help build goodwill in the community.
Conclusion:
Following these steps will help you encounter the deadstock promotional products problem. However, you will also need a reliable custom sock manufacturer with experience and expertise. EverLighten has helped organizations, sports teams, and nonprofits deal with the issue by creating small batches of custom socks in over twenty-three countries. They have been manufacturing on-demand promotional socks for more than eighteen years.
Best pricing: They provide factory-direct pricing because they own a factory and are not intermediaries.
Quality in every product: They use top-quality materials and the latest processes to produce custom socks.
Real people, fantastic service: EverLighten loves helping; they give various sustainable options, and each customer gets help from design to delivery.
Designs to impress: With their in-house designers, the design in your head is brought to reality.
No minimum order requirement: You can order any number of socks you need; they accept every order without a minimum limit.
Worldwide shipping: They provide worldwide shipping with order tracking.
Visit https://everlighten.com/collections/custom-socks today to create your custom socks.