Inventory management has always been a top priority in store operations. Too much or too little inventory can pose business risks to sellers, so dealing with excess inventory in a timely manner is particularly critical. Today, let's talk in detail about how to clean up inventory efficiently and free up enough space for new products!

Cleaning up excess inventory in a timely manner is like “cleaning up” a store. It not only saves storage costs, but also maximizes inventory value and frees up “room for growth” for new products. So, which inventory should be “taken out”?

This is inventory that has been stored in the fulfillment center for more than 181 days and is subject to long-term storage fees. Compared to monthly storage fees, the surcharge for overage inventory is very high, especially for inventory over 365 days, which can be up to 13 times higher.

In other words, the cost of storing the product may be higher than the cost of advertising, inventory, or removal. Therefore, Amazon recommends that sellers actively clean up this excess inventory to make room for popular products and save on storage costs.

In addition to the fees and costs mentioned above, holding excess inventory may cause some sellers to pay storage utilization surcharges.

🔗 Copy the following link and open it in your browser to view the latest warehouse utilization rate:
https://www.sellercentral.amazon.dev/fba/dashboard

Therefore, Amazon recommends sellers to review and clean up excess inventory in a timely manner to improve storage space utilization and save storage costs. So how do you check for excess inventory?

In the “Amazon Logistics Inventory” tool, you can filter out excess inventory by sorting the “Expected Number of Excess Items”; you can also view recommendations for each ASIN in the “Actions” section on the right. Sellers can choose whether to adopt recommendations based on their own products and business conditions.

For excess inventory, it is recommended that it be handled in a timely manner to avoid large storage expenses. According to the level of recycling value and their own recycling speed requirements, sellers can try the “four-step” combo: expand site ➜ promotional sales ➜ reserve storage ➜ clean up redundancy.

Instead of a price reduction promotion, try “Curves to Save the Country” first. It's like a garment cannot be sold in the North, but the South may be in short supply. It is recommended to try first:

Using the power of Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfilment (MCF), sellers can sell not only the Amazon site, but also third-party platforms, which is more conducive to the goal of clearing inventory.

In addition to expanding more sites, the second step is to solve the inventory backlog problem by reducing the price and clearing the inventory through relatively low threshold methods such as coupons, Prime exclusive discounts, and promotions. These daily promotion methods can increase product traffic, accurately and efficiently reach the customer base, stimulate purchases and increase sales, and are very helpful in quickly removing inventory.

Create discounts for a single product or group of products. Product search results will display a Coupon badge, get an exclusive Amazon Coupon traffic portal, and you can also customize coupons according to the type of buyer to accurately reach target groups. Generally displayed on the front end of the mall:
① Exclusive promotion page;
② A list of product pages in search results;
③ Product detail page listing;
④ The buyer confirms the checkout page and shopping cart for the added item.

A type of discount promotion for Prime members. After setting, discount information and Prime badges will be displayed. Generally, they are displayed on the front end of the mall:
① A list of product pages in search results;
② Product detail page listing.

Deals for events

Every year, Amazon's special holiday sales are an excellent time for hot sales. Sellers can pay attention to the promotion points of various categories, prepare products and inventory, and clean up a wave of inventory!

Promotion channels aimed at buyers that cut prices and handle backlog inventory have attracted huge traffic, and product exposure and drainage opportunities have skyrocketed!Products participating in the limited-time outlet sale will offer buyers at least 20% (20% off) discount. Currently, the channel reaches buyers on almost all Amazon sites.

An efficient pricing promotion tool that can additionally set lower prices visible only to business buyers for products, two prices per ASIN, and increase the willingness of enterprises to purchase. In addition, sellers can also provide corresponding tiered prices based on purchase volume to satisfy corporate buyers in their pursuit of cost efficiency.

Even with price reduction promotions, it is still impossible to reduce the inventory backlog, but you don't want to remove the inventory, so if Amazon's storage capacity is insufficient or the storage age is about to expire, you can try using the Amazon SPN service provider network to seek overseas warehouses and move some of the inventory to a third party overseas warehouse for storage and sale.

The Amazon SPN Service Provider Network conducts a comprehensive evaluation and review of overseas warehouse service providers based on the service provider's reputation, service capability, and brand influence.

Automatic removal is not a direct disposal of inventory; once the seller opts in automatic removal, it will automatically be processed in the order of value recovery from largest to smallest, without the seller's manual action. After that, sellers do not want to continue using the automatic removal feature and can opt out of automatic removal at any time in Seller Central.

For backlog inventory and returns that cannot be sold as new, the Amazon Bulk Clearance Program sells this inventory to liquidators working with Amazon to help sellers absorb excess inventory and returned products, avoid disposal inventory processing fees, and recover 5% to 20% * of the product value.

🔗 Copy the following link to open it in your browser and go to Seller Central for more details about the Bulk Clearance Program:
https://sellercentral.amazon.com/help/hub/reference/GYVCG5Q3BEJ6MLMF

Managing inventory is like running a small service, requiring timely adjustments and dynamic balance. In the face of an inventory backlog, you might as well try it out one by one according to this “four-step method”, and I believe you will definitely be able to find the most suitable solution!