What to do with the remnants of children's shoes

The expression "Leftovers are sweet" is true, perhaps, only for shopaholics who are able to find the right model, the right color and size at a reasonable price, break the mass of unsold goods on time. For the seller, leftovers are always money frozen in the product, extra space in the warehouse or on the trading floor, a decrease in profits due to a decrease in prices. For children's shoes, the problem of leftovers is probably not as acute as for adults - children's shoe fashion is not changing so rapidly. But, of course, each distributor, if he sells goods not only on order, but also from a warehouse, and each retailer will solve the problem of stocks in different ways. Elena Gerke, coordinator of the Information Center for Children's Products, compared two options for solving the residual problem.

Option one. Distributor

GV Accord Manager (official distributor of Spanish children's shoes GARVALIN and AGATHA RUIZ DE LA PRADA) Alexander Doronkin offers to carefully plan orders and flexibly approaches prices.

- Alexander, what do you do when ordering to reduce possible balances?

- We focus primarily on customer orders, because it is on their basis that a common portfolio of orders for the factory is formed. In addition, we conduct our own marketing research on the trading floors of the largest customers - this also helps to make the order more accurate.

- What makes up a large proportion of residuals: unpopular sizes, colors or models?

- Most often, unpopular colors and patterns remain, less often - unworkable sizes. Manufacturers, as a rule, sell shoes in boxes, in which there is a selection of sizes: the running sizes are larger, the slow-moving ones are smaller. But the most significant impact on the remnants of children's shoes (as, probably, on the remnants of children's clothing) have a delivery time. Children's shoes are a pronounced seasonal product, and if, for example, deliveries of classic school shoes are late and arrive later than the end of August, then expect big leftovers. And, of course, the guarantee of minimum balances is flexible pricing.

- Do you keep statistics on the balance of orders and take into account errors in the following orders?

- Of course, we keep statistics on the seasons, and it helps a lot when placing orders.

- How do you work with the remnants of past collections?

- We have measures that have worked well, - markdowns; special offers (for example, an additional delay in payment).

- What is the difference between the remnants of winter and summer collections?

- In their cost: as a rule, winter models are more expensive - and, accordingly, the price of residues is higher. The climate and the mentality of customers are such that some winter models, such as boots, are in demand almost throughout the year, unlike many summer models (moccasins, sandals).

Option Two. Retail

Elena Prazdnikova, the head of the Sunny Circle shopping center, believes that the best option to minimize balances is to provide discounts.

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- Elena, what sizes and colors are the most unpopular in collections and which models in winter and summer collections most often remain?

- Unpopular sizes - small, the size of the legs in children has noticeably “grown” recently. Unpopular colors - green, brown. As for the models, it all depends on the collection, how successful it is in general.

- Do customers prefer fashionable models or are they more of a classic?

- Buyers of children's shoes are not inclined to experiment and prefer classics. Beautiful, comfortable, affordable.

- Where there are more residues: in casual or smart shoes, in winter or summer collections?

- It all depends ultimately not on the season and not on the purpose of the shoe, but on its price, quality and the number of units per size.

- How does weather atypical for the season affect the size of the residues? Or are children's shoes bought in advance, and the weather is not a decisive factor?

- The weather affects significantly, but if you offer a good discount, the shoes will sell well regardless of the weather.

- Does putting the shoes on the trading floor affect the size of the balance?

- Of course it does, and very much. Models that stand in the most favorable places for buyers to see are sold faster.

- What methods are most effective when working with balances: discounts, promotions (gifts, bonuses for the next purchase)?

- Among the whole variety of methods that we use to deal with leftovers, discounts are beyond competition. The price speaks for itself!

- What do you do with balances that cannot be sold?

“Of course, we try to work in such a way that there are no leftovers - after all, a lot also depends on us.” So we have practically no “unsaleable” residues, except for substandard shoes. We return it to the supplier or write off, we sell everything else with maximum discounts.