Growing Your Closeout Business. 5 Things You Must Do To Succeed.

The closeout business has been existence for as long as there has been free trade. There has always been, and will always be, special circumstances where businesses will have closeouts for sale or will be selling excess inventory. Likewise, there will always be opportunity buyers looking for closeouts for sale and searching for ways to pickup great deals on excess inventory. Buying overstock has always been a path to profits and likely will be for years to come.

But if you want to actually grow your business and make it even bigger and better than it is today, there are somethings you will have to do. Some of them may come more naturally than others, but part of growing means changing. Here are some things you need to know:

1. Get Comfortable With E-Commerce. If you want to grow your business to where you are doing larger deals and liquidating inventory from International and Multi National companies, you better make online and e-commerce sales part of your plan. Selling excess inventory without making a growing percentage of sales online is a death sentence. Today’s retail world is quickly changing as more and more sales happen online. Buying overstock deals and excess inventory often happens from leads generated on deal sites or other online platforms.

2. Understand The Labor Force. One of the biggest complaints owners of closeout companies and closeout distributors have is the lack of good help. The truth is, these entrepreneurs don’t understand today’s younger work force, their expectations, or their goals. Buying overstock and selling excess inventory is an old game often made up of older players who have been at it a long time and are set in their ways. It is very important to keep your workforce youthful and energetic; this means understanding today’s generation of workers and giving them what they need to be successful.

3. Be Flexible. Today’s changing economy isn’t the same economy your Dad used to tell you about. This one is much more complicated; one where sales are made by social media influences and keywords on an Amazon selling campaign. Liquidating inventory in today’s world requires adaptation and adjustments to new trends and ideas. Selling excess inventory isn’t as easy as filling shelves in a store; it requires much more analysis and statistical studies of consumer behavior and spending patterns. Be flexible in your ideas of how you are going to grow your sales. It’s a new world where closeouts for sale don’t sell themselves.

4. Take Risks. Calculated risks are important when it comes to succeeding in business. If you want to be 100% safe and you want to be certain you don’t have any chance of losing money, get a job. But it you want to grow your business you better be prepared to face some tough decisions and take some risks. An example of this is buying overstock inventory. There is no way to know for sure if something is going to sell. All you can do is research the products, understand the original cost, and try to buy far enough below regular price that you have a buffer in case you need to bail out. Companies that have closeouts for sale don’t always understand our market and they try to convince us we will do great with their great deals. This is not always the case and we have to do our own research. Gather as much information as possible, and take a leap of faith.

5. Have Access to Money. Cash is king, especially when growing a business. You will need easy access to funds for when things don’t go as planned and you need money to carry you through a rough patch. Any company involved in selling excess inventory and buying closeouts understand this because cash buys drive business. So if sales slow and receivables stop coming in, it is imperative to have a reserve of cash on hand for buying inventory and stocking up on goods. You don’t want to put yourself in a situation where you are faced with liquidating inventory to raise cash.