Selling Out (In a Good Way) June 22, 2017 05:00
One of the many decisions necessary to run a business is choosing the right quantity of a product to be made that can then be sold to the public. Each product is different, even if it may fall in the same general category as another product. For each one, we do our best to look at trends and do market research before settling on a hard number to go forward with. Quantity is a bigger decision for a small company, because we inherently have less money to gamble with, so every decision has to be smart. Sometimes, a product doesn't perform as well as we'd like it to, and we have to cut our losses, but our gain always comes in the lessons learned.
Because we offer seasonal and time sensitive products, these come with an even greater risk. Our main product (if you're new around here) is a year-long planner. Planner season typically runs from November through February, although sales are also consistent in other months at smaller quantities. Stores want to make planner purchases at the end of summer, so to stay in the game, we have to have our product ready to go to print by the beginning of summer at the latest.
We learned some of this the hard way - for instance, we didn't have the 2016 Planners in hand until mid-November, and that was a HUGE disadvantage, because we had nothing to market with. The printing process took for-ev-er and we ran into some unexpected set backs in production. We ordered what we knew was a number that would likely be higher than we would be able to sell, even if we had gotten them earlier. We were right, but we were also able to use some of those unsold planners to help market for the next year. Enter the 2017 Planner. We have grown leaps and bounds from 2016 to 2017 and that is evident in our sales. Sales have more than tripled in just a year, and we're surprised to see that orders keep rolling in, even almost halfway through the year!
This is the part of the post where we get real with our feelings. WE WANT TO SELL OUT OF THESE PLANNERS! If you love your 2017 Planner, tell a friend, because the price is also super low. We have 49 of these babies ready to be shipped out all over the country (or out of the country if you're willing to pay shipping!) After that, they are gone, and just in time for the 2018 Planner which is well on it's way!
And while we're on the subject of the 2018 Planner... we're ordering even more of those, with the goal of selling out again. We never could have learned and grown as we have without your support, and we can't thank you enough. Now do us a solid and help us get these last planners out the door!
