Are your stores covered with enough back stock for the back to school rush!
Todays post is by Ronald D. Southard, CEO at SafeSourcing Inc.
Retailers; are your Back to School supplies up to date? Do you have appropriate stock?
A quick reverse auction or RFQ that we call The ABC’s of School Supplies can get you caught up quickly.
It seems like the summer has just begun, but buyers need to be thinking about back to school supplies. The actual supplies required differ from preschool to college aged students and teachers.
Unfortunately if you don’t have what the person (normally mom) shopping for all students is looking for; you may lose all of the affiliated sales and ultimately your customer.
How many times have shoppers come to your store looking for something simple and then leaving without buying anything? It probably happens more often than you think. On the other hand, if you have a well stocked department you might be surprised by the number of additional items customers buy when they find the primary item they were looking for.
Relative to school supplies, you should probably consider the following list of categories if you want to cover all of your consumers needs.
.
A. Academic Calendars & Planners
B. Arts & Crafts Materials
C. Accessories
D. Backpacks
E. Binders
F. Calculators
G. Chalk, Erasers & Cleaners
H. Computer Media
I. Crayons & Markers
J. Dies Punches & Accessories
K. Drafting Supplies
L. Educational Software
M. First Aid & Personal Care and Anti Bacterial Supplies
N. Glue, Tape & Self-Stick Notes
O. Index Cards,
P. Report Covers & Portfolios
Q. Locker Accessories
R. Maps & Globes
S. Paints
T. Paper & Notebooks
U. Pens, Pencils & Markers
V. Reference Books
W. Rulers & Compasses
X. Scissors
Y. Staplers
Z. Teaching Aids
Each of the above categories obviously has a number of products associated with it. At times any one of these products could support a reverse auction by itself based on the size of the retailer and the volume associated with the category
The SafeSourcing product specifications library already has specifications on each of these categories and they could all be run within a week. Please contact a SafeSourcing Customer Services Account Manager in order to find out more.
We look forward to and appreciate your comments.
