What should you do with your unsold stock?
As a wine merchant, delicatessen owner, restaurant owner or any other food retailer, managing unsold stock is a daily challenge. To optimise your business and adopt an eco-responsible approach, it's essential to know how to manage unsold products effectively. In this article, we present practical advice and concrete solutions for giving a second life to your surplus items.
Reducing unsold stock from the outset
When it comes to managing unsold products, the best approach is to reduce their occurrence from the outset. To minimise this type of product, here are a few strategies to put in place:
• A critical step in optimising sales is to analyse trends and forecast demand. Carefully study your customers' buying habits and identify the most popular products. This will enable you to adapt your offer to the seasons, special events and changes in the market. For example, a wine merchant might offer wines from different regions depending on the seasonal preferences of his customers.
• Effective stock management is essential to avoid unsold stock. Use sales and stock monitoring tools to anticipate your customers' needs. By setting appropriate replenishment thresholds, you can maintain a balance between supply and demand. You can adjust your reserves based on your customer's shopping history, preventing surpluses of products you don't sell.
• What's more, to avoid this surplus, it's important to adapt your offer and your promotions in line with fluctuations in demand. Identify slow-moving products and offer special promotions to boost their sales. By reorganising your sales area and highlighting less popular products, you can encourage customers to discover and buy them. For example, a restaurant owner can create special menus featuring less popular dishes, making them more attractive.
Making the most of unsold products within the business
When products remain unsold despite your best efforts, you can find in-house solutions to give them a second life and add value to them within your business.
One effective way of making the most of them is to transform them into new dishes or by-products. For example, you can use ripe fruit and vegetables to make smoothies, soups or jams. A butcher's shop can also suggest terrines made from unsold meat, offering customers a tasty alternative.
To encourage their sale, create attractive special promotions on those close to their sell-by date. Highlight them on your communication media, such as your social networks, your website or displays in your shop. For example, a cheese shop might offer cheese platters at reduced prices at the end of the day, encouraging customers to take advantage of these special offers.
Give your products a second life thanks to external partnerships
If internal solutions aren't enough to dispose of your unsold goods, it's time to consider external partnerships for responsible management.
To donate your unsold goods to those who need them, contact local organisations involved in food aid or the fight against waste. Set up regular donation or product recovery agreements with these associations. As a retailer, you can work with a food charity to provide unsold bottles of wine or other dry goods and help support those in need.
Explore digital solutions that connect retailers and consumers interested in unsold goods. Use these platforms to offer your products to a wider audience. For example, a delicatessen could use a mobile application to sell discounted products close to their sell-by date, giving consumers the chance to discover and buy these products at a bargain price.
For responsible management, find out about the possibilities for recycling non-consumable products or composting organic waste. Implement sorting measures to maximise your waste management. Restaurant owners can team up with local composting services to recycle food waste and help reduce waste.
By taking a proactive approach to managing unsold food, you can reduce waste and reinforce your commitment to eco-responsibility. Implement sales optimisation strategies, add value to unsold goods within your business and develop external partnerships. Together, we can build a more sustainable and environmentally-friendly business model.
