This is an excerpt from Ryder E-commerce by Whiplash’s latest ebook “How to turn surplus into success: Navigating the excess inventory dilemma” by Rebuy, an omnichannel personalization platform empowering e-commerce brands on Shopify
The COVID-19 pandemic has created lasting challenges for almost every sector and company that engages in global trade. The e-commerce industry, in particular, has been one of the hardest-hit sectors by the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing long-term issues that still persist.
As e-commerce brands recover from the collective dip in market revenue and long-term effects, excess and slow-moving inventory continues to be a thorn in the side of numerous companies.
Increased in-house inventory has contributed to an industry-wide supply chain bottleneck that has left business owners struggling to push unwanted items out the door and manage increase overhead costs.
While some brands have deployed working capital tactics to resolve their supply chain problems, others have turned to re-tooling their website strategies to reduce inventory and maintain high conversion rates.
One brand that has successfully leveraged on-site tactics is Rebuy client and leading e-commerce merchandise partner for the world’s most beloved internet creators, Fanjoy. Their upsell and cross-sell strategy protects their star creators against potential inventory issues while ensuring conversion rates remain high.
Fanjoy originally set out with the goal to increase product discovery for their various creators and their merchandise. The team eventually connected with Rebuy to build a promotion strategy that centers on two types of campaigns: creator launches and mystery sales.
Creator launches use a two-step process that includes the following:
Fanjoy installed two different types of Rebuy widgets to surface these product recommendations and to personalize the customer journey for maximum conversion rates. The selected widgets included a PDP cross-sell carousel and multiple in-cart product offers that would surface anytime a customer engaged with the cart drawer.
To make the installation process simple, Fanjoy also decided to utilize Rebuy’s custom cart drawer, Smart Cart. Using Smart Cart, the team was able to leverage custom-built and AI-powered rulesets to dynamically update product recommendations on the fly. This allows the Fanjoy team to update product offers based on collection type, date ranges, URL, and inventory levels to drive conversions and maximize customer engagement.
Mystery sales were deployed to create customer excitement and to incentivize shoppers to engage with “limited time offers” (LTOs), further assisting Fanjoy in their management of inventory levels.
Mystery sales included items unknown to customers, often being labeled as products such as “Fanjoy Mystery Hoodie” to conceal the product’s identity. This tactic proved successful and allowed the creator-focused brand to push old inventory out the door using Rebuy’s in-checkout recommendations.
While in-checkout recommendations work well to encourage last-minute customer cart additions, it’s certainly not the only place where mystery items can be successful. Other Rebuy clients leverage the platform’s Gift With Purchase and Post-Purchase Offer widgets to surface mystery items. The promotion tactic remains the same – inventory levels can be managed by appealing to customers that are open to exclusive, quick add-to-cart actions.
With personalized product recommendations, e-commerce brands can create excitement while reducing inventory overflow built up from the COVID-19 pandemic. While there is no guarantee that supply issues will diminish, upsell and cross-sell tools can help brands be successful in the current e-commerce economy.
Want to learn more? Check out the rest of our ebook on how brands can effectively tackle excess inventory and create more opportunities to engage customers:
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