PPB June 2015

QUESTION

Steve Soffa

Owner

Steve Soffa Enterprises

First, take a 24-month report of

each SKU and color that has been sold.

Second, create a report of the SKU

against how many corporate programs

the SKU is participating in. Third, email

every distributor that has ordered the

SKUs in the past. (These could be one-

time orders, catalog programs, etc.) The

email will offer a special price for the

SKUs and let recipients know their

orders or order commitments must be

emailed or faxed to you by a certain

timeline. If a SKU is popular and you

use it in marketing materials, send a sec-

ond email to your database letting recip-

ients know specific SKUs will have

either quicker turnarounds or an incen-

tive that forces a call to action.

For example: You send out 500

emails per week, per territory, and

receive 100 responses from distributors

that may have upcoming catalog pro-

grams or special events. Let’s say 12

pieces is your minimum-quantity order.

If you receive 100 responses at your

minimum-order requirement, or 1,200

units, take a percentage of the 1,200 to

keep on-hand for your immediate stock.

Once you create reports by SKU

numbers divided by the programs using

those items and compare it to your one-

time or repeat orders, you can determine

A Supplier Asks:

We’d like to increase our in-house inventory levels for some of

our most popular products. This is one of the riskier things a

business can do, so how do we know if we’re ready?

PAY TO PLAY

BY TAMA UNDERWOOD

JUNE 2015 •

PPB

• 17

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