What do you do with unsold seasonal greeting cards?

We put unsold greeting cards from seasons on sale for a couple of days after the season . The usual discount is 50%. We pick up extra revenue and bank margin dollars considering the rebate from the card company. We also discount gifts in this sale that very specific to the season that will not rest well in the everyday gift department.

This approach works well for us in a shopping centre where many of our customers are not regulars.

If the business was in a country town or a high street situation with more regular customers, I might not engage in this practice as it could educate shoppers to wait for the discount.

Our Father’s Day experience shows how our approach works for us.

With little stock left, the empty pockets on the card stand played into the discount opportunity. Some customers purchased for late Father’s Day cards while others purchased for next year. Given many of our customers are not local or regular, the impact on next year will be minimal if at all.

Talking with suppliers and retailers here and overseas, it is common customers who purchase cards for future purposes lose them or forget about them.

While revenue from post seasonal sales is small, it is worth reducing the cards we return and attracting bonus traffic for the sale we run for a couple of days.

I would be interested for others to share their experiences.